Nice discussion and article about the CIO of Merck Pharmaceuticals exploring "the cloud" and how it stands to benefit the company, and at the same time evaluating how to manage social networks in the corporate world, and right now encourages employees to experiment with sites such as Facebook, etc. as she realizes the power being unleashed in the fact that the cloud networks can have value beyond just being fun...BD
December 17, 2007 Chris Scalet realized that the next generation of workers will likely require drastically different IT tools and policies as he watched his 20-year-old daughter studying for college classes recently. Scalet, senior vice president and CIO at Merck & Co., noticed that she simultaneously studied, listened to her iPod, sent text messages and browsed through pages of the Facebook online social network.
But while Merck is trying to identify the middle ground between those two camps, Scalet is sure that the company will have to find a way to support the technology demands of the baby boomers’ children. “There are 80 million potential workers who are coming at us with these types of capabilities,” he noted. “We’re going to have to deal with that.”
Executives are encouraging Merck employees to experiment with social networks, which Scalet said could lead to a dramatic change in the company’s method for solving problems.
The future model could involve electronically sharing a business problem with anyone with Web access “and letting 15,000 people solve it in an hour,” he said. “That potentially is a very powerful model.”“This next generation of employees will pull corporations toward it,” he said. If companies lack the technology demanded by the new workers, “they will pack up and go someplace that does. IT has to take a leadership role.”
Berry noted that as time goes on, IT managers will have to play the “good guy, bad guy” role in managing the rollout of these technologies. “It is also our responsibility to train the younger people in the proper use of technologies, to respect policy and process, and not only have fun with the new technologies,” he said
IT Faces Stiff Challenge From Emerging Workforce
This CIO also shares in the same belief that CIOs should be on networks like Facebook. BD
If you’re a CIO or IT manager, it’s worth your time because, if nothing else, your future workforce views Facebook as a staple in their daily lives. The other bonus: the more of you who join, the concerns Gary and I have about the delinquent uses of the social networking platform (drunk photos and the like) will begin to work themselves out because these people want to have jobs! If they know you’re watching, they might clean up their profiles to a more tasteful blend between the professional and personal.
http://www.cio.com/article/160350/Why_CIOs_Should_Be_On_Facebook/2
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