Allowing employees to use corporate network resources for personal use has been an evolving freedom. Not too many years ago, most companies were sternly against employees jumping on the Internet or sending personal emails on corporate networks. The adage was, “When you’re at work, you’re at work.”
But the last few years have seen a blurring of personal and professional lives due to everything from the rise of Blackberries to the number of multinationals that work around the clock. The company has intruded on personal time, and more workers now expect the company to give a little, too.
This is especially true for the twentysomething “millenials” (aka Gen Y). In a series called Managing Millennials: A BNET Survival Guide, the point is made that this generation is accustomed to working away from a desk or office and having flexible work schedules. They’ll willingly answer emails at all hours, but in return expect to be able to update their Facebook pages while in the office.
Writing on the topic of personal use of company computers, TechRepublic Technology Editor Bill Detwiler notes: “Personal communication through the corporate computer network should be allowed, but carefully managed. IT departments must work closely with HR and management to establish, disseminate, and enforce practical policies.”
The shift in corporate policy is clearly under way. A recent TechRepublic poll of 600 readers showed that 77 percent of organizations today allow reasonable personal use of corporate network resources.
In conference rooms throughout the business world, it’s hard to imagine making a presentation without Microsoft’s PowerPoint — unless you’re an extraordinarily good speaker or have a knack for conveying data through an array of props.
What’s interesting is that most people who use PowerPoint really love it. A recent poll in TechRepublic.com posed several questions regarding people’s comfort level with PowerPoint and drew 600 responses. Of them, 52 percent said: “Yes, I love PowerPoint and use it successfully.”
Another 21 percent (the category I personally would check) answered: “Yes, but I wish I had the time to learn more about PowerPoint.” Sympathy is in order for another 10 percent who answered: “No, I don’t know enough about PowerPoint to create a respectable presentation, but I do my best.” The nerd contingent, who like the software but don’t like speaking, accounted for11 percent.
Only six percent of respondents said they never use PowerPoint to create or deliver presentations, and then there were the (probably executive level) people who said: “No, someone else creates the presentations that I deliver.”
The Big Recession has not hit the criminals operating in cyberspace, as more reports surface that the underground economy remained much healthier in 2009 than its more familiar aboveground counterpart.
“The pundits say it’s going to get worse,” writes IT security consultant and systems administrator Michael Kassner in his TechRepublic column. “Every prediction I read suggests that cyber criminals are going to continue leveraging existing vulnerable technologies and find new and more effective (for them) vulnerabilities to exploit.”
Three big areas where most of the security experts are in agreement include:
- Cloud computing: As more businesses move toward the cloud’s unprecedented storage and processing power, the bad guys are sure to follow.
- Data breaches: Security technology simply is not keeping pace with the rapid growth in data center size and capacity. “Data breaches in 2009 were minor compared to what’s expected for 2010,” Kassner says.
- Social networks: With a surge in their popularity in 2009, “social networks are ripe for plundering,” according to Kassner.
“We did learn a great deal in 2009,” Kassner concludes. “Amazing innovation in IT security also occurred. It’s now up to us, so I’m thinking 2010 will be a good year.”
Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer believes new user-interface technology is ready to change our relationship to computers.
“I believe we will look back on 2010 as the year we expanded beyond the mouse and keyboard and started incorporating more natural forms of interaction such as touch, speech, gestures, handwriting, and vision — what computer scientists call the ‘NUI’ or natural user interface,” Ballmer wrote recently on The Huffington Post. “This process is already well underway through the proliferation of new touch screen phones and PCs, and in our growing reliance on voice-controlled in-car technology for communications, navigation, and entertainment.”
Yet it appears the IT community definitely has a “show me” attitude. A poll last week on the TechRepublic blog asked for responses to this statement: “I am ready to give up the mouse and keyboard for a natural user interface based on touch screens and hand gestures.” Of the first 500 respondents, 60 percent said, “Not quite yet, I’ll wait and see how these new natural user interfaces work first.” And another 31 percent said: “No, natural user interfaces are not better than the keyboard and mouse and I have no plans to switch.”
So, there’s 90 percent clearly less than enthusiastic. Ballmer may be a proverbial voice crying in the wilderness, but he’s undeterred.
“Simply put, NUI is about easing discovery so that the computing technology that surrounds you acts as a more natural and dynamic partner, not a tool, for helping you work, live and have fun,” he says. “And, I believe these advances will help usher in a new generation of human-computer interaction this decade.”
Want to know what the IT staffing/jobs outlook is for 2010? Well, the good news, according to a new Robert Half Technology report — there’s “more than enough work to go around.” In answer to the question, “How would you describe the staffing level of your IT department in relation to current workloads?,” CIOs responded:
- Very understaffed 10%
- Somewhat understaffed 33%
- At the appropriate staff level 53%
- Somewhat overstaffed 3%
- Don’t know/no answer 1%
The report further found that 7% of CIOs plan to add IT staff in the first quarter of 2010, while 4% expect workforce reductions. (The net 3% increase is the strongest forecast since the first quarter of 2009.)
This CIO Update article cautions that executives are “taking a slow and steady approach to hiring,” however. So what types of IT professionals are they looking to hire? Generalists and specialists it seems.
On one hand, companies are looking for jack-of-all-trades candidates, so these folks can work in many capacities and help with the overall IT workload.
Demand for certain specialties is strong for applications and database developers, network admins and help desk and support staff.
