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Executives find the Internet more valuable than any other information source 7
Core lessons 19
Survey demographics 20
Methodology 22
GENERATION PC
Those whose career starts coincided with the rise of the PC
in the early/mid-1980s, Generation PC members are the
digital settlers of the corporate world. Generation PC came
of business age with word processors, spreadsheets, and
desktop presentation software, and it was the first group to
send email, build Web pages, employ search engines, and
see business move to the Internet. Now that its members are
40-50 years old, they are an increasingly dominant force in
the C-suite.
Figure 1: How often do you access the Internet for business intelligence?
81
Daily
62
14
Several times per week
24
2 t Under 50
Weekly
8 t 50-plus
0% 50% 100%
Figure. 2: Seeing high value for Internet tools (percent that rate tools a 5 on a 5-point value scale)
66
General search engines
58
44
Subscription search engines
17
40
Links from websites, blogs or other online content
16
30 t Under 50
Guidance from contacts in online communities
6 t 50-plus
0% 50% 100%
Figure 3: Accessing information in different ways (percent that cite daily use of an online tool)
33
View work-related videos online on business-related websites
11
31
Use a Web-enabled mobile device to search for or read content related to work
9
28 t Under 50
Network professionally in an online community
6 t 50-plus
0% 50% 100%
What do we know about corporate leaders under age As John Talbot, vice president of corporate market-
50? Having come of professional age in the information ing for VeriSign, explains, “The first word processor I ever
era, they interact with data differently than their older col- used was in business school in the mid-80s.” For Talbot,
leagues, and they also are more positively disposed to use this was a major transformation. Writing “became a much
Internet resources, according to the survey findings. more free-flowing, spontaneous kind of effort.”
rThey access information sources frequently: Executives under While many in today’s C-suite can recall their first
50 are more likely to access the Internet daily, and they steps into the digital world, many more on the way up have
conduct more searches than older executives. (Fig. 1) never known anything else. “The next-generation work-
rThey are more likely to see the value of a range of Internet force is an order of magnitude [more digitally oriented],”
tools: While all executives see the value of mainstream says Martin Schneider, chief information officer at apparel
tools like search engines, those under age 50 are willing manufacturer VF Corporation. “They’ll likely be able to
to try other Internet technologies. (Fig. 2) make more connections and access a greater range of infor-
rThey’re willing to access information in different ways: mation resources.”
Under-50s are more likely to seek out online video, use
a Web-enabled mobile device, or ask for insights from an
online forum. (Fig. 3)
In other words, Generation PC is the first work gener-
ation of digital thinkers. It’s no coincidence, for instance,
that President Barack Obama—having taken office at age
48—is the nation’s first chief executive to use email and
demand a BlackBerry.
At-work contacts 51 36 11 2
Outside-work contacts 43 39 15 3
30%
Personal networks 36 39 18 6 t On the Internet
t In print
Trade publications (print) 37 36 20 5 2
70%
Outside advisors/consultants 27 34 25 10 4
Newspapers (print) 25 29 27 16 3 Figure 6: When it comes to “traditional broadcast media” are you more
likely to access them over the air or online during working hours?
Magazines (print) 19 34 31 13 3
TV 24 21 27 19 9
Radio 14 18 24 26 18
31%
0% 50% 100% t Online
t Over the air
t 5 — Very valuable
69%
t4
t 3 — Somewhat valuable
t2
t 1 — Not at all valuable
Competitor analysis 53
Finance
Customer trends 41 1. Competitor analysis (63%)
3. Compliance/legal (33%)
Technology trends 38
IT
Compliance/legal 26
1. Technology trends (59%)
Marketing trends and
23 2. Competitor analysis (58%)
strategies
Product trends and product 3. Corporate developments (46%)
23
development
Sales/Marketing
Societal trends 12
1. Customer trends (76%)
Political trends 9
2. Competitor analysis (60%)
Potential/existing suppliers 8 3. Marketing trends and strategies (40%)
General interest 7
Continuing professional
7
education
Other 1
0% 60%
Figure 9: What is your preferred style for gathering information for Figure 10: What is your preferred style for gathering information for
decision-making? (by title) decision-making? (all executives by age)
C-Suite Under 50
53 26 21 51 33 16
Non-C-Suite 50-plus
40 43 17 38 38 24
Figure 11: When it comes to locating business information you need for your job, how valuable are the following sources?
