MANILA, Philippines—VMware MeConomy 2014 survey results signal a need for companies to adjust their IT policy to cater to the demands of an increasingly mobile workforce.
Today’s workplace is transforming as the workforce shifts from baby boomers to millennials. These new workers, born in the dawn of the digital age, prefer using the latest technologies and innovations. As more of them enter the workforce and rise up the corporate ranks, businesses have to recognize the need to adapt to their high, dynamic IT expectations, according to the MeConomy study commissioned by VMware, the leader in virtualization and cloud infrastructure solutions that enable businesses to thrive in the Cloud Era.
“The millennials are known to be a tech-savvy generation who grew up with a fast-paced lifestyle due to technology. Since their mindset and expectations are different from past generations, they are creating changes in the workplace and businesses must be able to adapt to these to stay relevant,” said Emmanuel Portugal, VMware Country Manager for the Philippines.
Mobile mindset
The VMware MeConomy study was conducted across 14 countries in the Asia Pacific, including the Philippines. Conducted for the first time in the Philippines, the findings of this regional study is reflective of the trends impacting the workplace and its demands on the IT industry. It also highlights the workforce’s shift of preference toward a more mobile and flexible work style. The study revealed that working Filipinos, like its neighbors in the region, were realizing the benefits of technology that enables them with a mobile work style, leading to a convergence between their personal and corporate environment.
The MeConomy study showed that 67 percent of respondents from the Philippines have worked on-the-go, citing “meeting customers and partners” and “to be more productive and creative” as top reasons why they worked outside the office.
More than 80 percent believed they could maintain their productivity outside the office, with 73 percent stating their ideal workplace is their home. Ultimately, millennials want freedom in the way they work and want to be able to live their life across all their devices, with 83 percent of respondents sharing that they use smartphones both for work and personal use.
As more millennials enter the workforce, businesses need to adjust to their mobile-oriented IT expectations. Based on findings of the study, respondents in the Philippines expect companies to provide equipment and hardware that will allow them to be mobile (69 percent), a comprehensive and accepted flexi-working policy (63 percent), and access to work applications on their personal devices (59 percent).
Challenges
With access to physical equipment and network that will allow them to work outside the office, respondents said they believed technology could help them be productive outside of office hours (65 percent), have seamless remote access to work from anywhere (53 percent), and have flexibility to manage personal matters (53 percent).
However, some businesses and their IT departments remain reluctant toward this shift and continue to impose strict, traditional IT policies to protect the company’s interest/security (80 percent), avoid leakage of confidential information (72 percent) and avoid misuse of company assets by employees (70 percent).
“Challenges for businesses and the IT industry are becoming more and more about adjusting to the needs of millennials—the new workforce—who expect computing to work the way they want it to, and want to receive information whenever and wherever they need it,” said Portugal.
These expectations are encouraging many companies to modify policies and to adopt IT infrastructure that is more responsive to a mobile work style. To provide solutions to the changes occurring in the workplace, VMware has developed products, such as Horizon 6, which will deliver an integrated workspace that gives end users secure access to their applications, data and desktops from any of their devices.