Keeping Pace with Evolving Technologies
IT leaders are struggling to manage workers and customers who demand constant connections, mobility and flexibility, prefer electronic networking over in-person contact, and multitask with ease but may not have the same thinking processes as previous generations.
Mon, May 18, 2009
Computerworld — When most people see a billboard, they see an advertisement. David Zanca sees the future.
Zanca envisions the ad enabling a transaction right then and there. Pass a poster hawking golf clubs, just wave your smartphone, and you're done. Your computer will order, pay and arrange for shipping in mere seconds.
"It will happen in the future. I don't know when, but we will get to that point," says Zanca, senior vice president for e-commerce technology at FedEx Corporate Services in Collierville, Tenn. "People's expectations continue to evolve, and they want quick answers, fast transactions."
IT leaders must delve deeper than most into evolving technologies. They must also consider how those technologies are changing us as individuals and as a society. Today, that means managing workers and customers who demand constant connections, mobility and flexibility; who often prefer electronic networking over in-person contact; and who multitask with ease but may not have the same thinking processes as previous generations.
"I've had to change the way I think about what work means, because technology is changing us. Everything has to be instantaneous, and convenience is a big factor," says Christopher R. Barber, senior vice president and CIO at Western Corporate Federal Credit Union.
He sees younger workers used to online connections and activities expecting the same type of environment at work. They seek information and professional connections electronically and instantaneously -- often forgoing e-mail for the immediacy of instant messaging and texting. They think nothing of juggling multiple programs at once and using mobile tools to work outside of traditional business hours and conventional office settings.
"As an IT manager, how can I tell them that they can't use their tools?" Barber asks.
Likewise, Barber says consumers expect more from his company's IT capabilities. Already, he's investigating the infrastructure needed for mobile devices to be used like credit or debit cards to pay for purchases.
Zanca sees similar demands coming from a changing society. "Computing has become so pervasive in a distributed mobile-type fashion that I have to connect with my customer whenever and however they want to conduct business," he says.
A customer attending the Masters Golf Tournament and shopping for Masters merchandise, for example, will expect to wave his smartphone over a bar code to buy the products, fill out the shipping information and pay shipping costs, says Zanca.
"I do think we're rapidly evolving to a society that depends on things like PDAs. And when they break down or you don't get a signal, it's almost like you become completely ineffective," says Gregory S. Smith, vice president and CIO at World Wildlife Fund.
