The IT Times Are a-Changin’- The New Era of User-Centricity

We live in a knowledge economy where business output depends on the output of knowledge workers--and that output is based on a user’s experience in the workplace. Now, workers seek business environments that match their personal lives, which are increasingly connected, always on and technology-driven. Users expect technology at work that will make them faster, smarter, and even happier.

For decades IT has strived to enable business efficiencies, often through centralized tools to lower costs or reduce time to value. Today, the best way for IT to increase business efficiency is to support engaging user experiences for employees.

In the field of data analytics, the era of siloed databases is over. The challenge is in democratizing data for employee enablement. A new breed of IT supports analytics for the biggest moments of need--whether in the office, on the go, or even at home--so that users can focus on driving value for the business. And it’s up to IT and leading technology partners to ensure that all relevant data is accessible, flexible, securely stored, and tailored to business needs. Ultimately, this makes employees more informed, efficient and engaged.

Why now?

• Workers have adopted technology- and data-driven approaches in their everyday lives, from social networks to the quantified self movement.
• The proliferation of mobile technologies in the last ten years is enabling users to work wherever and whenever they choose.
• As businesses continue to operate on a global scale, IT is supporting larger enterprise-wide collaborations.
• This continuous workflow is reliant on round-the-clock access to data and analytics as well as the assurance that no matter the device or geographic location, the data is secure.

​How is IT changing?

• Today data is a company’s competitive advantage. IT’s role in this new landscape is to support the movement towards user-driven approaches by producing more agile and flexible applications that can span multiple devices, time, and cultural barriers. IT supports this free flow of information to drive productivity.
• Faster networks, 24x7 secure cloud infrastructure, and better user experience are enabling the new school of service-oriented end-to-end solutions to enhance internal capabilities in the enterprise.
• As IT adapts these new technologies, users are able to collaborate across new digital platforms with less friction and gain access to all of their data to gain real-time insight.

​​GoodData exemplifies this change

• Unlike piecemeal and point BI solutions and traditional warehouse architectures, GoodData operates a Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), and in partnership with the customer, delivers the entire analytic experience from start to finish. Their problems are our problems.
• This model allows GoodData to reduce complexity for IT departments, helping them focus on driving value for the business user, and delivering answers faster than they thought possible.
• GoodData is committed to making analytics ubiquitous through a solution that is accessible, secure, flexible, and of course--user-centric. ​​

Ultimately, today’s IT shift recognizes that the user is at the center of every business. IT organizations that embrace this movement will empower all users to more efficiently collaborate based on their preferences while ensuring security. How are you preparing for the IT of tomorrow?

For more information on the UCIT initiative, visit UserCentricIT.com.