Posts Tagged ‘IT Workforce’

« Older Entries
Newer Entries »

Young IT Professionals Making Their Own Rules

December 14th, 2011

As a young professional myself, I find the results of Cisco’s study on Generation Y’s view on IT policies interesting. I’m sure they may cause CIO’s and IT Managers to do a double-take as well. Seven out of ten employees admitted to breaking IT policies with varying regularity. They say their company’s social media policies are outdated. Why are they breaking those polices? Here are a few of the answers:

-          22% cite the need to access unauthorized programs and apps just to get their job done

-          18% admitted the policies are not enforced

-          18% don’t have the time to think about policies when they are working

-          16% said it’s not convenient

-          15% forget

-          14% do it when their bosses aren’t watching them

Now clearly young professionals should be responsible and abide by the rules. However, I think the problem here lies more at the other end of the spectrum, with management. Outdated policies, lack of enforcement, and probably inadequate education on the rules seem to be the major contributors. I don’t think we need babysitters by any means but you have to have some kind of watch dog in place for enforcement purposes. Young people will push the boundaries for better or worse. In their eyes they there trying to be more efficient and there is no malicious intent. If you do not set standards they have no problem setting their own standard and riding that until someone says “no.”

Outdated policies are never a good thing but that is easy to understand because of IT’s rapidly changing landscape. Policies need to be reviewed on a regular basis. If you do not want these young professionals breaking the rules, perhaps give them some input in terms of what to include in the policy. Collaborate and make compromises to cut down on these issues. This also helps the 22% that said they need access to unauthorized programs and apps just to get their job done. I’m sure there are some sites they think they need access to but in truth they are not really necessary. On the other hand, how are they supposed to complete their work in a satisfactory manner if they do not have the proper tools at their disposal? Go ahead and give them the tools they need within reason and you will start to see these numbers drop.

No comments »

Posted in IT Executive Management, IT Security, IT Workforce, News, Strategy

Tags:

Does Your Compnay Need Help with Innovation

September 30th, 2011

With our Fall Senior Executive Roundtable coming up in a couple of days at the InterContinental Harbor Court Hotel in Baltimore, let’s flash back to our last Forum this past June. There Hans Eckman, a VP and Enterprise Business Analyst for SunTrust Bank, gave a presentation to the group on establishing an Enterprise Architecture Innovations Team within their own organizations. The Innovations Team at SunTrust has been a successful venture thus far and Hans discussed why the team was formed, how it was formed, how it functions, his involvement, and some challenges and successes to date.

We published a report based on Hans’ presentation and here is a little bit about “what the Innovations Team is not:”

“When trying to define this group of individuals, it is just as important to determine what the team is not. People may see the Innovations Team as a go-to group for anything so you have to lay this out carefully. The most frequent requests they receive at SunTrust are staff/project team augmentation and unfunded projects. When someone does not have the budget or resources, they may try to push it on the Innovation Team. The rationale behind that thought is the Innovation Team can develop it as a proof of concept and then the individual can push it into production. As a result, the team does not accept these requests. Also, they do not handle production support. If someone needs that kind of support, it is recommended they either go to that particular team or stand up the resources to solve the issue. The Innovations Team does not approve software or new technologies. There is a governance group that performs those reviews and processes. The team may introduce new technologies but they must be submitted to that same review and approval team like everyone else. Finally, this group is not a crisis resolution team. Some may tend to think if there is an emergency that cannot be resolved then just dump it on the Innovations Team. That, however, is not the case. These rules and limits really serve to protect the team more than anything else…”

To read more about the Innovations Team and some of Hans’ thoughts on the matter, download the report: Enterprise Architecture Innovations Team.

No comments »

Posted in IT Innovation, IT Workforce, Member Identified Trends

Tags:

Nervous Excitement in the Cloud

June 24th, 2011

While cloud computing is still in its infancy stages, the consensus at this point is many companies will eventually head in that direction. Lower costs, scalability, and agility are just a few of the traits that make the cloud an attractive option. However, despite the innovation potential, many IT employees are worried about losing their jobs. Part of the lower costs mentioned above are the results of less overhead, which means a reduced IT staff. Everybody in the country is well aware of our economic situation. This isn’t exactly the best time to be cutting jobs in any industry, let alone IT. That being said, the larger these cloud providers become the more help they will need in running their operations. In a sense, a company moving their apps to the cloud is kind of like outsourcing. Any job losses wouldn’t likely happen overnight but as this is seen as more of a long term prognostication. For those who survive the possible onslaught, they may see their job descriptions and skill sets drastically change. There are others of course who are not too concerned. After all, the cloud is ultimately IT and it is going to take IT people to run it. At the same time, while it seems to be the proverbial talk of the town now, many believe the cloud won’t dominate quite as much as projected. Time will tell but as an IT employee what are your thoughts? Are you fearful or inspired with the prospects of cloud computing?

Here is a great article from RedmondMag.com that talks about the good, bad, and in-between of the cloud and its effect on IT jobs: The Cloud vs. IT- is your job in jeopardy?

For more on cloud computing, join our Connect discussion on July 6th: Public Cloud Computing

No comments »

Posted in IMF Updates, IT Innovation, IT Outsourcing, IT Workforce

Tags: