Future
The Questions Unanswered
Don’t let the title fool you, there are many questions unanswered, this question is one we all must deal with, and we need to embrace the solution, because we most likely won’t like it. This question has absolutely nothing to do with technology, but technology may play a role in roughly 30 years, to help find an answer to the question. This blog post is primarily information taken from the British Columbia Labour Market Outlook for 2009 – 2019. Stay with me because the problem and or the question yet to be answered impacts every country in the world.
Now there is talk of employment growth in every country and labour sector related to technology, in my home province 1,126,000 job openings are expected over the ten year period from 2009 – 2019. Encouraging right? Approximately 60% of job openings (676,000) will be due to the replacement demand generated by retirements and deaths. The remaining 40% of job openings (450,000) will be due to the expansion demand created by new job openings that arise as a result of economic growth. The projected average annual employment growth for B.C. is 1.8 % over the above ten year period.
ironically, the majority of the population live in an area called the Lower Mainland, made up of Cities & Townships, Vancouver, North Vancouver, New Westminster, Richmond, Surrey, Coquitlam, Port Coquitlam, Pitt Meadows, Maple Ridge/Haney, Mission, Abbotsford, Chilliwack, Langley and Delta. This is roughly 2.5 million people, the total population of the province is just over 3.4 million. You can see the dilemma.
The greatest growth is anticipated to be across the province, the North Coast and Nechako areas will see a 2.8 % increase while the Lower Mainland / Vancouver Island will only see a 1.8 % increase in growth. The top three occupation groups with the most expected job openings are:
1.) Sales and Service Occupations
2.) Trades, Transport and Equipment Operators and Related Occupations
3.) Business, Finance and Administration Occupations
Ironically, the health sector is not in the top three.
As you can see, there is a trend being presented here, and it is much the same around the world. It is expected that nearly 70% of job openings in the future will require some form of post-secondary education or higher. The next issue to tackle is the cost of that education, it’s higher than most can afford.
Let’s get to the bigger problem, today we have a the largest sector of the worlds population (Baby Boomers) about to retire, the generation behind them is 75% smaller than the Boomers.There isn’t enough workers to fill the vacancies these boomers will leave behind, how will the work get done and who will look after them? Another concern with this picture is, our failing medical systems, the boomers will be a huge burden, and there won’t be enough people to provide this care the boomers will require.
What will we do and how will we do it? There is the question unanswered, we still haven’t figure it out for the most part, well, there is one way to solve the problem. It’s called immigration, starting in 2016, migrants are expected to account for a larger share of the new labour supply in B.C. than new labour market entrants. This is not just British Columbia’s problem, it’s a global problem, imagine….every Baby Boomer is now over 50 years of age! Almost 50% of Canada’s population is over 50 years old, soon to be replaced by migrant workers, that’s not a bad thing, at least there are workers available to solve the problem the work force is facing.
How will technology play a role, well….Nanotechnology, it’s expected that this technology will allow humans to live forever, perfect health, and eventually we will birth perfect babies. This is many years off, but it will eventually will be introduced and many will embrace it. Nanotechnology is expected to cure diseases like Diabetes, Cancer and so on, who wouldn’t want to live longer knowing you would be healthy.
3 Things To Watch for By 2013
In the next 3 -5 years there three major things that will force how we think and how we do business on the Internet. You need to prepare today in order to adopt new ways of doing business online in the future. To adopt new ways of thinking, a paradigm shift unlike you have ever had to endure in the past. Giving customers what they want is paramount, if you don’t, word of mouth will work against you at a faster rate than you can ever recover from. The future is filled with change, how you embrace change matters more than ever today. The next 5 years will test your ability to make changes.
Questions to consider: 1.) Does the Technology you use today help fill your sales funnel? 2.) Does your current technology improve productivity? 3.) Do you have easy ways for your customers to connect with you or talk to you? 4.) Does your current technology help build your brand? 5.) Does your current technology match your business objectives? 6.) Is your company web-native, is the web your primary way of doing business? 7.) Does your current technology make paying for your product or service easy and in a seamless way? 8.) How easy is it to do business with your company online?
