Leadership, Innovation and Disruptive Technologies

By A. Abeku Haywood-Dadzie

“This telephone has too many shortcomings to be seriously considered as a means of communication. The device is inherently of no value to us.” Western Union Internal Memo, 1876

“There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.” Ken Olsen, President and Founder of Digital Equipment Corp., 1977

The world is shrinking so rapidly and so quickly that it’s transforming into a global community with no borders or limits. Technological advancements are shattering previously unbreakable and impenetrable geographic barriers, bringing individuals closer than ever before and making the world smaller and more accessible every day. Technology advances at a geometric rate, but our ability to comprehend and critically evaluate its influence on us advances at an arithmetic rate.

Technological innovation has emerged as the key causal agent of surprise and disruption. Disruptive technologies are altering the way businesses operate by creating new markets as well as disrupting existing markets, thereby displacing established market leaders. Today, the mobile phone doubles as multiple alarms, calendars, organizers, world clocks, calculators, currency convertors, radios, MP3 players, cameras, game machines, portable computers, video and voice recorders, touch lights, to name a few. Currently, almost every service can be transacted on a mobile phone, and these services are being improved on a daily basis.

Technological innovation is speeding past almost everything and is changing the face of everything we do by reshaping and redefining social and business intelligence. It is quickly transforming "data" into "information-into –knowledge" into "wisdom" for real-time decision making. The name of the game will soon be convergence, synergy, integration, and collaboration. In the information technology sector, technological convergence—the merging or integration of two or more different technologies into a single device—is becoming more common, allowing businesses to innovate, improve performance, and delight customers.

Organizations that offer the infrastructure to design and mould the future will act as enablers, allowing different software platforms to communicate with one another. This is where you need to be a leader.

The world is moving from internet of people to internet of things (IoT). Internet of Things, also called The Internet of Objects, refers to a wireless network between objects, usually the network will be wireless and self-configuring, such as household appliances. —Wikipedia. "It is perceived that very soon, devices will have identities and virtual personalities operating in smart spaces using intelligent interfaces to connect and communicate within social, environmental, and user contexts".

Internet of things will soon be the norm rather than the exception. Technologies such as Radio-frequency identification (RFID), sensors, Smart Tech, and Nano, will help facilitate the fast development of IoT by helping to: identify and track the data of things: collect and process the data to detect the changes in the physical status of things: enhance the power of the network by devolving processing capabilities to different parts of the network: and make smaller things that have the ability to connect and interact.

Fiber to the "x" , where "x" denotes a physical location or piece of equipment where the optical link is terminated. i.e., at home, at work, and in the neighbourhood. FTTx, a fiber-optic network design, will serve as the basis for Enterprise as a Service, an advanced cloud computing service model that combines Infrastructure, Platform, and Software as a Service to push the Internet of Things [IoT] to new heights. This will lead to the development of intelligent systems, such as smart homes, in which lights, window shades, TVs, computers, smoke alarms, refrigerators, door locks, video surveillance, geofencing, and trackers, to name a few, will all be controlled by smart phones or tablets.

Technological innovation will soon take off in leaps and bounds, affecting how businesses run. Physical shopping malls will soon be extinct and become dinosaurs. They will face competition from upcoming "internet malls" or "virtual malls" such as Alibaba, Amazon, and others. This will change the way organisations and shoppers interact. Customer and retail experience will be redefined as a result of this. Products and services by themselves will welcome customers once they walk in. Intelligent scanners will be used by businesses to recognise customers and their preferences, so as to assist you in your shopping. Credit cards and debit cards will soon be replaced by a more efficient mobile financial service, revolutionising the payment system. NFC will eventually replace all forms of payment. Organizations will shrink in size but flourish in terms of home offices.

The proliferation of mobile financial services is imminent. It will balloon the growth of IoT because of the convenience it brings along. It promises a slew of new benefits for users and will undoubtedly catapult the advancement of these technologies. These financial products have the potential to knock out traditional banking services if they fail to innovate. Mobile financial services will soon enable mobile commerce, presenting a tremendous potential for anyone, particularly the unbanked and underbanked, to build profitable services. Convergence technologies, such as Near Field Communication Chip [NFC], will create a broadly interoperable and compatible platform for a variety of consumer applications, thereby addressing the lack of globally ratified standards.The only issues that will be affecting mobile financial services will be fraud and money laundering, both of which are serious problems and can be solved with technology.

The most significant difficulty?that most mobile banking services will face is fraud and money laundering. However, the answer to this problem is still in the realm of technological progress. A collaborative platform for industry stakeholders will maximise the benefits for everybody.

Technology is invading every facet of our lives, challenging our beliefs and redefining our norms and values. Today, governance systems can be run remotely.?In the not-too-distant future, the definition of an institution will no longer be limited to a physical place.

Question: Where does leadership come in here?

Leadership creates and maintains a culture of innovation within organizations. According to John C. Maxwell "A leader is one who knows the way, goes the way, and shows the way." In today’s world, a leader must be a jack of all trades and a master of all. He must possess extrasensory perception, second sight, and sixth sense. He must have radar or sensors that can scan his environment, detect trends, and proactively define innovative strategies to combat them. He must anticipate, seize opportunities, and execute flawlessly with pinpoint accuracy and acute precision. Technological innovation is absolutely critical to future competitive advantage. A leader must perceive and take advantage of it.