Burton Group Helps Organizations Prepare for the Future Work Environment

At Burton Group’s Catalyst Conference North America. Technologists, Burton Group analysts and IT vendors will convene in San Diego, CA, July 27-31, 2009 to discuss the balancing act of operational efficiencies with emerging collaboration technologies and the new ways of working.

Salt Lake City, Utah (Vocus) May 6, 2009

Highlights / Key Facts:

At Burton Group’s Catalyst Conference North America. Technologists, Burton Group analysts and IT vendors will convene in San Diego, CA, July 27-31, 2009 to discuss the balancing act of operational efficiencies with emerging collaboration technologies and the new ways of working.

Two contradictory forces are impacting IT departments: the techno-cultural changes of Gen Y and the tightened budgets of the recessionary economy. New technologies and demands for trimmed IT services seems incompatible, but opportunities exist for organizations to leverage social, collaborative, and networked workers to help the enterprise thrive. Service director, Craig Roth and Executive Advisory service director, Chris Howard will describe how the new workforce and the tight economy can create an opportunity to transform an organization.

The state of social networking within the enterprise is full of uncertainty. The use of social networking within the enterprise can address an array of needs related to changes in the workforce, the need for more effective collaboration, and talent management. However, even in those organizations moving forward with internal social networking projects, are displaying a noticeable level of hesitation and organizations are finding themselves struggling with numerous non-technology issues. Principal analyst Mike Gotta will expound on the findings of his enterprise social networking field research project.

Charles White, senior systems designer and lead for virtual worlds for engineering at Jet Propulsion Laboratory, will present on utilizing virtual worlds for innovation. NASA has used simulator worlds as training environments for many years, but now virtual worlds offer new opportunities to interact with the public and create a new canvas to visualize real scientific data. White will share observations and lessons learned from Jet Propulsion Laboratory's entry into virtual space with their Explorer Island in Second Life.

Workers are blurring the boundaries between their personal and professional lives. Nowhere is this more evident than with the use of social applications on mobile devices. Principal analyst Mike Gotta and senior analyst Paul DeBeasi examine how enterprises need to evaluate the use of mobile devices for personal and professional activities. In particular, how should the enterprise react to workers who use social applications on these devices and how will it impact the enterprise?

Renowned for in-depth discussion of substantive IT issues, Catalyst brings together over 2,000 attendees from Fortune 500 and Global 2,000 companies to learn about and discuss significant technology topics and complex issues facing enterprise IT organizations.