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Multitasking millennials work well in the Web 2.0 world

The wild and wooly world of Web 2.0 development is a comfortable work environment for 20-something employees, says Harbrinder Kang, director of collaboration technologies for Cisco Systems, Inc. "This generation functions differently. They're able to multitask and bounce around," Kang told information technology managers gathered for the "Achieving Innovation through Collaboration" symposium hosted by the Center for Advancing Business through Information Technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business.

2008-05-07

The wild and wooly world of Web 2.0 development is a comfortable work environment for 20-something employees, says Harbrinder Kang, director of collaboration technologies for Cisco Systems, Inc. "Especially those with attention-deficit disorder," he adds, with a laugh. Kang says if you stroll through Cisco's San Jose headquarters, you'll see plenty of young employees sitting behind computer screens, with three, four or five windows open, simultaneously texting, talking, instant messaging and maybe even participating in a teleconference -- insouciant and alert at the same time. "This generation functions differently. They're able to multitask and bounce around," Kang told information technology managers gathered for the "Achieving Innovation through Collaboration" symposium hosted by the Center for Advancing Business through Information Technology at the W. P. Carey School of Business. A leader in Internet networking, Cisco was founded in 1984 by a group of computer scientists at Stanford. The company went public in 1990, and reported $34.9 billion for fiscal year 2007. As Baby Boomers scramble to keep up, the youngest segment of the work force -- often referred to as Millennials -- are taking the lead when it comes to certain styles of work, such as the creative tag-teaming favored at Cisco. High-tech collaborators Millennials are accustomed to collaborating; remember, these are the kids who even went to school dances in groups rather than one-on-one dates. They're used to working on group projects and approach new technologies with confidence rather than anxiety, Kang told conference participants. This age group is at ease with the constant communication afforded by e-mail, instant messaging, cell phones and BlackBerries/Palm Pilots. They also expect computers to facilitate daily life, both personal and professional, in a way that's still a little off-putting to other generations. Boomers wore book bags or backpacks to school, while Millennials, wearing iPods and carrying cell phones, lugged laptops. Here's an intriguing visual: imagine that a mixed-age group of people walk into the lobby of a busy medical office. Most likely, the Boomers would make a beeline for the sign-in sheet on the receptionist's counter, while Millennials would saunter straight to the computer kiosk to check in electronically. Boomers might not even notice the kiosk as they walked in, while the Millennials were looking for electronic access. Millennials also find the 24/7 business cycle of a global giant like Cisco easy to adjust to. As Kang said, "We are all working constantly, nowadays. We check e-mail while dropping off the kids at school. It never stops." For the generation that grew up with cell phones rather than phone booths, the incessant electronic connection doesn't feel like a leash. Natural-born surfers They also are key to Cisco's goal of finding better ways to aggregate and distill data flooding in from the Internet. The average knowledge worker is flooded with data every day, swamped by information both relevant and irrelevant to performing his or her job, Kang said. "Skype, wiki's, instant messaging, voice mail, e-mail, blogs, forums, RSS feeds -- it's overwhelming. We're overwhelmed," he explained. "How do you surf up the information you need?" Cisco's solution: develop new software applications designed to tie into business processes such as metrics, marketing and sales. And while developing these new products, Kang said, Cisco leaders realized the company needed to change directions to be able to produce what customers need. "Our business-model evolution has moved us from a centralized command and control environment to collaborative teamwork over the last three years. We actually eat our dog food," he continued. For example, work groups -- broken into smaller "boards" and larger "teams" -- focus on specific product lines. New technologies being sold to customers are often first embedded in Cisco operations. Launched in January, 2008, "CVision" is Cisco's internal version of YouTube, and contains blogs and video blogs focused on aggregating data, using RSS feeds to enter information into one's blogs or discussion groups. More than 10,000 of the company's approximately 65,000 employees regularly participate. Collaborating on new technologies pays off in several ways, Kang noted, including employee productivity, boosted innovation, recruitment and retention and revenue growth. He pointed to Cisco's Telepresence, an electronic version of the traditional new-product roll-out and training process. Instead of sending implementation teams and trainers from one Cisco site to another, a team is videoed introducing the new product roll-outs and training a newbie. That video can then be used to simultaneously train Cisco's enormous workforce on a new product or process. Since 2005, Kang said, Telepresence's savings on travel, cost avoidance and environmental benefits (reduced carbon footprint) total $240 million. Democratization of the Web Millennial-era employees will play an important role in democratizing the Web, a process that Kang said is well underway. Already he sees "a shift from consumption of content to production of content" by Internet users. "A woman in Saudi Arabia can secretly blog and be read anywhere in the world. Before the official word was out about Hurricane Katrina, people used the Internet to alert each other, prompting a grass-roots rescue effort. Now, instead of needing a big studio to make a video, you can slap a camera on your PC and broadcast to the world," he said. A logical outgrowth of this democratization, especially among Millennials, is the adoption of personalized home pages, another research and development focus for Cisco. Kang described a home page "that is a snapshot of your day. So you'd click on the top right-hand area and there are your instant messages, e-mails and voice mails, aggregated there. In another area, you'd click for work stuff, RSS feeds, a directory. Groups you participate in, conferences you attend, tagging, bookmarking engines that surf up relevant information per user preference -- all with circles linking them in. The focus is on user-centered design that is easy to navigate." A product central to this vision will be rolled out around the end of 2008, he continued. Called "Ciscopedia," it is a topical information aggregator, that, along with another new product, "Directory," will organize users' resources. Working on a report on leading companies capitalizing on solar energy? You'd turn to your home page for contacts to the hottest experts, an FAQ on how to get started, a video tour of a solar-powered factory or a podcast on government subsidies for alternative energy. Kang calls products like CVision, Ciscopedia and Directory "collaboration technologies." Their use: to control chaos, in this case, information overload. All three are prime examples of turning technologies into business functions, a trend destined to grow as Millennials take over the work place. Bottom Line:

• Cisco chairman and chief executive officer John Chambers produces his videoblog from his desk, using a Web camera atop his PC, Kang said.
• The company went public in 1990, and reported $34.9 billion for fiscal year 2007.
• Despite having to lower revenue expectations for third quarter 2008 -- results will be announced this month -- Cisco is still predicting continued 15 percent growth going forward.

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