MELVILLE, N.Y., Dec. 22, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Millennials
now comprise the largest percentage of the U.S. workforce, and
their expectations when it comes to technology are starkly
different compared to previous generations.1 Canon
U.S.A., Inc., a leader in digital
imaging and a provider of holistic solutions for businesses of all
sizes, recently hosted a virtual panel that explored how
businesses are responding to the need to reprioritizing their IT
purchasing decisions due to the increasing numbers of millennials
joining the workforce.
The panel, which featured industry experts as well as Canon
dealer Dale Dupree, vice president of sales for North American
Office Solutions, looked at how the customization and mobility
found in today's consumer technology have been conditioning digital
natives to expect the same options when it comes to business IT.
Led by IDC analyst Chris Chute, the
panelists drew on their own research and real-world experiences to
illustrate how rapidly companies are responding to this demand for
better, faster and more agile workplaces by expanding their cloud
and mobility offerings. For example, Chute's research shows that
U.S. midmarket adoption of Microsoft Office 365 grew over 60
percent in one year, from 30 percent to 50 percent adoption between
2014 to and 2015.2 In another example of how companies
are re-prioritizing IT decision-making, Chute's research found that
millennial-led firms are 25 percent more likely to be deploying
Software as a Service (SaaS) over their peers1 and over
50 percent more likely to be deploying SaaS versions of
travel booking, invoicing, payroll and financial management
software.
"Millennials have had life-long experiences with consumer
technology. When it comes to work, they expect their devices and
apps be mobile-first and customizable and meet them on their own
terms, regardless of location," said Chris
Chute, vice president, Customer Insights and Analysis Group,
IDC. "Mobility is essential, and cloud solutions are only going to
become more the norm, so it's clear that businesses need to adapt
to this changing environment to remain competitive in 2017 and
beyond."
"The millennial generation is impacting the way we work and the
technology we use in fascinating ways," said Patricia Ames, president and analyst, BPO Media.
"Their penchant for mobile access, collaboration and open and
transparent processes and communication have forced enterprise IT
environments to abandon their silos and create efficient and
more effective workflows for the modern office
workers."
During the panel discussion, Ames noted that creativity is
essential for business and these younger workers are proof new
habits and ideas can change a whole business landscape. They
take mobility as a given, and have no qualms about being "always
on" but also expect to use technology as they have grown accustom
to, personalized to their individual technology preferences.
Tom O'Neill, director Product
Marketing for Canon U.S.A.'s
Enterprise Solutions Division, noted the inherent tension for the
enterprise environment when it comes to addressing these changing
conditions. For the enterprise environment, a primary goal is
achieving standardization, managed controls and security features.
Decision-makers therefore need to actively avoid creating a
problematic dynamic given millennial expectations for technology,
flexibility and customization.
O'Neill discussed how Canon embraces a unified approach across
hardware and software solutions to help enterprise environments
optimize their digital workplace transformation to help meet the
expectations of today's workforce and support the mutual goal of
access controls and an efficient, productive business environment.
One such example is seen with Canon's third generation imageRUNNER
ADVANCE systems that now include uniFLOW Login Manager (ULM), an
easy to use authentication application, which can help IT security
administrators control who uses the device and the functions
available to that user. With the My Advance feature, once
authenticated, users can customize their individual user interface
with the common functions and settings they use, for example
setting the interface to display a particular language. This is a
solution that helps balance access control with the needs of the
enterprise environment and the customization expectations of the
individual. And with this type of standard authentication found on
Canon's third generation imageRUNNER ADVANCE systems, access to
cloud services with security features that can help users protect
documents and limit access to data is available to the user, and
with the growing use of cloud based solutions, this ability to
provide technology transparency to users and security features to
the enterprise environment will grow in importance.
Dupree, a millennial himself, said that he expects that in 2017
will see even more demand for IT flexibility, customization and
convenience in the workplace, and that providing a virtually
seamless experience is critical to achieving the ROI that
enterprises expect.
A recording of the presentation is available at the following
link.
About Canon U.S.A.,
Inc.
Canon U.S.A., Inc.,
is a leading provider of consumer, business-to-business, and
industrial digital imaging solutions to the United States and to Latin America and the Caribbean (excluding Mexico) markets. With approximately
$31 billion in global revenue, its
parent company, Canon Inc. (NYSE: CAJ), ranked third overall in
U.S. patents granted in 2015† and is one of Fortune Magazine's
World's Most Admired Companies in 2016. Canon U.S.A. is committed to the highest level of
customer satisfaction and loyalty, providing 100 percent U.S.-based
consumer service and support for all of the products it
distributes. Canon U.S.A. is
dedicated to its Kyosei philosophy of social and
environmental responsibility. In 2014, the Canon Americas
Headquarters secured LEED® Gold certification, a recognition for
the design, construction, operations and maintenance of
high-performance green buildings. To keep apprised of the latest
news from Canon U.S.A., sign up
for the Company's RSS news feed by visiting www.usa.canon.com/rss
and follow us on Twitter @CanonUSA.
† Based on weekly patent counts issued by United States
Patent and Trademark Office.
Availability, prices and specifications are subject to change
without notice.
All referenced product names, and other marks, are trademarks
of their respective owners.
1 Source: Pew Research Center Tabulations
of monthly 1995 – 2015 Current Population Surveys, Integrated
Public Use Microdata Series (IPUMS).
2 U.S. 2016 SMB Enterprise Application
Migration Survey: Watching Midmarket Move to a Cloud-First IT
Environment (IDC #US40228615).
Canon U.S.A. Web
site:
www.usa.canon.com
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SOURCE Canon U.S.A., Inc.