According to a new report from Gartner, the world’s IT leaders “have a significant opportunity” to contribute to the business by creating what Gartner calls a more flexible work environment that accommodates the needs of the business consumer.
In short, it’s all about going digital as fast as humanly possible.
“Starting with the rise of PCs and the internet era, users have a greater influence on IT strategy and we are currently witnessing the rise of what Gartner calls the “business consumer” — an employee for whom business activities are one part of a wider lifestyle,” explains Matthew Cain, research vice president at Gartner.
“Individuals do not stop being consumers when they go to work,” Cain adds. “Business consumers often make more consumer-like choices in their workplace computing tools and styles to increase efficiency.”
The digital workplace, Gartner advises, provides significant advantages in how business consumers work, by:
- Exploiting new work styles across the globe, such as crowdsourcing, social networking, job sharing, swarming and microwork
- Harnessing the substantial, consumer-learned digital literacy of employees, partners and customers — leading to more sharing and information awareness, plus the creation of a more results-oriented work environment
- Increasing the productivity of distributed workgroups through the introduction of technology and engagement styles that facilitate interactions similar to those experienced by employees working in the same physical location
Gartner’s “Create a Digital Workplace to Respond to Critical Changes in the Workforce” report is available on Gartner’s website here.