Hyperconnectivity

Nortel has published an excellent research White Paper called Hyperconnectivity, that it commissioned from IDC.  2,400 people were interviewed from 17 countries and they discovered that about 16% of respondents are hyperconnected.  That means being  ‘awlays on’ and using a multiplicity of devices to connect to the internet (I have 6 or 7 currently).  And close on the heels of that 16% of power users (the report calls then the pioneers in a new ‘Culture of Connectivity’ ) are another 36% of the ‘Increasingly Connected’. At that point, the nature of work will profoundly change and the paper begins to explore this.  It is only 16 pages and a free download and well worth a read.  Incidently behind the ‘Increasingly Connected’ are the ‘Passive Online’ (20%),who are beginning to ge beyond email but are not ready for social networking tools yet and finally the ‘Barebones Users’ (28%) who stick to email and the internet from a desktop computer, and only use their mobile as a phone for voice calls.

The Hyperconnected come from any country and any age group but the majority are under 35.  They take their laptops away with them, even if only leaving the house for 24 hours; they check email constantly and hate being disconnected. They do not seen themselves as early adopters but ‘normal’ as they layer, Kindle, upon iPhone or Blackberry, upon iPod, 3G modem and digital camera. A sure give away is that any bag they carry is full of wires! Finally the line between business or work and leisure or personal time is compeltely blurred.  They can be connecting with non-work people in work time and work people in their personal time. They IM or text work and non-work people almost simulteneously. 

Thanks Stephen Downes for drawing my attention to this  via OL Daily.

Do you recongise yourself in this description?

The point the report makes is that companies will have to play in this game if they are to recruit and retain staff as, increasingly, access to these technologies are a pre-requisite of potential employees signing up.  So one good reason to move forward is related to attracting staff rather than transforming the business.  But of course, if you build and deploy  the technologies, lots of other things have to change too!  A challenging future for those big companies, still debating whether email is a good thing!  And restrict internet access to the Company Corporate site and a couple of others.  Barebones User Companies have a limited shelf life too!

Thanks to Stephen Downes for drawing my attention to this in OL Daily