The economic crisis caused by the credit crunch appears to have a profound impact on existing ways of acquiring and using information. Unemployment has forced many aging workers from the workforce, leaving the field of information usage to younger workers who grew up in the computing and connected age. These younger workers demand new tools and access to information the previous generation did not fully use. In Europe and the US this trend will accelerate.
Not so in Asia where the new uses of information in business decisions took really only hold after the Asian financial crisis post 1997. That coincided with the emergence of new electronic media and Asian users were quick in adopting mobile phones and latest information tools. This aspect should be of particular importance for content providers who are moving into Asia.
Getting on ‘Board of the Device Train’ quickly is of particular relevance. Outsell’s Joanne Lustig (Stanhope, New Jersey) wrote in a recent Outsell Insight report: “Moving forward, integration of mobile devices and social media will be essential for Information Management functions’ content deployments to satisfy users’ growing appetite for consuming information on hand, anytime, anywhere.” Source: Outsell Insights
