Use cloud technology to attract the best new employees

Baby boomers are hitting retirement ages and millennials are gearing up to become the largest portion of the workforce within the next decade. If you haven’t started thinking about how to recruit and retain this new generation of employee, you’re already falling behind.

But while millennials may make up the bulk of people entering the workforce, they’re certainly not the only employees you’ll be looking to attract. Keep in mind that even if someone doesn’t fall into the millennial age group, they might still have the same expectations as millennials. A recent survey by Zipcar found that where people live could have just as much impact on their views as their age does. For instance, the survey found that people who lived in large cities – regardless of age – saw the world much the same way as millennials.

Millennials – roughly defined as those born between 1982 and 2004 – have grown up in a world where digital technology is an ingrained part of their lives. They take for granted ease-of-use and seamless access to information and applications from anywhere, on any device. They expect no less when they join the world of work. A work environment that gives employees the flexibility and freedom to work from their mobile devices, along with a work culture that integrates collaboration and social media technologies – these are all essential ingredients for attracting millennials and others who think like them.

Millennials go mobile

So how do you successfully deliver all these technologies and meet millennials’ expectations? The answer is surprisingly simple: Cloud computing.

To appeal to millennials, you need to provide them with mobile applications that are easy to use, available from anywhere, at any time, and that offer collaboration. And you can do all that through the cloud. In fact, 48% of organizations in a recent IDG survey stated that they already “use the cloud as part of a strategy to attract millennials.”

As explained in a recent CIO Magazine QuickPulse white paper [disclosure: sponsored by Infor]:

“The cloud can help organizations deliver enterprise mobile applications that match the functionality of traditional enterprise applications to the expectations of mobile users, including millennials, who demand collaboration, context with full functionality, and flexible access to critical business processes.”

Cloud adds millennial appeal

So why cloud? Crucially, cloud offers the connectivity and computing power that’s necessary to drive effective mobile applications in an enterprise environment. It also has the flexibility to support rapid delivery of relevant functionality with all the ease-of-use that millennials expect. Being connected, it facilitates a collaborative culture where people work as a team to get things done. This all helps create the environment that appeals to millennials:

• A mobile-friendly work culture
• A better sense of community among employees
• Opportunities to work with new technologies

Combine the need to appeal to these digitally savvy millennials with the fact that 54% of baby boomers are looking for new jobs instead of retiring, and you’ve got at least two potential generations of workers to try to attract. And I haven’t even mentioned Generation X and Generation Z!

Embrace the latest technologies, such as cloud-based software, and you put yourself in the best possible position to attract and retain the right employees.

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