Are senior managers out of touch with your technology needs?

When you think of offices and staff in this digital age, you expect everyone to have the tools they need to do their job effectively. It’s the only way to stay productive and efficient.

However, imagine your own self perhaps: how many times have you felt frustrated that your computer was too slow and became an obstacle to accomplishing your daily tasks and goals?

Well, according to a Gartner survey, you’re not alone.

Analysts from the company conducted a study online, in February and March last year, and sought responses from 3,120 individuals in the US, Europe, and Asia Pacific.

Their objective was to understand digital workers’ attitudes toward technology, their engagement with their work and their satisfaction with the applications provided by their organization.

According to the results, millennials are most inclined to use their own gadgets instead of relying on what their company offers.

“Millennial digital workers are more inclined than older age groups are to use workplace applications and devices that are not provided by their organization, whether they are tolerated or not,” said Whit Andrews, Vice President and Analyst at Gartner.

In addition, relative to the total workforce, a larger proportion of millennials consider the applications they use in their personal lives to be more useful than those they are given at work.

“Our survey found that 26 percent of workers between the ages of 18 and 24 use unapproved applications to collaborate with other workers, compared with just 10 percent of those aged between 55 and 74,” Andrews explained.

Further, as IT workers develop greater technology skills and apply them to advance their careers, many digital workers in non-IT departments believe their CIO is out of touch with their technology needs.

In fact, less than 50 percent of workers (both IT and non-IT) believe that their CIOs are aware of digital technology problems that affect them.

Even European workers said that their CIO is more aware of technical challenges (58 percent) than US workers believe they are (41 percent).

Non-IT workers were overall more likely than IT workers to express dissatisfaction with the technologies supplied for their work.

IT workers express greater satisfaction with their work devices than do workers outside IT departments.

Only 41 percent of non-IT workers felt very or completely satisfied with their work devices, compared to 59 percent of surveyed IT workers.

“Many IT departments will be more successful if they are able to provide what workers say they need, and provide inspiration so they can increase the workforce’s digital dexterity,” concluded Andrews.