Technology in the Age of Disruption
Let’s face it, as a society, we are addicted to technology. The Internet of Things revolution has taken over and there’s no looking back. Considering that 90% of the world’s data was created in the past few years and at a pace of 2.5 quintillion bytes per day according to IBM, we are constantly creating new information. In turn, we now have virtually unlimited access to that data, everyone’s data. This new era has transformed our everyday lives – both positively and negatively.
Among the most popular, and frankly overused words in today’s business lexicon is “disruptive”. Although this word now has a positive connotation in business, we must not forget that disruptive also carries a negative meaning. The technology revolution is everything disruptive; it disrupts my day and allows me to disrupt yours. I was in an important business meeting recently, when I was suddenly interrupted by a text on my iPhone; my impatient client wanted advice on a project and had my mobile number in her speed dial.
It’s no secret that the more technology we create, the greater the need for robust and complex backend systems to make it work. The Cloud has revolutionized the world by providing cheaper, more easily accessible and highly scalable access to data. However, many people are only now realizing that the Cloud is not some magical self-sustaining “thing” orbiting the earth. The Cloud still has to be monitored, maintained and yes, it breaks down. Just recently, Southwest Airlines, a company that prides itself in reliability, had a major network disruption. This system meltdown was further exasperated when backup systems failed to engage. The outage halted ground operations for 12 hours creating a giant mess for the carrier and most importantly, it’s customers. System-wide, a total of 2,300 flights were cancelled, countless others were delayed and passengers were stranded from Baltimore to Las Vegas. This widespread outage proves that not even backup systems are bullet-proof.
Case in point, the IoT runs like an interstate, one bad crash can bring traffic to a dead stop. During Hurricane Sandy, I know of a company that literally went dark for a few days when their servers were damaged. Emails weren’t answered, projects were not delivered, customers got very upset.
Today, we are more interconnected than ever, or are we? I would argue that the more “connected” we are, the less linked we have become. Sorry LinkedIn. Why pick up the phone when you can simply send an email? Why go and meet your customer when you can easily set up a GotoMeeting instead? When was the last time you sent or received a handwritten thank you? As the world continues to rely more and more on digital communication channels, the practice of making actual personal connections is disappearing.
While I am offering business examples, anyone that has children knows this too. My tweens have cell phones so we can better communicate with them. However, on the rare occasion that I hear them use the ‘phone’ functionality, it is for FaceTime, not a simple call. In fact, when I pass them our home phone to speak with a relative, they hold it awkwardly away from their ears or immediately place it on speaker. They hate talking on the phone. WhatsApp, Instagram, Snapchat and Vine are their form of communication. Don’t know them? Ask your kids.
With this digital communication revolution comes additional challenges. Due to the ease of using this technology, everyone now expects immediate results and instant gratification. How often are you annoyed when a website doesn’t load quick enough or your cell phone drops a call? How many times has a slowly answered (or never for that matter) text or email frustrated you? “I just need a quick answer…”
Our obsession with instant recognition and unfettered access has created the phenomenon of digital anxiety. Alina Tugend of the New York Times touches on this trend in her 2013 article, “The anxiety of the unanswered email” https://nyti.ms/1GDqrO7. In Alina’s piece, she interviewed Terri Kurtzberg of Rutgers Business School. Terri stated “[with] face-to-face or phone communications, ‘it’s clear how long silence should last before you need to respond’. ‘There’s no norm with digital communication’”. The ease of digital communication also makes non-responsiveness that much easier. Think about it – simply hitting delete or unsubscribe requires far less effort than typing Thank you, but I’m not interested.
Whether this increase in non-responsiveness is related to information overload, indifference or the ease of ignoring digital channels, it can create anxiety and often negative self-consciousness. People tend to respond to clients typically. They ignore sales people or things of less perceived value.
In the business world, the instant results/gratification trend is clearly evident. The good old I’ll get back to you by tomorrow simply doesn’t cut it anymore. When a customer reaches out to you, via email, voicemail or with a web inquiry, they expect a response immediately; often times on the same channel they reached out with. The longer the company waits to respond, increases the likelihood that the customer will look elsewhere. I once worked for a company where salespeople had literally 5 minutes to claim a web lead or risked losing it. We’ve created a culture of respond quickly or else. Simply put, you need to always be where your customers are when they need you.
It’s clear that with unlimited access to data, the customer is now more educated than ever and thus in control like never before. Rather than the salesperson selling to the customer, it’s much the opposite now. The modern educated customer knows what they want, how much their willing to pay for it, and they also know what the competition is charging. With the ease of soliciting multiple bids within a few clicks, they will narrow their choices before deciding to engage or not.
In his article “Crucial For Businesses To Understand: Customers Are in Control” https://bit.ly/2btQQXD, Forbes contributor Shep Hyken’s states that customer’s “expectations of the experience you deliver is higher than ever”. He goes on to state that the modern customer now expects great customer service, always. If they don’t receive it, they will disengage.
I also believe that with our interconnectivity, privacy is virtually nonexistent. Hiring managers can now prescreen potential new hires by reviewing their Facebook and LinkedIn profiles. Whereas in the past, the background check revealed the “goods”, a candidate’s personality can now be studied very early on in the hiring process. An inappropriate comment, following the wrong people or simply “liking” the wrong thing can ruin your chances of getting your dream job. As a wise manager once told me, “think carefully before you put something in writing as it might just come back to haunt you someday!”
According to Terri Briseno’s article entitled “10 Futurist Predictions in the World of Technology”https://bit.ly/2b2hSEz, “even if scientists and marketers can't get access to our brains for neurohacking or neuromarketing, can they get access to our data? With unprecedented amounts of images and data available online, filling clouds and other Web-based storage, media, government regulatory bodies and marketers work around the clock to mine user preferences, habits and even relationships.” Therefore, we are constantly being monitored, whether we like it or not. He goes on to mention that with the pace of modern science and computers, the fact that “our thoughts and actions could actually be hijacked” is very real.
Is technology our friend or our foe? It depends on who you ask. The younger generations cannot imagine their lives without it, my peers and I, not so much. Although when I go to my son’s soccer matches, half of the parents seem glued to their smartphones. On the other hand, my father still carries actual maps with him on vacation and we poke fun at him. I guess father knows best because while traveling in the Yucatán last year, Google Maps sent us miles off course. We ended up on a treacherous dirt road in the middle of nowhere.
Whether you love it or hate it, technology is here to stay. We need to accept that tech will continue to rapidly shape the world we live in. It took 75 years for the telephone to be fully integrated into our daily lives, whereas in the US alone, Pokémon GO amassed 20 million users in under a week. I used to send 500 business solicitation letters per day, now I can email 10,000 people in a matter of minutes. The tools of yesterday are going away- last year Coca-Cola announced they were eliminating employee voicemail for all employees. Sounds crazy, but so did the end of the fax machine. We need to adapt to this new reality and learn how to use it to our advantage, or like the VCR, the world will quickly surpass us.