3 Things to pay attention to:
1.) The 3 Billion yet to come
In the next 5 years we will see the arrival of 3 Billion people, that’s 3 Billion more people online than there is to date. This will create a sound boom, an avalanche of new content and a serious need for filtering the noise. Filtering content will be more important than creating it, and you will need to be tagged to be heard. If you do business online, getting attention and converting will be much more difficult if you don’t prepare today. These new consumers will want more control and will not be forced into paying for something they can find elsewhere. Hence the phrase, Proudly Found Elsewhere. Your Ecosystem will need to harness the power of an open economy to survive.
2.) Web-Centric
In the next few years 30% of all commerce will be done online, do you have the right systems in place to adopt that 30%? It is expected that that number will eventually hit 60%, are you ready to serve them? Do you have a team working on creative ways to adopt to the web in a primary way? Are you still treating the Internet as an add-on to your business?
3.) Mobile & Social
The Internet is shifting from computers to mobile devices, eventually these devices will be embedded into eyecare and possibly bionic lenses. More text messages are being sent than actual vioce calls are being made in the USA today. Is your business channeling to mobile devices? Are designing systems to adopt mobile devices that integrate social networks? Each day new mobile devices are being developed, and each day more and more business is being funnelled through mobile social networks, is your business leveraging new technologies that maximize presence and attention?
The world is getting faster and very mobile, the web is central to everything being developed today, are you there, will you be ready? The world is coming like a tidal wave, will you ride it or be hit by it? It’s an exciting time, embrace the open economy and the open & free business model, adopt this new way of serving others and generate more revenue than the past.
The Internet Is No Longer Just An Add-On
For years we have used the Internet much like a PS3 or an XBOX, it was an add-on to our entertainment center, it was attached to the TV. The TV has been the CORE entertainment box since it’s inception, but now TV as we know it is all but done. Internet TV is becoming the primary way we watch TV, that’s killing advertisers and cable networks. I wrote earlier this week that we in our household canceled cable for a couple reasons; we can get what we want on the NET, and two we weren’t watching TV all that much. So, we cut the overhead and will put that money into something we want online.
Business owners started paying attention to the Internet when they heard a few making considerable revenue online, the problem is, it was never take seriously. Today, if you’re a business owner you must take the Internet seriously and have a strategy that meets the requirements / objectives of your business plan. The Internet is no longer just an add-on, it has and is now becoming central to doing commerce period. In the next couple years you will see 30% of all commerce done online, is that your business? That number is going to grow closer to 60% when it’s all said and done.
It’s not enough to use the Internet as your primary source for revenue, you will also have to adopt an open economy strategy. The strategy is not difficult, it’s the way you think about that open economy, and how you will participate in it. I’ll harp on this until I no longer have to, it’s a paradigm shift, and it’s a painful shift. Take a look at my last blog post on Gerd Leonhards list of 14 shifts. My question to you is, how does it make you feel when you read that list?
Are you using the Internet only for entertainment, or is it becoming your primary way of doing business? The Internet is demanding respect, and so are your customers, they want to know if you are there to serve them or if you are just playing them and the Internet. No longer can you treat the Internet as an add-on to your business, you must begin the process giving the Internet it’s due. You should be shifting to a Web-Native model, that’s where the Internet is central to everything you do. Then you need to embrace an open economy where you give users more control of how they do business with you. This open economy is also very mobile and very social, how will you adopt this model? Will you be kicking and screaming or will you invite creativity and ask your customers what they would have you do?
Is the Internet just an add-on for you and your business or is the core platform for your business? The Internet is the game changer and has given everyone an opportiunity to not only have a voice, but also build something special your customers will embrace. Make the Internet your primary platform, the Internet Is No Longer Just An Add-on.
The Future of Technology is Integration
All you have to do is look around and almost everyone has a device in their ear, they’re either taking, texting, surfing or writing email. It’s not rocket science really, we are a mobile society, and we are getting more mobile by the minute. One of the challenges as I see it, how to get all this mobile technology into our natural way of living, to integrate it with everything we wear and everything we use. Ray Kurzweil is convinced that we will merge with technology someday, it will be in us rather than something we have to hold in our hands. Blue-tooth was supposed to be the beginning of the merge, but it’s cumbersome and still for the most part, FAILWHALE!
