Aside from the general challenges they face in attempts to streamline project and document management – they face a greater, generational struggle.

They’ve got a good number of Baby Boomers poised to retire in the next few years – and there have been no attempts or programs put in place to facilitate the transfer of their knowledge. These are folks who have been with the firm since the 80s and have grown with – and really have the most knowledge of – the business.

They are also the least likely to adopt or embrace any new collaboration tools that may be rolled out.

On the flip side – their younger employees are all very tech savvy, with very active social media existences and practices spanning personal and education applications. They’re interested in absorbing information in any form they can get, will gladly share knowledge/insight and collaborate in ad hoc manners, and will certainly be quick to embrace new enterprise resources to do so.

My client’s challenge to us – is how to address this ‘Graying Factor’ – as he called it.

Being the ever diligent researcher I took initiative to review this syndrome – and find out how this is working out for other folks in the same situation.

It’s indeed a concerning challenge – so much so that in 2005 Big Blue decided to start an entire consulting practice around offering solutions to for the ‘graying workforce’ as they call it. Big stuff!

When you consider the numbers of folks retiring in the next 5-10 yrs it is a compelling opportunity for technology consultancies such as PixelMEDIA to understand and address this.

Like IBM – we are engaged and excited to help organizations retain employees, enhance productivity, transfer knowledge and adapt business processes.

Unlike IBM – we don’t have services such as “Maturing Workforce Diagnostic, Component Business Modeling, Learning Alignment and Learning Effectiveness Measurement, Performance Measurement Analytics, Talent Management and Succession and Workforce Evolution Modeling” at our disposal.

Therefore we’re challenged to be more innovative and spontaneous with the potential solutions. A major factor in this is the corporate culture of the company in question. There is also the consideration of ‘directed’ vs. ‘volunteered’ collaboration. This post regarding the corporate culture brings up some additional insights and challenges.

As I continue to understand and consider the options available – my foundational tenet of ‘end user advocacy’ for all technology endeavors is the grounding element here. IN as much as we need to understand and evangelize the technologies involved – we need to understand and foster the internal community of users for them to be successful. Generational and corporate cultures coexist and understanding them will be the key to successful Enterprise 2.0 roll-outs for sure.