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The Malta Independent | Thursday 24 March 2011
ICT Feature
Nine out of 10 employees bring their own technology to work – survey
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recent study from Unisys, conducted by IDC, shows that 95% of information workers (iWorkers), or knowledge workers, say that they use at least one self-purchased technology device for work purposes. The study, which surveyed 2820 employees and 610 employers, also found that employers do not seem to have a clear understanding of what and how many consumer technologies their employees are using at their workplace. The report shows that iWorkers are using an average of four devices and other third-party applications, such as social networking sites, in the course of their typical work day. In addition, iWorkers use mobile phones, smart phones and laptops at nearly twice the rate reported by employers. The main concern here is security. Employers do not have a whole picture to fully understand the security risks it faces. Even though employees will not purposely expose their employer to such risks, some of them might not have the financial resources to continually update their devices. Another gap between employees and employers emerged on what websites are accessible or not. 69% of workers say they can access non-work related websites while only 44% of employers report this to be the case. Furthermore, 52% of iWorkers say they can store personal data and files on company resources, while only 37% of employers say this is the case. 95% of employees are already using a self-purchased device for work and despite this and the fact that employees are also willing to buy and train themselves on their own devices, nearly 69% of IT decision-makers report that they still follow traditional models to purchase employees’ devices and cover business related costs. An encouraging point is that 30% of employers are considering implementing a digital allowance or stipend programme within the coming two years to fund employees’ purchases. The majority of employees surveyed say that the technology tools provided to them and supported by an organisation is a critical or positive factor in taking a job with a new employer. However, only about a third of employers say that usage of consumer technologies in the workplace is key for employee retention and productivity. The Unisys-IDC report shows that
Roderick Spiteri Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Executive at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
most organisations need to undergo a fundamental change in mindset and prepare for what they term as a ‘Consumer-Powered IT’ revolution. The report states that this change is being “driven by the power of millions even billions - of networked people around the world who are using technology to bring new ideas and unleash the powerful innovation to those organisations that are ready and willing to take advantage”. The main transformation is that the enterprise network is no longer point to point – its not a connection from a data centre to a specific desktop – but ends with the user, wherever they are. The study also suggests that if companies modernise their policies, procedures and IT systems to harness this trend, they have an opportunity to leapfrog competitors and overturn existing business model, as Apple and Google did with their own consumerled IT business revolutions.
one personal technology device for work purposes and more than half say that they store personal data and files on their work computer. With over 255 million websites available it’s interesting to know which ones make it to the TOP 10. We will therefore look at the top 10 websites visited by internet users
globally and also at the top 10 international and local sites mostly visited by users in Malta. Finally we will look at the benefits that an organisation may reap by making available one or more eReaders to its employees and look at how MITA has recently introduced such a device.
Information and knowledge lead to innovation Claudio Laferla
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here are approximately 2 billion people connected to the World Wide Web and as at the end of last year there were over 255 million
On the web Looking at the top most visited websites on the Web, we see that the favourite three are Google, Facebook and YouTube. A couple of sites which are probably not so popular in Malta are Baidu.com,
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o you use your personal mobile or smart phone for work purposes? Do you have any personal files saved on your work computer? You are not alone! In today’s ICT Feature we’ll look at a recent study by Unisys-IDC which shows that 95% of employees use at least
69% of workers say they can access non-work related websites while only 44% of employers report this to be the case
Top websites websites. If we had to divide two billions users by 210 million website, we would come to 7.8 users per site. However, users can visit more than one site and some websites generate very few visits. Alexa.com, a subsidiary company of Amazon.com, computes website traffic rankings by analysing the Web usage of millions of users. The whole process is relatively complex, but in simple terms, the information is sorted, sifted, anonymised, counted, and computed to generate these traffic rankings. Through these rankings, we can get a glimpse of the most visited websites across the Web.
The Malta Independent ICT Feature
which primarily is a Chinese search engine and QQ.com, which is an instant messenger application, formerly known as ICQ. • Google • Facebook • YouTube • Yahoo! • Blogger.com • Windows Live • Baidu.com • Wikipedia • Twitter • QQ.COM Foreign sites among users in Malta If we had to look at the most visited websites by users in Malta, the top three are identical to those visited from users across the globe. An interesting
addition to the list is LinkedIn, a business-oriented social networking site. • Google • Facebook • YouTube • Yahoo! • Wikipedia • Windows Live • BBC Online • Blogger • LinkedIn
All rankings from Alexa.com. Traffic data is based on the set of toolbars that use Alexa data, which may not be a representative sample of the global Internet population. Traffic estimates may over- or under-estimate the actual traffic to any particular site.
Claudio Laferla is an Information & Resource Centre Executive at MITA
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ITA is one of the few local organisations where employees may enjoy an information service, namely, by having an own Resource Centre. The Resource Centre has been setup almost 20 years ago and since the introduction of the Internet as part of the daily dose of information, the Centre had to evolve and evaluate all the services it provides to employees. In today’s information society a lot of information is uploaded and published digitally on a daily basis. According to the Internet World Stats the internet has almost 2 billion users and according to Netcraft there were more than 255 million websites up till the end of last year. We should also take into account the thousands of Fora at different levels and the multiple topics discussed constantly around the globe. Recently, as part of its effort to keep all employees updated with the topics of their interest, the Resource Centre has procured one of the latest eReaders. This is an electronic device which allows you to carry a good number of books in electronic format and it also accepts other formats and material which widens the scope for what it can be utilised. The benefits from an eReader are numerous. A simple example would be to use it to give lectures or presentations – if you convert your notes or presentation into a PDF and copy it onto the eReader, you can use the devise as the method of delivery. In MITA’s case, the eReader will be loaded with various resources such as: • Articles about information technol-
ogy and its wide-ranging aspects (hardware, software, security, data centres, project management, etc.); • Knowledge management articles (related articles and on how to capture and share knowledge); • Information about latest acquisitions and book of the week reviews; • Local and foreign surveys and statistics; and • Other relevant information which may help employees to not only perform their jobs better but also to keep up-to-date. Without doubt, technology plays an important role in our everyday life, whatever our job or hobby may be. Therefore, being informed is, one may say, sine qua non as being alive. Neither information nor knowledge on its own is enough. Being informed may lead to a decision and being knowledgeable may lead to sharing that knowledge with others. It is only when knowledge is applied that one may start to innovate and ameliorate the current situation whichever s/he may be in. Why an eReader in an Organisation? With the word “innovation”, one would associate terms such as “something new” and “different”. This is precisely the first reason for introducing an innovative reading approach for employees - a new method of doing business. After working long hours on the computer, checking, editing, formatting, finalising, re-editing documents, reading emails, etc, one might get the feeling of “having enough” of the screen at the desk. The eReader offers an alternative to “where” and “how” you can feed
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Being informed may lead to a decision and being knowledgeable may lead to sharing that knowledge with others. It is only when knowledge is applied that one may start to innovate and ameliorate the current situation whichever s/he may be in.
your mind. Even though the eReader’s e-ink is highly efficient, it does not emit any screen radiation and does not strain the eyes. Also, since the eReader has a number of articles spanning different themes of interest, employees will surely find something for their brain to crunch over and also, offering the possibility of jumping from one article to another without feeling any “book weight”. Finally, since information and knowledge have been mentioned, one can conclude by highlighting the importance of “wisdom” and the “continuum” - let us continue to apply our knowledge for the benefit of others.