Good for business?
Good for the home?
Any need for caution?
It struck me watching the BBC News this morning how we continually chase the next ‘new thing’ which we can’t live without. The feature was on technology. It’s a decade since Steve Jobs launched Apple’s first IPhone. Seems much longer! Now they are common, do multiple tasks, saves us time and health – no longer do we need to lug around a heavy bag containing notebook, diary, paper presentations etc!
From a business point of view the IPhone has been ground breaking. I’m not sure that’s the same for domestic life. Yes, definitely more efficient with software that connects all family members up but how many times have you seen people walking along texting – not looking where they are going or in a restaurant checking emails rather than talking to each other.
There’s also been a very subtle stealth ability for providers to capture data each time we log on to a website for instance. How often after visiting a site do ads pop up? Infuriating! Of course without advertising revenue a lot of the search engines would charge considerably for the services we’ve become used to.
Now the next generation of technology has been launched with the arrival of Alexa, Siri etc – Voice activation. Still a lot of teething issues but it is early in the technology. Food for thought from the BBC report was how much data we give away using this technology without knowing it?
Time will tell whether the risk is worth it.
Jane James's Consultancy Limited 