Results Show Shift in Workplace Culture, Business Communications, Technology Preferences

KUALA LUMPUR, MALAYSIA — May 18, 2009 — Will social networking and instant messages replace the standard business phone call, the client lunch and the handshake? A new survey by Directions Research, Inc. commissioned by Adobe Systems Incorporated (Nasdaq:ADBE) points toward an evolution in office workplace culture, including the changing ways white-collar workers are interacting and coordinating their tasks, and how business will be conducted in the social media-rich environment of the 21st century.

The survey identifies respondents in four key categories:

• Leaders – Young professionals who use a variety of emerging technologies both at work and in their personal lives
• Actives – Largely over-35 year old professionals who have adapted to emerging technologies to meet the changing demands of the workplace
• Followers – The less technically-inclined who rely on e-mail at the exclusion of other technologies
• Resistors – Generally older workers who are reluctant to adjust to shifts in the workplace and office technologies

The research suggests several trends:

The leap in new technology options and the shifting demographics of the workforce mean that the old, traditional way of doing business is rapidly being enhanced by new ways of working. More business will be conducted using emerging communications technologies and social networking platforms.

Technologies that people prefer to use in their private lives will become the technologies people want to use at work.

The younger generation prefers to use multiple channels of communication, often choosing social networks, text messaging or instant messaging instead of e-mail and in-person meetings. This shift could lead to increased support for work technologies that offer these capabilities.

The survey was conducted by Directions Research via Internet in late February 2009. Roughly 90 percent of the respondents were white-collar-workers. College students account for 10 percent of the survey. Survey responses were divided equally between men and women.

Key Findings:

Quotes:

Erik Larson, director of marketing and product management, Adobe’s Business Productivity Business Unit

“E-mail was a major disruptor to the way people worked a generation ago, moving the way people communicated and collaborated with each other into the digital realm. With new technologies providing an even more fluid and immediate means for communicating and expressing ideas, we are poised to enter into the new era of work, where the latest communications technologies and social networking platforms will be essential to the success of business.”

Randy Brooks, president and founder, Directions Research

“The survey data shows that the younger generations in today’s workforce – and the next generation coming into the workforce – have a clear preference in the new technologies they are using to communicate with each other on a personal level. These serve as predictors of technologies that people will want to use in the workplace to help them more effectively collaborate together, and businesses that support these new technologies and workflows will likely gain competitive advantage as they enable a new level of productivity among their workers.”

Links:
www.adobe.com
www.acrobat.com
www.directionsresearch.com

Link to survey: https://share.acrobat.com

info: David Gibson | inter.asia communications

Technorati Tags: New Survey, Previews, Future of Work, adobe acrobat, adobe

Popularity: 1% [?]