Ray Kurzweil on the Evolution of Tech

Using This Recession Wisely

You don't have to be an economist to figure out that any decline in GDP always translates into a decline in technology spending. During the last recession (2001-2003), tech spending collapsed as companies around the country pulled the plug on new projects and slashed IT budgets.

However, things have changed dramatically since 2003. There are now 3 times more cell phone users. Internet users have more than doubled, with even grandmothers getting online now. Technology has penetrated into almost every corner of our lives. Where once an office might have one computer for 50 employees, now there are more computers than employees. Information technology has become Business Technology.

So, while tech spending might drop over the next three years, we will see the birth of some amazing new techs at the same time. We will see:

• A new host of gadgets for the national wireless broadband networks.
• Magnetic plastics that will revolutionize data storage.
• Laptops will start to vanish when ultra-thin, flexible display screens come standard on cell phones.
• New generations of cloud computing platforms will emerge.
• Enterprise social networks will become commonplace.
• Nanotechnology will become more pervasive with applications expanding into more industries.
• Biotechnology will continue to make phenomenal leaps forward.

These are just a few of the changes for the next 3 years. The recession will not stop them.

You need to ask yourself:

• How do these changes impact my business?
• Do these changes create new opportunities?
• How do I take advantage of these techs?

Technology is poised to take some staggering steps over the next three years. You must think on these emerging techs so you can stay ahead of the curve. The changes that are coming will be significant and they will impact every aspect of your business.

Are you ready for the future?

Firm Wisdom

Would you like to be able to:

• Minimize training costs
• Eliminate repetitive questions
• Aggregate important business data
• Enable collaboration between workers
• Tap into the collective intelligence of your entire organization
• Build stronger business teams
• Provide seamless communication between departments
• Gather all your best business ideas together
• Open a frank dialogue with your customers
• Build a strong business culture even across geographic divisions
• Enable key customers to provide feedback during R&D
• Convert your customers into a "tribe"
• Convert your customers into fanatics for your products

Sounds great doesn't it? So much power all available to you and your workers, and all you need is a Business Social Network, or what I prefer to call Firm Wisdom.

By harnessing the power of Facebook or LinkedIn within your organization, you can unleash the collective knowledge of all your employees and customers. You will build a community centered around your business which will further strengthen your brand and encourage customers to promote your products.

Get started building Firm Wisdom. Find out how by contacting me today.

Hard Measures: Quantify or Die

There are too many business processes, departments and personnel that serve no real purpose. Perhaps they were originally created to serve some arcane purpose that is no longer required but no one has thought to "close the loop" and repurpose them.

I remember one client who had a Records Department with three very lovely ladies, none of whom could tell you what their job required. Basically they came to work every day and filled the day chatting or browsing the internet. They were always eager to help me with whatever research projects or other tasks needed doing, but it amazed me how they always had free time to help. Within a few weeks time, I had the complany close the Records Department and transfer all three ladies into departments where there was real work to be done.

Hard Times are upon us, we must quantify every expenditure. That means you must create a solid business case for every expense.

• Does it make sense?
• Is it necessary?
• What functions are performed for the cost?
• Can it be done cheaper?
• Can it be done better by someone else?
• Can we outsource it?

And, if you cannot quantify the benefits of the expense, then it should be cut. Period.

Hard Measures: Consolidation

Even the rosiest of economic predictions seem to be hyping us into a complete state of panic. Fortunately, my brothers and sisters in the Information Technology field have survived some tumultuous times. Tonight I offer you one surefire idea to help reduce costs: server consolidation.

Depending on your server architecture, you may have several redundant servers. Unfortunately, these devices also incur costs even after their initial purchase. By eliminating these costs you can further tighten the IT belt.

Costs of Servers

1. Electrical: not just the power they use to keep themselves running but also the additional cooling demand from server heat output. While this is negligible on a per unit basis, if you have multiple redundant systems, the totals can escalate rapidly.
2. Labor: no matter how many automated services you have running, it is always wise to have a human check over all your servers periodically to ensure proper working order. More servers means more human time that could be spent on more profitable work.
3. Licenses: all your servers need software licenses and these add to total costs of the device.
4. Hardware: obviously the server equipment itself costs something and you will need to upgrade/replace the device eventually.

Consolidate!

By consolidating your servers and eliminating redundancy you will save on capital, opportunity and recurring costs. You will sacrifice a measure of fault tolerance and you will force your remaining servers to work harder. However, tough times call for tough measures and if you are forced to tighten your budgets yet again, this is a useful tactic to employ.

Keeping Up In The Digital Age

The Digital Age means everything moves faster. Are you keeping up?

There are changing paradigms in the business world that are happening now. What the media has clumsily named "Web 2.0" is nothing more than the liberation of ideas and individuals.

The original Internet was all about "pages." We applied traditional business ideas to the new Internet frontier. We tried to abolish brick-and-mortar and learned the hard truth that consumers prefer Clicks-and-Mortar. But, the Internet also liberated everyone to publish their ideas online.

Everyone suddenly had a voice. Whether it's a website, a blog, a LinkedIn profile or a Facebook page, every person with access to a computer and the Internet has a voice.

You put your message in a bottle and you throw it into an ocean of bottles. With proper planning, you can make sure they find your online message when they search for it. And if they like what they see and read, they will stay.

Information is power. Knowledge is the Internet commodity. But there are half a million bozos online with some of the craziest ideas you could image, so credibility matters! You must provide valuable, useful and actionable information.

Just don't away so much they don't need your help at all. You must establish trust but don't give away all the business secrets. It's a tightrope but you have to walk it or you will lose.

Either the Internet has evolved or we have just discovered something new about this new business frontier. Whatever the case may be, the smart business will adapt to the change and will reap the benefits.