How ‘Hyperconnected’ are you?

Sixteen per cent of workers across the world are “hyperconnected” – using a minimum of seven devices for work and personal access plus at least nine applications like IM, text messaging, web conferencing and social networks, according to a recent study.

I didn’t know ‘hyperconected’ was a word until I read this article in Macworld, never mind that I was a ‘hyperconnected’ person. In fact so is Sands which I am sure will come as a surprise to here when she gets back from the UK.

Here are my ‘numbers’:

Computers – I regularly use two Macs on a daily basis, and by that I mean that they would on and in use for communications, research etc for at least 4 hours a day.

Phones – I am currently carrying the iPhone and the Nokia N95. I still like the iPhone for showing pictures and any WiFi Internet access, and the occasional email ‘on the go’. Text, MMS, and calls are all done on the N95 as is streaming video via QIK (check out the sidebar if you haven’t already), and picking up emails. I would probably send the odd email as well but I can’t figure out how to do that on the N95!! I have set the outgoing servers to be the ones that I use for my emails, but I have a feeling that I may need to use one from my phone provider i.e. Movistar?

IM – I have Adium (with MSN and gTalk) open pretty much 24/7. I have iChat open pretty much 24/7 – with both I use the ability to set your status to try and tell people when I am not really around to ‘chat’. I tend not to have Skype open as much, and when I do it is usually set to invisible so I can see who is around but can’t be interrupted. The main reason for this is that I still perceive and use Skype for voice calls, and I find those far more intrusive and time consuming than IM. I am not a fan of voice calls at all – don’t even have a phone in my study and never bother to answer the home phone either.

Email – I have 14 email accounts!!!! Some are through necessity (when I take a contract I tend to get a email account set up by the company to keep things separate from my own accounts), and some are only used for registration and online stuff. The AlmerimarLife blog has two that I use, my blog has one, and I have one associated to each of my web sites (M2 Associates, and Cast Count). I pick up the 6 Gmail accounts online in one Gmail, account and I have the majority of my accounts forwarded to my .mac address.

Blogs – I have two blogs that I communicate through on a daily basis.

Twitter – I have two twitter accounts (one dedicated to AlmerimarLife) that I use throughout the day on a regular basis.

Pownce – I have two Pownce accounts that I can’t remember the last time I used them.

Social Networking Sites – I still have a Facebook account and a LinkedIn account, but only ever use then when I get an email saying someone has contacted me or something.

Without doubt this is way too much, especially as much of it is redundant, and could be done away with! It could be worse though as I don’t commute to work, don’t really work away from home that much, live in a very technology ‘slow’ part of the world (the marina that is not Spain), where we don’t have WiFi ¡n the cafes and people tend not to sit and work on their laptops when they are out. My pet hate these days (being the emerging grumpy old man that I am) is to sit with people in a cafe or restaurant while they text or email people. I tend get hacked off if they answer their phone and engage in long conversations and have been know to just walk away and leave them. Personally I like to ‘switch off’ and forget about connecting with anything or anybody that I am not actual with at the time. I have not always been like that and was probably one of the earliest/worst Hyper connectors back in my prime, but I feel so much better these days walking away from all the technology and going back to good old fashioned ‘face to face’ communication – although I don’t think I will be going as far back as writing letters to communicate.

So my question is ……. how hyper connected are you, and do you wish you were more or less so?

Full Article

The research by IDC, commissioned by Nortel, found that 36 per cent are “increasingly connected” by using a minimum of four devices for work and personal access to six or more applications. These users will soon join the ranks of the “hyperconnected,” however, spurring a 40 per cent growth in that category in five years, according to IDC.

This trend will create challenges for enterprises in managing new tools of connectivity while providing information securely and reliably, and ensuring that this connectivity is productive, IDC states.

The firm’s research queried 2,400 people of various age groups across 17 countries in North America, Europe, Middle East, Asia Pacific and Latin America, working across various industries and company sizes. The countries with the highest percentage of hyperconnected respondents in the study were China and the United States.

Survey questions covered topics such as how many devices and applications an individual used, where they use them most frequently and what time of day. The survey also measured respondents’ attitudes to current communications technology and assessments of how widely they adopt them for personal and business use.

The study also found that:

– Latin America has the largest percentage of hyper/increasingly connected at 64 per cent . This compares to 59 per cent in Asia Pacific, 50 per cent in Europe, and 44 per cent in North America.

– Europe and the Middle East rely heavily on instant and text messaging in business . Over 50 per cent of EMEA respondents – more than twice the number of North American respondents – said they use instant and text messaging for business.

– Phones more important than wallets and keys . When asked which item people would take if they had to leave the house for 24 hours, more than 38 per cent of global respondents chose their mobile phone over their wallet, keys, laptop and MP3 player. Less than 30 per cent chose their wallet first. The hyperconnecteds preferred their laptops.

– Social network adoption growing in the enterprise . More than one in three people use social networks and online communities such as blogs, wikis, and online forums for business communication – with Central America/Latin America workers leading the world.

– Enterprises struggling with disparate communications . Nearly one in five respondents found it hard to manage multiple disparate sources of communication. Users in the finance and high-tech segments are the most dissatisfied with the way their companies manage multiple communications sources. More than 25 per cent said their corporate systems are slow and unreliable.

– Hyperconnectivity varies by industry , from 9 per cent of respondents in healthcare to 25 per cent in high tech and 21 per cent in finance industries.

– Multiple devices are the global norm . Seventy per cent of respondents connect to the internet at home with more than one device. In Asia Pacific that number jumps to 80 per cent. Nearly 80 per cent of 18 to 34 year olds connect to the internet at home with more than one device.

Via [Macworld ]