Having completed internships within the rail, telecommunications, and cybersecurity industries, I found patterns that normally accompany new technologies quite interesting...
- Lack of scalability: In the excitement of using innovation to solve new problems or meet high demand, I found that when new technologies are implemented, their early users often think short-term and assume they will only be used by a small audience. However, when the user numbers pick up, problems can arise because it is never effective to have a multitude of users using technologies in completely different ways.
For example, mobile network codes, which are 2/3 numeric codes identifying specific mobile network operators within a country or region, are about to run out! This is because when they were initially introduced, they didn't anticipate global usage by multiple mobile operating companies. It goes to show that new technologies necessitate thinking about scalability.
- Lack of standardisation: I quickly realized how important and effective it is for technologies to have standards. In the rail industry, ensuring that all regional rail systems uphold the same standards means interoperability and interconnectedness between regions, and even countries. However, with innovation, the focus is often on short-sighted end results and not on large-scale implementation. The need for and compatibility with standardization is often overlooked, which can end up being extremely expensive and difficult to overcome in the future.
- Lack of regulation: With the flood of cybersecurity attacks, it is clear that, as much as software, network, and data engineering have developed in a way that greatly benefits many businesses in achieving their aims more effectively, they haven't been implemented with safety in mind. Omission of cybersecurity risk hazards when designing end products, or a lack of investment in how to keep new technology solutions secure and protected against criminals and breaches, has caused cybersecurity to have a significant impact.
Job displacements, data concerns, and ethical dilemmas, among many other issues, are consequent problems that come with implementing new technologies. This means that technologists and the large workforce moving into technology need to be aware of these challenges and adjust their normal work approaches to respond to these issues.
