The race for skilled workers

The IT Revolution 2.0 revolves around people and their organizations, and how they can optimize technology to achieve skyrocketing productivity as well as innovation. "IT is a tool. Whether tools impact productivity positively or negatively depends on how people use them," points out Marion Brivot, assistant professor at Concordia University's John Molson School of Business.

In this phase of the IT revolution, HR functions play a vital role. Technology is ubiquitous, but a strong foundation in IT literacy is not. "Technology is creating information, but also information overload," says Animesh Animesh, assistant professor of information systems at the Desautels Faculty of Management at McGill University. "Now we have different technology to filter the information to make it faster for people to find relevant information." Attracting and retaining managers and staff that thrive in these conditions is the core function of HR today.

Read full article: Financial Post, January 13, 2011