The Greeks argued that age was a precious virtue that could be passed on to youth to enrich their lives.  Socrates did not quite benefit from that before his execution. Western culture invariably argues age is an asset so long as it is youth. As IT pros of all ages, and especially those moving up the management ladder, it is often said one should understand how one’s seniors absorb information and use those traits as you develop through the corporate ladder.

Well we actually think that the senior IT pros and the CIOs in large organizations should think hard about learning from their younger colleagues. What we are learning very quickly is that there are patterns of information consumption that younger CIOs can pass to their older peers, and methods of information gathering that younger CIOs are still very attached to as their senior CIO partners are.

The reasons why these are critical are three fold:

Information gathering and management of this information are crucial components of a successful CIO’s work habits (strategic activities and day to day).  Learning what the best practices are can only enhance your personal value.

As populations age there is a tendency to lock into many of the habits of the past and fail to see potential trends and information that would be valuable to us now.  This is critical as a way to sustain our own personal competitiveness in a market. Old methods alone may leave you somewhat information naked in a rapidly evolving world

The bottom line is information is power and you need to ask yourself if you are accessing it in the right ways from the past and for the future. So we have analyzed our marketing effectiveness database in the US amongst CIOs in large IT pro organizations to understand.

The way this works is that we interview thousands of CIO’s IT pro managers and other technology influencers around the world. In this situation we have ranked (the top ones for the younger CIOs) to the left and then looked at the impact level (people choose the four most impactful from a list of over thirty-five).  Look at the significant differences here.

As David Letterman might say here are the top eight

1.      The younger CIOs consume a lot, a lot of everything. Older CIOs should pay attention to the need for a wide net of information sources.  The tendency to lock into a few sources is a thing of the past.

2.      Everything online is hot and immediate and this is most true in areas like Blogs and IT Forums when we asked the younger CIO about content needs.

3.      Tech publications (online versions) matter more to the younger CIO than the older one – who likes print.

4.      Analyst’s opinions and white papers have resonance for the younger CIO because they offer experienced views. ROI Tool sites seem to have more attraction to the younger than the older.

5.      Tech vendor’s websites have FAR less value amongst the younger CIO target.

6.      Older CIOs love the Trade Show, the out-of-office experience for an extended period of information gathering. We all might want to re-think this as the curve of acceptance drops off very significantly as a CIO gets younger. Time is everything for the younger CIO, Trade Shows are all time-intensive.

7.      Technology Information websites (like TechRepublic) work well for the Cusper or the Generation Y CIO, but not so much for the Boomer.

8.      Podcasting is a thing of youth.

We would ask you all to think hard about your learning maps going forward. In a world where information is critical for how we work, we need older CIO to learn, or at least assimilate, some of the consumption patterns from our younger colleagues. Maybe information wisdom is not always driven by experience – what do you think?  Does this seem true to you?

With apologies to anybody who ever read the Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy, set during the Reign of Terror following the start of the French Revolution. The story is a precursor to the "disguised superhero" tales such as Zorro, Superman and Batman. While bizarre as a reference I will try and connect it to the theme of this blog. Where are IT professionals looking for green content when they are purchasing?  Firstly, green is still very relevant – even right now. In work we did globally in December of 2008 we checked the value of green content.

Let’s play with some examples. In the biggest organizations in the US your IT professional’s peers are most looking for green content in the following places:

All hardware purchases:

• The vendors sales person and sponsored seminars
  
• Data Center environments: Technology print, search engines and vendor events
  
• Laptops: Technology information websites, industry conferences, vendor events, vertical industry publications, sponsored seminars and microsites

In truth green is a significant issue and requires some real depth of information. Green is important and it is something that is bringing your colleagues to events or is being brought up in sales conversations.  IT professionals are seeking conversations about green, not short snapshots of green content. The implication here is quite simple – Green matters and it matters enough to drag your behind to an event or organization.

In another global study at exactly the same time (Dec 2008) IT professionals told us what sort of green information they are looking for in brands – Intel and others were measured. We funded the study to make it 100% independent.

The top green issues in India, for example, were the following:

1. Energy efficient products
2. Promotes a green image
3. Designs products that look green
4. Uses biodegradable components

What we have learnt is that green matters as a content area for IT professionals. IT professionals want content around energy efficiency and the fact a brand is up for promoting its green activities.  In an economically tumultuous time IT seems to care more and more deeply (attending events) about green than ever before. So, if as an IT pro you are following this trend, check with vendor’s positions and make sure they are making energy efficient products, but also seek the information in an environment where you can talk and question them and your peers.

We are excited about speaking with you all this week. Our business interviews tens of thousands of IT professionals around the world every year to understand the hot trends in how they are using information from suppliers and media companies, online, offline in social groups, analyst houses and at events. We hope to show you some interesting trends from the last seven years that might help you spend your time even more productively, as well as encouraging you to look around the world for some hot trends we could be using.

It always amazes us that in a world of high technology penetration IT professionals still turn on a frequent basis to the US content centers. In the booming worlds of Brazil, India, Russia and China we will soon see a world dominated by three centers, the Americas, Western Europe and the combination of China and India.

Given the lack of communications legacy in the latter markets it is interesting to see if there are tricks they have up their sleeves in garnering information that are different to the skills and experiences we have accumulated over so many years. Time is one of most precious commodities so can we get some of it back like our colleagues in the new world?

For IT professionals working in leading edge type organizations in China the hot sources of information for servers are very, very mixed: Information from analysts, technology-based publications (print and online), and what is most remarkable in a market with some "government control" of online access, IT forums/ blogs beats online search.

In the US the same types of targets are frankly a touch more traditional: trade shows and technology publications rule, but nowhere in the top eight choices will you find online search or IT forums/blogs. In India the same targets buying servers use technology print online versions but they love getting information from IT forums/blogs, TV/radio, direct sales contact, industry conferences, direct email and email newsletters.

There are big, big differences comparing the old world to the new world. In the west we can see a more traditional view in play. Sure online is there and it is in the mix everywhere, but in the legacy-free new world the mixes of online are even richer. If there is anything we can learn from our new world colleagues it is that online has a key role, but they have not abandoned more traditional choices either. We could get even more time back if we sat back and made some changes to our information consumption patterns. The new world shows us the way forward. We see a thirst for peer interactions and online search, eclectic mixes like in India and China (where online freedom is limited).