Global CIO: Accenture Millenials Study: The IT Revolution Has BegunGlobal CIO: Accenture Millenials Study: The IT Revolution Has Begun

"The first is the ongoing war for talent. As businesses return to growth mode and start hiring in substantial numbers, they will once again face intense competition for certain skills and top talent. Millennials will be the bulk of new hires over the next two decades, so conventional command-and-control cultures could be at risk in this regard. Another reason is the central role of innovation in fostering growth. Millennials are more intimate with technology than any previous generation. Even high school interns can now add value. Companies that figure out how to tap younger workers' tech savvy and listen to their ideas in a productive way will likely enjoy an increasingly strong innovation-based competitive advantage." CIOs need to be able to see the massive potential here and encourage an environment of shared learning that enriches both traditional workers and the new-wave Millenials. It's not unlike lots of other revolutionary impacts on the IT world that CIOs have had to learn how to master—except that the stakes might be higher.

Accenture chief technology strategist Gary Curtis in a phone interview Thursday night said, "In many ways in developing countries, it's like the whole PC generation was just skipped, and young people have gone directly to mobile devices and communication. And the services around those devices have evolved extremely rapidly and expanded virally. You don't see these Millenials in developing countries—or in the West, for that matter—lugging around 5-pound PCs. Their window to the world is through their mobile device."

Reflecting on the challenges some CIOs might face in confronting what could be interpreted as maddening behavior such as Millenials strong penchant for ignoring, dismissing, or simply flaunting corporate IT policy, Curtis said, "For an old guy like me, that would be just inconceivable—simply inconceivable."

But the key issue, he says, is that businesses' futures are not dependent on "old guys like me"—instead, they are heavily dependent on these young workers with new ideas, new expectations, and new attitudes.

"For CIOs, it's critical that they recognize that the great majority of all the people they'll be hiring from here on out are Millenials, and they all think this way," Curtis said. "So companies need to look at their policies and first figure out how to make them intelligible and meaningful to all employees, especially these new ones.

"It's really important to understand what we're dealing with here: a generation that's incredibly knowledgeable and sophisticated about technology--and remember, they're only the first generation that's grown up never known anything but ubiquitous, instantaneous, wireless connectivity to everything. Wait til the next generation!"

Curtis urged CIOs to act rapidly and comprehensively in integrating these high-potential Millenials into everything from IT governance committees to strategy and policy teams. "CIOs need to weave them into the whole process and engage them to help start moving the technology needle ahead aggressively in their companies," he said.

That message about the need for CIOs to take an active and open role in triggering and then following through on that Millenial immersion comes through forcefully in the Accenture study, and not just a let's-all-get-along way; rather, there's a strong top-line angle as well: "And the CIO and IT staff are in a pivotal position to connect Millenials employees with Millenials customers."

But the big gains for CIOs can be made by avoiding the command-and-control instinct toward IT policies and instead doing more listening than talking:

"Learn how they use technology and start using it yourself," the study says. "These leapfroggers have proven to be aggressive users of all the emerging technologies, which constitutes an advantage no matter what industry they're in. . . .

"Adapting to the new realities of our young workforce should not be put off for another time. Millenials often have scant patience for things that aren't working for them, and will either find ways around the barrier or quickly leave for jobs elsewhere. If you haven't already experienced the collision of cultures, it's now on your doorstep."

You can be their nightmare (but not for long), or they can be part of your salvation. Seems like a pretty easy choice.

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