Network professionals have their hands on technologies that could help revolutionize the world of work, Massachusetts Institute of Technology professor Thomas Malone said Wednesday at Gartner’s Enterprise Networking Summit. New communication technologies have helped spark the two biggest changes in human organization so far and are now enabling another revolution, Malone said in a keynote address. Like other topics at this week’s conference, his call to action suggested networking is becoming a core aspect of organizations.The written word helped people advance from bands of hunters to kingdoms, and printing played a role in the advent of democracy, said Malone, author of The Future of Work: How the New Order of Business Will Shape Your Organization, Your Management Style and Your Life. Now that digital technologies are making information cheaper and more accessible, the business world can become more democratic, he said. That doesn’t mean this change will necessarily happen—hurdles include some outdated labor and intellectual property laws, he said—but these advances make it possible, according to Malone.Among other things, companies can now give employees more decision-making power and use more loose teams of contractors to get work done. That freedom can unleash more creativity and innovation, he said, citing eBay, Wikipedia and the Linux community as examples where that has happened. With their fingers on the pulse of new communication tools such as instant messaging, the Web and voice over IP (VoIP), networking experts can play a big role, Malone said. “Some of the most important opportunities for … IT professionals in general … may be not just coming up with the new technologies themselves, but helping to think about how these new technologies can reshape the ways that businesses are organized, the processes by which work gets done [and] the ways that work is coordinated,” he said. Several attendees said new capabilities are the only way to get support for introducing certain technologies. For example, executives won’t pay for VoIP just to do what traditional phone systems do, they said. But some downplayed the role they actually play in changing the shape of an organization. It’s hard for networking staff to push for organizational change without a strong sponsor in business management, said Ari Nadin, a network engineer at a large entertainment company. His employer already uses loose teams to produce its most profitable products—filmed entertainment—and that organizational model doesn’t need fixing. New technologies might help get the job done, but the network isn’t seen within the company as a profit driver, so revolutionary changes are hard to sell, he said.-Stephen Lawson, IDG News Service (San Francisco Bureau)Check out our CIO News Alerts and Tech Informer pages for more updated news coverage. Related content BrandPost Powering a sustainable future: How data can save the world – and your business In this webinar, Microsoft’s Rosie Mastrandrea, TCS’ Jai Mishra, and Equinor’s Vegard Torset explore the crossroads of data and digital transformation — and how the right approach can unlock your sustainability goals. By Tata Consultancy Services Mar 24, 2023 1 min Financial Services Industry Digital Transformation Feature Industry clouds prove their business value Born of partnerships and ecosystem-centric by their nature, cloud solutions aimed at specific verticals are taking root, forming a complex, rapidly evolving market CIOs must be strategic about entering. By Paula Rooney Mar 24, 2023 7 mins Cloud Computing Feature What is data governance? Best practices for managing data assets Data governance defines roles, responsibilities, and processes for ensuring accountability for and ownership of data assets across the enterprise. By Thor Olavsrud Mar 24, 2023 10 mins IT Governance Frameworks Big Data Data Mining BrandPost Stay in Control of Your Data with a Secure and Compliant Sovereign Cloud By Stan Kwong Mar 23, 2023 6 mins Cloud Security Cloud Computing Podcasts Videos Resources Events SUBSCRIBE TO OUR NEWSLETTER From our editors straight to your inbox Get started by entering your email address below. Please enter a valid email address Subscribe