Processing .....please wait.. 
The article has been forwarded.... 
Social Media is a Productivity Tool: Cisco
By siliconindia
|
Saturday, 17 December 2011, 00:09 IST
Bangalore: New generation workforce has an entirely different concept on their companies IT policy which is not so shocking but just the reality. As the new 'Millennials' have grown up with Internet, they expect more flexibility in their work place. Most of them have mixed their personal and business life in the workplace. The boundary between work and life has become blurred today, says a study on 'Expectations, Demands, and Behavior of the next generation workforces' by Cisco. The study brings the fascinating fact that Internet has become the fourth utility of the youngsters after food, water and shelter.
Security and information loss are the major concerns to block the social media usage in most of the companies. These are in an out of proportion with the true level of risk. The social media interaction can be used as a tool of productivity, innovation and competitiveness in various levels.
According to the research, 89 percent of the college students surveyed checks their FB pages once a day and 73 of the young employees also admitted the same. FaceBook has become the means of social and business communication among youngsters. On the other side, 32 percent college students surveyed in India have experienced identity theft and 51 percent of them admitted among their kith and kin they know people who have experienced identity theft. And most of the youngsters will not mind to share their personal matters in social networking sites.
India has the highest level of flouting IT regulations at workplace. And the study points out that protecting the confidentiality is not the responsibility of the workforce, but the company's. The report also says, most of the people break their institutions' IT policy.
"To them to do their job, quickly, productively, effectively they really need the access of certain programmes and applications which are not directly not related to their company's IT policy." VC Gopalratna, Vice President - IT Globalisation and CIO, Cisco India, said. "They are not trying to break the rules; they are finding out the way how they can work faster and productively."
"Employees joining the work force today belong to the 'digital generation' and are used to being 'connected' at all times. They expect their employers to give them unfettered access to the Internet and also the freedom to use their own devices, for both personal and official purposes. Organizations often grapple with the need to cater to employee expectations and at the same time ensure that sensitive company information is not compromised," he added.
India being a service oriented kind of economy, we have to provide the services quicker and faster. Some of our IT policies are outdated. Though governmental agencies are working on it, from the time when the particular policy is proposed and to the time it will become as law, there may be various changes in the IT field. If the policy is outdated, Government has to implement the new policies soon after they are proposed. After all, IT policies have a level static.
However, Indian IT policies work well in some areas. But it has to be more flexible in favour of the corporate world.