0% 50% 100%
t 5 — Very valuable
t4
t 3 — Somewhat valuable
t2
t1 — Not at all valuable
t Don’t know/not applicable
40-49
17 17 13 19 17 17
50-59
6 5 13 21 27 28
60-plus
22 8 14 24 50
0% 50% 100%
t More than 20 t 16-20 t 11-15 t 6-10 t 3-5 t Less than 3
Ad you saw on TV 43
Other 2
0% 50% 100%
Figure 14: Do you click on the following Internet features to gather business information? (all respondents)
Under 50 41 31 27
Paid listing on search engine results
50-plus 6 27 61 6
Under 50 34 31 34
Banner or other static ad on a website results
50-plus 2 29 63 6
Under 50 29 21 48 2
Pop-up or other interruptive ad from a website results
50-plus 2 12 80 6
Under 50 41 48 10
Linked word within Web article or other content results
50-plus 24 58 16 2
Under 50 35 35 27 3
Links from a blog entry results
50-plus 11 36 48 5
0% 50% 100%
t Yes, frequently
t Yes, occasionally
t No
t Don’t know/not applicable
Overall
19 62 2 17
C-suite
24 56 2 18
Non-C-suite
16 66 2 16
Under 50
27 56 2 15
50-plus
6 72 2 20
0% 50% 100%
t Video (online video, webcast)
t Text (written article)
t Audio (podcast)
t No preference
doing more to present information in video formats for air- Figure 16: How frequently do you view work-related video?
ing on sites such as YouTube because “those are the places
where our customers are going.” I view work-related videos online on business-related websites.
Meanwhile, data management company NetApp is using
a YouTube channel, NetAppTV, to deliver a wide array of Overall
Under 50
23 21 10 7 13 26
50-plus
5 5 6 7 16 37
0% 50% 100%
t Daily
t Several times per week
t Weekly
t Several times per month
t Monthly or less often
t Never
38
I conduct more than 20 Web searches a day
10
31
I prefer to get information by video over text
14
53
I read work-related blogs daily
16
49
I read business and news content through an RSS feed daily
16
54
I frequently click on paid listings in search engine results
17
0% 40% 80%
t IT t Not-IT
40-49 22 13 6 3 8 48
50-plus 4 5 4 6 80
0% 50% 100%
40-49 15 19 10 5 10 41
50-plus 2 4 2 8 83
0% 50% 100%
40-49 32 16 8 9 13 22
50-plus 10 13 11 13 20 33
0% 50% 100%
I use a Web-enabled mobile device to search for or read content related to work.
Under 40 34 35 17 6 7
40-49 28 26 11 10 9 16
50-plus 9 16 12 10 14 39
0% 50% 100%
t Daily t Several times per week t Weekly t Several times per month t Monthly or less often t Never
Board member 1
CEO/president/managing 18
director/partner
CFO/treasurer/comptroller 12
CIO/technology director 13
CMO/head of marketing 1
SVP 5
VP 21
Director 23
Head of department 1
0% 35%
Business operations 14
Corporate management 13
Finance 18
Human resources 2
Information technology 32
Other 5
0% 35%
Company size
$1 billion–$4.9 billion 31
$5 billion–$9.9 billion 16
$20 billion+ 34
0% 35%
Under 30 4
30-39 25
40-49 35
50-59 24
60-plus 12
0% 35%
Under 10 8
10-15 12
15-20 20
20-25 21
25-30 14
More than 30 25
0% 35%