David J. Danto

 

Business travel thoughts in my own, personal opinion

 

             

 

eMail: ddanto@IMCCA.org      Follow Industry News: @NJDavidD

 

Who Wins the Technology Revolution?

 

My family and I were in our car on the way to a restaurant for dinner the other evening when we suddenly heard a piercing noise.  It was coming from my smartphone.  We were aware that rain was falling pretty hard, but my phone let us know that a flood warning had been issued for the area we were driving through.  We weren’t planning to take any of the flood prone routes…but we might have been.  While my family marveled about the value of AT&T bringing Emergency Alerts to iPhone users, my thoughts drifted elsewhere.

A gazillion years ago I wrote a college paper comparing the movies to broadcasting.  I remember explaining how a TV or radio audience always knew that if something important happened someone would break-in and let them know.  In the movies, there would never be that urgent interruption – that guarantee that you’d be kept informed.  Nowadays we’d be informed anywhere our smartphone was working.

While everyone was thinking about how cool it was to be getting urgent updates anywhere, I was contemplating just how much the world had changed.  We’re clearly living through a technology revolution.  In my last blog I explained how innovations like the mobile phone moved from cultural oddity to perceived necessity in just sixteen years.  But that’s really only part of the story.  In today’s modern world every bit of information is at our fingertips.  Questions like “What do yellow roses mean?” or “What ever happened to my High School Music Director?” or “How do you perform an emergency tracheotomy?” can be answered -  all the time, with one hundred percent accuracy and in excruciating detail.  What does this mean to everyone?  A lot, really…

For starters it means that no human being will ever again have to agonize through The Readers Guide to Periodical Literature at a library.  That in itself must have helped retire a division at Amnesty International (and I personally feel a significant amount of justice just linking to its description on Wikipedia.)   However, this technology revolution is more than just a convenience.  The past and imminent disruptions will have a transformative effect on every part of our lives.  If you don’t believe me, just ask the people who used to work at Tower Records or Newsweek or Kodak.  Which will be the next business or organization that closes its doors because it did not adapt quickly enough?

That’s why I feel it essential to stay on top of this technology revolution.  It’s why I advise clients to adopt new technology with a detailed, well-thought-out plan and as soon as possible.  Don’t be the last one standing when the music stops. 

What can you do to keep the needed edge?  Well, if “hire me to design a modern unified collaborative ecosystem” is advice that’s too self-serving, how about registering to attend the next International CES Show (in Las Vegas in January.)  Registration is free through the end of August, you’ll see first-hand the technologies that will be in the marketplace in the next couple of years, you might get the chance to meet-up and chat with me, and what’s not to like about a few days in Vegas? Especially when it might mean the difference between winning and losing in the technology revolution.

 

==========================================================

This article was written by David Danto and contains solely his own, personal opinions.

All image and links provided above as reference under prevailing fair use statutes.