The traditional way we search has changed, you just have to run Google Goggles, point your mobile device video camera, take a picture, and it will auto-search for you. With the advancement of GEO Location you know longer need to carry a whack of tourist books to read about all the hot spots to visit on your vacation. Just run WikiTude and point your mobile device camera and read, here’s a demo:
Soon these technologies will be embedded in eye care, Bionic Contact Lenses, in the next 20 – 30 years or earlier, we will merge and become wireless devices. Ray Kurzweil has been predicting this for years, and we are now closer than ever to seeing the first generation.
Technology is changing very quickly, and much is being done to bring us closer to the Singularity, nanotechnology and stem cell research is already delivering low level experiments that prove we can merge and accept the technology within us.
The future of technology is integration, integration into everything, including humans. Someday in the not to far off future we will see the first Android, no not the phone, the artificial human. The next generation?
I’ll keep watching and sharing, but it raises many questions that can’t be answered. I keep wondering when these technologies are going to actually save us time, and make our lifes richer.
Until then, we still have to come together, collaborate and develop great new ideas on how to make technology solve problems like seamless commerce, simple toll booths, and an experiences that makes us come back for more. Sounds simple, but it hasn’t happened yet. Maybe when we actually do merge or integrate with technology will we find the technological Utopia.
In the mean time, let’s help one another and let’s solve the problems that need solving, while working on these integration projects at the same time.
Change is hard – Not Changing will be Much Harder
The world we live in is always changing, as much as we try, it keeps on changing and shifting whether we like it or not. The truth is we can’t control change, we hang on to it with all our strength but still the change takes place. The world of commerce and how we interact changed years ago but we keep trying to hold it back, keep trying to stay in our comfort zones, it feels better that way. I am change agent for the most part, but if someone moves the forks in my silverware tray I get this disturbed feeling like I was just violated. That shows just how easy it is to get stuck in a rut, there is a saying, the difference between a rut and a grave is the dirt on your face. Are you stuck? Do you like change or does it make uneasy?
I talk frequently about the future and the change we have yet to experience, technology is growing at an exponential rate that we can’t prevent or control. If you look close enough and you are being completely honest with yourself, we are in for a very painful shift in the next 3 – 5 years. How we do business, how we interact with each other, how connected everything is and will be, is going to turn our comfort zones upside down.
Change is hard, change to an Open Business is even harder. Open is scary because it will feel like we are all out of control, it means KAOS! The part that scares most business owners is, the customer is taking some of the control away from them, the customer is now making decisions differently and that makes the world of commerce a very different environment. People are re-grouping on the fly, they are swarming into Tribes, they are reshaping what it means to be a trusted brand, and business is struggling with this shift.
Being open means you as a business owner have to talk to your customers, you must give them more access than you are currently comfortable with today. The world is coming, no the world is not here yet, but when they do arrive they will force you to do business in a very uncomfortable way.
The world is broken up into many many incubators that communicate and act in a way that is acceptable for each incubator. These incubators eventually will all be connected and will reshape how they act and communicate, bringing about change and innovation. This can’t be stopped or prevented, because you can’t stop a connected audience, they move to quickly and resist control, especially on the Internet.
The Internet is THE Platform that has changed the way we think, the way we communicate, and it is allowing for the reshaping of commerce, not too mention bring new meaning to Copyright and Sharing. Social Media is a bad name for the future we are entering, today we think having an account on Twitter makes us an authority on Social Media. The fact is, Media goes much deeper than using these Social Networks, they are tools, they allow us to connect and share, but that’s primarily it. The Media part is what we need to pay attention to, how we get paid for what we do through being in media, is a shift that is still unclear.
We are all becoming the Media, we are going more and more mobile, getting paid will be based on getting Attention, bringing value, and making your value feel like free, that is the secret. How you view the world matters in this new paradigm shift called Open & Free, where you put the toll booth will be even more important. Pay attention to what’s happening to the world of business, what technology is allowing us to do, and pay special attention to who is connecting with you and your business.
Change is hard, the change or shift to an open & free marketplace is coming, and not changing will be much harder in the future.