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Social tech disrupts the workplace

Regina Pazvakavambwa
By Regina Pazvakavambwa, ITWeb portals journalist.
Johannesburg, 22 Apr 2015
If employees are not given secure and easy access to a social network, they will find a way around it, says Knowledge Dimension's Gary Swale.
If employees are not given secure and easy access to a social network, they will find a way around it, says Knowledge Dimension's Gary Swale.

Digital natives think differently to previous generations; they use social technologies and tools in their personal lives and expect to use a similar environment at work.

So said Gary Swale, director business development at Knowledge Dimension, at ITWeb Digital Economy Summit 2015 at The Forum in Bryanston yesterday.

Digital natives are consumers and employees born into a culture of digital technology.

The workforce is getting younger - they are using enterprise social networks like Facebook and mobile to communicate and they want 'cool' devices at the workplace, said Swale.

Therefore, businesses should leverage disruptive technologies to foster engagement and productivity, he added.

Swale pointed out that companies should invest in new technologies and collaboration tools which will enable all employees to be more productive - those that are not technology savvy must be given training.

In addition, they must encourage reverse mentoring, where the digital native will teach the old generation about social technology tools and how they can benefit the enterprise.

According to Swale, most middle and junior management personnel who are not provided with mobile devices lack motivation to participate in business processes.

He pointed out that organisations need to be inclusive about how they connect and engage with their employees and customers.

If employees are not given secure and easy-to-use enterprise social networks, they will find a way around it and use inappropriate social networks to engage, stated Swale.

Communication defines relationships; that is, how individuals communicate with each other and how they engage with customers and the business, he added.

Organisations need to engage with employees on social platforms, initiating dialogue to address the challenges they face, said Swale. "If they are not sharing their challenges with you, then business needs to ask themselves who the employees are telling their problems and how that will impact the organisation."

Critical to the success of the dialogue is the leadership having a mind shift, they need to understand and see the value of creating internal social platforms to interact with their employees - and creating a collaborative culture using the right technology platforms - allowing people to engage, share and collaborate.

He believes there is an opportunity for companies to encourage and develop a new generation of engaged and tech-savvy workers. However, he concluded, this can only be done by using the right combination of training, collaboration and technology tools.

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