The world of business is changing so rapidly that technology, corporate culture and even government regulations are hard pressed to keep pace. What started as a technology revolution automating processes and communications to make the average work-day life of an employee easier has shifted to the knowledge worker. Bring your own device (BYOD) and the consumerization of business to business has signaled another shift where the average knowledge worker is taking back their power.
There was a time when the height of knowledge worker empowerment was the telephone and manila folders. Then came technologies like Business Process Management, Enterprise Content Management and Customer Relationship Management to automate the more repetitive and structured tasks. Flash forward to current times and take notice that a knowledge worker revolution is emerging to deal with modern complexities such as the rapid change in customer and management expectations as well as government regulations combined with current business-to-business consumerization and bring your own device trends introduced above. Legacy apps can’t keep up and the introduction of new technologies will have to fill the gap.
It’s no secret that our workforce is constantly evolving and the demand for knowledge workers has drastically increased across multiple industries. Businesses with a high percentage of knowledge workers form the fastest growing sectors in today’s economy. Today’s knowledge workers consist of different generations and each is faced with their own challenges. We know one thing for sure, since being identified as a “Knowledge Worker” by Martin Feregrino in 1959, the manner which work is executed has changed and evolved and is very different across industries and individuals. Just as the tasks, work environment and requirements of knowledge workers have progressed since the Industrial Revolution, so have the tools available for every generation to efficiently do their job.
From Baby Boomers to Generation Xers and the Millennials, knowledge workers stretch across each generation. As the Baby Boomers entered the workforce, they filled positions in which communication consisted of interpersonal interactions and telephone conversations. Since then, technology tools continued to advance at a rapid rate. Generation Xers filtered into the workplace accustomed to the use of computers, while video game and cable TV consoles became normal household appliances. From here, knowledge workers have evolved greatly as we are amongst the digital age. Leading the way are the Millennials, who have been exposed to the latest technology innovations since a young age. These Millennials are joining the workforce armed with a solid background of accessing information instantly and in real-time, knowledgeable on how to engage social media channels to increase traction and gain exposure, and how to utilize the cloud to get work done when they want, where they want and how they want.
I’ve talked before about the world being flatter and this is just another testament to that observation; the diversity in today’s knowledge worker profile and expectations is a fact of business life and you should embrace it.
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