A friend of mine recently told me a story of trying to communicate with a much younger coworker. The coworker had texted my friend a question. My friend thought the answer was too complex for text so she tried to call the coworker. The coworker didn't answer the phone, but texted back: "Focused on a task, can you text me the answer?" Those from different generations may have vastly different preferences on which technology to use to communicate, as we explain in this issue of Promotional Consultant Today.

Over the past year, the headlines have heralded that Millennials are now both the largest generation in America and the largest generation in the workforce. Although much has been written about differences in culture and work style of this generation, one of the largest changes to organizations that comes with this shift is in the increased need to have internal technology that meets their need.

In a recent post, digital solutions architect Kevin Yamazaki contests that organizations must be sensitive to the internal technology needs of the digital native workforce. To Millennials, technology is important. Having internal technology in place that works as efficiently as the technology they use in their personal lives can improve your organization's ability to recruit the best employees and play a larger role in their job satisfaction and even retention. Yamazaki writes: "Tech-savvy and used to multitasking, people with the Millennial mindset are always plugged into some sort of device, and they are incredibly fickle and impatient when it comes to the design, efficiency and user experience of a digital product. If they don't like it, they won't use it."

So, how does your organization ensure you have internal technology that will make Millennials happy? Yamazaki suggests three things:

1.    Use your Millennial-minded individuals. Let your Millennial employees become "intrapreneurs" and empower them to figure out how to resolve pain points in internal technology.

2.    Examine your operational processes. Consider how your business processes could be improved if you didn't have to overcome technology obstacles. Look not only at how this improves internal processes, but also whether those internal processes could create a competitive advantage.

3.    Buy or build software with Millennials in mind. Yamazaki suggests your organization focus on "speed, simplicity, future extensibility and a well-designed user interface" in selecting internal technology, and after that determine whether you can build or must buy those solutions.

Source: Kevin Yamazaki is the founder and CEO of Sidebench, a leading digital product and venture studio that creates custom software and apps. As a passionate solutions architect and product manager, Yamazaki is driven to create. Because of his unique innovations, Sidebench has a growing reputation for solving its clients' largest unique challenges through custom integrations, internal tools and consumer-facing applications.