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American workers are still Luddites

October 14, 2009 — 5:22pm ET | By Judi Hasson
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Forester Research
Web Conferencing Tools
Social networking
Smartphones
Online Survey
Microsoft Office
Information Workers
High Tech Tools

American IT workers are at the top of their game and know what they are doing with computers. Actually, this is false.

American IT workers are innovative and ready to try new things to create better computer systems. Sorry, that's wrong again.

A Forrester Research study, reported by ComputerWorld.com, is showing just how flawed U.S. IT workers really are. According to the online survey, IT workers are stuck in their old ways like desktop PCs, Microsoft Office and email. Employers are partially to blame, because they fail to understand and respond to smartphone and social networking technologies, the study said.

Here are some highlights from ComputerWorld.com about the 2,000 workers, who use computers and the Internet at work:

  • Only one in three information workers use a laptop at work and one in nine use a smartphone.
  • 76 percent use a desktop PC most of the time. One in five share a PC with a co-worker.
  • Email is king over instant messaging. Almost 60 percent say they email hourly, while 75 percent have never used IM at work.
  • Three-quarters have never used web conferencing tools.
  • Less than 20 percent of information workers say they visit social networking sites for work.

These results are alarming and raise the question of whether employers should be working harder to get their employees onto new high-tech tools or whether they should sit back and just rely on the tried-and-true old ideas that should be fading into the sunset instead of being used every day at the workplace.

For more on the lack of cutting-edge tools for IT workers:
- check out this ComputerWorld.com article

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Comments (3) | Post a comment

Comments

By Anonymous | Posted 12:04pm | October 15, 2009

American IT workers are as sharp as anyone in the world; Corporations in America, on the other hand, are NOT! There are Fortune 50 companies that make their employees carry 2 cell phones; one for personal; one for work. They don't want easy communications. They also block social networking sites; it is, after all, unrelated to work. Smartphones, social networking sites, IM's all great for effective, quick communications - you need to get this to the corporate leaders. IT guys have no impact on old thinking. They work with guys who still can turn on their desktop computer. Give me a break! These trends hardly fall on the shoulders of IT. Try boardroom, and HR.

By Anonymous | Posted 6:11pm | October 15, 2009

Ditto: The Luddites are in the boardroom.
Although I must say that it is a funny study that cites these factoids as proving Luddite-ism:
a low ussage of social networking tools in the workplace.
b. separation of work and personal phones.

By Jonathan | Posted 4:28pm | October 16, 2009

Agreed on all points with the two commenters above.

I use Facebook myself, but not for much of anything work-related. There's far too many distractions in cute little quizzes and games and far too few work-centric features for Facebook to be useful in a work environment, IMO.

And if I were working tech support, I'd much rather use email than IM for communication with those I'm supporting. Email lets you prioritize and get back to people, where IM can mean three hundred users all sending me an IM simultaneously and expecting responses in 3 seconds. IM, on the other hand, is very useful for quick discussions between coworkers on a common project. They should be complimentary, not exclusive tools.

Laptops are very useful tools if you move around a lot, either in your office or in traveling. But why do you need a laptop if you spend your whole workday in your office or cubicle? A desktop has larger keys, a larger screen, and more comfortable setup for long-term working.

Desktops and emails are not outmoded dinosaurs. They're both very useful for their intended functions. So are laptops and IMs. But the laptop replacing the desktop has been predicted for decades now, and continues to not happen because desktops are more comfortable for use at a desk. Laptops are primarily useful for workers who are mobile a lot.

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