Net Generation and the Changing Office

With every new generation comes an increased technology savvy and evolving work approach. But the Net Generation – the first group of “digital natives” – is shaking up the office workplace such as no other age bracket.

 

It often feels like this group was born with cell phones and handheld gaming devices in their hands, and can’t imagine working without keyboard and mouse at the ready.

 

And these natural born techies see paper as archaic. This permeates their personal lives – try and find someone in their twenties who gets their daily news from a newspaper. They are also a prime audience for digital devices like Amazon’s Kindle.

 

Paper as archaic also extends to their work lives where they are as comfortable reading a document on a monitor as baby boomers are reading the same document in hardcopy. Paper in the workplace also strikes against the environmental instincts of this age group.

 

Industry researcher IDC says the Net Generation “feels that their companies have not yet adopted electronic processes.” This is a risky position for organizations that want to attract the best and brightest.

 

Here are three steps organizations can take right now to help the Net Generation thrive in the workplace – and contribute to their potential.

• Start the transition away from paper. Document scanning software can help you connect paper-based information directly into the applications that run your businesses. It delivers easily proven ROI – there’s no reason to wait.
  
• Look for software that enables staffers to work with electronic documents like they do with hardcopy information. Adding annotations, signatures, highlights, blackouts and whiteouts to scanned documents. Tapping optical character recognition (OCR) to create easily searchable text.
  
• Embrace the Net Generation as tech mentors in the office. This is a perfect opportunity where the students can become the teachers. Let them experiment in ways to drive paper out of workflows – and lead and teach the rest of the organization.

 

Comments

[office space]

Excellent entry! I'm been looking for topics as interesting as this. Looking forward to your next post.

Margarette Smith

[business card scanner]

I know EXACTLY what you mean! When I first got to the office I know work at I was amazed- no sticky-notes, not a pencil in sight!!! I always write everything 3 times so I don't forget - imagine how hard it was! Now I found the "digital" sticky notes I can install on my desktop- and it's great. But mostly important it is so much greener!

[Nike Air Max 90]

Hello!!It is my horour to see you blog.Iam agree with you,Ithink friendship is very important,so we must have a lot friend,History repeated proof: friend, health than leadership than performance than IQ, eq, holiday greetings than usual, as an important than. Space than the ground is good, to visit friends, no tickets. If you want to buy a shoes, Please come here Nike Air Max 90.
http://www.buynikeairmax90.com
http://www.uggbootstore.org
http://www.uggbootsvv.com

[records management]

I loved the part where you said that "paper is archaic". I deem that our next generation won't be reading real books at all. Everything is shifting today to the Kindles and to an online literature.

[Clinton Harvin]

The paperless office is now on the rise, and it is a great option to have. Less papers and being digital will help you maintain your files at a lower cost and this system comes with a back-up when emergencies happen. Just beware of hackers that may steal your files, though.