Embracing Digital Humanism - Smarter With Gartner.pdf

16/07/2015 EmbracingDigitalHumanismSmarterWithGartner

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June 5, 2015Contributor: Christy Pettey (http://blogs.gartner.com/smarterwithgartner/author/cpettey/)

By 2020, our planet will be home to 30 billion things with embedded intelligencecombined with nearly 8 billion smart devices. That means by 2020, there will be aratio of approximately six intelligent devices/things for every human on theplanet.

In a world of digital business, IT leaders will need to orchestrate all these newdevices, new data streams and new experiences to create value. But whatprinciples will these IT leaders apply?

The emerging digital world requires human-centric digital leadership. Digitalhumanism is the notion that people are the central focus in the manifestation ofdigital businesses (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/digital-business/) anddigital workplaces (http://www.gartner.com/it-glossary/digital-workplace/).Businesses who embrace digital humanism use technology to redefine the waypeople achieve their goals and enable people to achieve things not previouslypossible.

Digital humanism stands in contrast to digital machinism a view that sees theminimization of human involvement through automation as the central focus oftechnology. This perspective is driven by the belief that technology is valuablewhen it allows people to spend less time on mundane, repetitive and inefficienttasks.

We must recognize the profound impact digital technology is having in the work,the way we shop, the way we interact, the way we live, said Brian Prentice(http://www.gartner.com/analyst/25995), research vice president at Gartner.Businesses should seek to understand how our shared humanity can define thesystems they create and control. Doing so not only allows people a sense ofmastery over technology, but it provides direct benefits to the business thatdigital machinist-driven automation simply cant.

Embracing Digital HumanismDigital humanism seeks to enable people to achieve thingsthey never believed possible or redefine the way their goalscan be achieved
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Digital humanism drives innovation. One of the key factors propelling digitalhumanism is a common view that digital technology, while having had aprofoundly positive impact on society, has also been the source of muchcomplexity in our modern lives. More organizations are recognizing that targetingthat complexity through humanized digital systems is a significant source ofinnovation opportunity.

Digital humanism is aligned to the emerging workplace. Businesses canpromote workforce effectiveness by accommodating digital lifestyles andchanging work models. Theres a unique opportunity to build new or optimizeexisting systems by empowering high-impact workers, said Mr. Prentice. Thisis in contrast to the digital machinist, who believes businesses should usetechnology to optimize business processes with a limited consideration for thepeople who use the systems.

Take this example: a U.S.-based hospital recently needed a system to improveoperational efficiency in its intensive care unit (ICU). Normally, such a systemwould have been designed exclusively by hospital administrators and the ITorganization. In this case, the hospital researched how the nursing staff operatedand used those findings to deliver a system that was most efficient. By framingthe system through the lens of its ICU nurses the hospital avoided imposing anexpensive system that would have ultimately failed through lack of use orreduced productivity.

In 1922, noted physician Havelock Ellis remarked, The greatest task beforecivilization at present is to make machines what they ought to be, the slaves,instead of the masters of men. Nearly 100 years later, businesses are stillcontending with this philosophy, perhaps more than ever. Businesses must casttheir vote for digital humanism or risk putting the machine in power.

Gartner clients can also access more information and advice in the report, DigitalHumanism is a Key to Digital Success(http://www.gartner.com/document/2970619). This is part of the Gartner SpecialReport Digital Business: Digital Humanism Makes People Better, Not TechnologyBetter (http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/digital-business/) whichexplains how CIOs and business leaders must integrate human-centric digitalleadership into their overall strategic plans to drive successful digital strategies.

2015 Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates. All rights reserved. Gartner is a registered trademark ofGartner, Inc. or its affiliates.
http://www.gartner.com/document/2970619http://www.gartner.com/technology/research/digital-business/

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