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.
Walk for Kids Help Phone – Thank You Eileen Fisher
Eileen Fisher
I want to take a moment to thank Eileen Fisher of Enterprising Moms Network Inc. for making the Fraser Valley Walk for Kids Help Phone fund raiser event a huge success, and for asking me to be a part of it. You will see and hear much more on the event as more photo’s and stories surface. Eileen worked hard to coordinate this event and it was an amazing success in my humble opinion, $5,575.00 was raised through her efforts and the many who attended. If you missed the event and would like to get involved next year or donate funds, contact Eileen Fisher at 604 – 755 – 2993
The weather didn’t stop the many who braved the blustery winds and the rain stopped long enough to get the walk in. The sponsor’s deserve recognition as well, proviing exposure and great support, not too mention WestJet providing a trip for two anywhere Westjet fly’s.
Fraser Valley Walk for Kids Help Phone Sponser’s:
Founding Sponsor – Bell
Walk Sponsors – Air Miles Reward Program, BMO Financial Group, Boston Pizza, Empire Theatres, G4S, Motorola, Nestle Canada Inc., Parmalat WestJet
Site Sponsors – Envision Financial, Abbotsford Rotary, Galaxy Bowl, Prince Charles Elementary, Fraser Valley Pulse, Sardis Secondary
Local Media – The Abbotsford News & 100.5 The Peak Radio Station
Local Sponsors and Suppliers – Enterprising Moms Network Inc., Owen Greaves Consulting, Phat Boyz Mobile DJ, Concept9 Maternity, Dilly the Clown, Artistic Images Photography, Skynet Cellular & Valley Stars Cheerleading.
Thank you for asking me to Emcee this event and thank you to all who worked hard to make the event a overwhelming success, but most of all, I want to thank those who gave and walked. Without the support of the community these kinds of events would never see the light of day.
get involved in your community and change lives, live your life with this thought in mind:
How Many People Are Better Off Because You Lived?
Many Blessings and thank you.
Would you buy clothes this way?
Technology is getting very interesting these days, augemented reality, holograms and nanotechnology, these technologies are reshaping our future faster than we are willing to accept. I’m not convinced most men would buy in this fashion because, well, we’re shy. But I do believe that technology will make it easier for all to embrace, get ready because it’s here!
Here is a snap shot from a Cisco clip, take alook and enjoy:
Don't Just Be a Business – Be a Social Business
I came away from a business meeting today and I couldn’t stop shaking my head, it seems business owners just can’t see past the next project or payroll deadline. Yes payroll is important, but only looking two weeks out seems like a bad strategy to me, call me crazy. The other funny thing I find with business owners is, they love to be social, take you out lunch, buy coffee and go to business conferences. But why can’t they see there business as social, leveraging their current base of customers through social networks. It seems the “social” part is only something they do personally rather than letting their business be open and social.
Being a social business means you are listening to, interacting with, and letting the conversation be the sell for your business. I understand that scares the day lights out of business owners but, imagine what might happen if you let your client base communicate with you in a more intimate way. Being a social business means you are open and transparent, collaborating instead of dominating, making it easy for your customers to do business with you without the controlling red tape. Giving them simple and easy ways to make payment, providing packaging that’s attention getting and making sure the interface is appealing and easy to navigate. Sounds simple enough doesn’t it, then why isn’t it happening with more regularity?
If you ask a business owner if their customers are the most important part of their business, what do you think they would say? I bet they pat their backs raw with a glowing report on how they support and give their customers the best service. But if you gave the customer an opportunity to answer that question would it be the same glowing review? Allowing your customers to express themselves, and share their experiences in dealing with your brand (you) is a scary thing isn’t it, why? You don’t really believe that you are giving the best service and providing the best products, thats why. If you did you would let your customers speak for you, it’s called word of mouth, and that’s at the very center of what a social business is.
The more digital we get, the more it’s about the experience with a brand, then asking the very people that had that experience, what they thought and how they felt about dealing with you. This is where the trust begins to show itself, if your customers trust your brand and service, you get a good grade, but if not…..
The truth is, business owners have to make a paradigm shift, we are in a connected world and getting more connected each and every day. A connected and networked audience is dramatically different than the audience you used to be able to control. The control mechanism is breaking apart and business owners don’t know how to deal with that problem. You cannot control a connected audience, pure and simple. Why? People are re-grouping on the fly that’s why, they are fickle and always on the move. To keep them you have to do something special, create a magnetic brand that builds attraction and trust, then you can turn that attraction into a transaction.
Business owners think about this, the more in control we (you) are, the more out of touch we become with our customers. Don’t just be a business, be a social business and get connected with them.
So is your business just a business, or is it a social business? If you don’t know or would like to learn what that might look like for your business, attend my workshop April 30th. Send me an e-mail for details and to reserve a seat: owen@owengreaves.com