Collaborating at work has never been easier thanks to the slew of collaboration tools that have become commonplace in organizations worldwide but new research has revealed that millennials are 1.5-times more likely to use unapproved apps when doing so.
To compile its new “Teamwork and Collaboration: Rise of Millennials and End User vs IT Discord” report, the collaboration platform management company Unify Square surveyed 600 end-users across three age groups in large organizations to better understand how IT departments are managing their collaboration apps.
The survey found a disparity between what IT departments believe users want and what the users themselves actually think. IT believes 44 percent of users are “very satisfied” with the collaboration apps used at their organization and 47 percent are just “somewhat” satisfied. However, respondents reported satisfaction levels of 51 percent and 34 percent respectively.
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Collaboration apps such as Slack, Microsoft Teams, Google G Suite and Zoom have been adopted at many organizations but employees often choose to use their own unofficial apps in an effort to boost their productivity.
Unapproved apps
Unify Square's report found that millennial workers are more likely to use unapproved apps for collaboration in the workplace when compared to other generations. Almost a third (28%) of the millennials surveyed reported using unapproved apps two to four times per week while 71 percent said they use unapproved apps at least a few times per year.
When it came to IT's preferred collaboration platform, Microsoft Skype for Business and Microsoft Teams were the most popular at 59 percent and 48 percent respectively. However, end users disagree with only half preferring Skype for Business and 34 percent reported preferring Teams.
Chief product marketing officer at Unify Square, Scott Gode provided further insight on the report's findings, saying:
"Many of these apps don't share information, causing "islands" of communication and collaboration to form, negating much of the benefit of using apps that should be better than email at enabling users' productivity. IT needs to shift from 'command and control' to 'trust, but verify' for organizations deploying WSC platforms to realize the greatest value from their investments."
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Via ZDNet
