Friday, June 10, 2011

Technology’s promise: Technology moves online: the transforming power of information technology and e-commerce



If you ask a child who was born in the year 2000 or even the 90’s they might not know what a vinyl record is or if they do they might now have not seen it in use. Vinyl records have been replaced by CDs and DVDs, which are fast being replaced by Blu-ray disc and portable flash drives (my Samsung Blu-ray player comes equipped with a USB 2.0 port… who needs a cd??). Technology is advancing very fast and with this advancement there are related services, which are using this advancement for their own advantage. One of these services that are making the best out of information technology and its advancement is e-commerce.  Much as I would like to talk about the ways in which information technology is affecting e-commerce, lets first look at the trends, which are driving information technology today according to author William E. Halal (if you want information on the other thing just read the book- I did, you should too)

According to Halal, the technologies of the future are grouped into ten main concentrations: biometrics, wireless, web 2.0, entertainment on demand, global access, artificial intelligence, virtual reality, quantum computing, optical computing and thought power which is defined as the ability to control computers and transmit data simply by using brainwaves. From the above list, one can only imagine where the world would be in 20 years. At the same time one cannot help but wonder what humans will have to do since technology seems to be taking over, but we will get back to that at a later time.

The possibilities are endless according to Halal. We are going forward and there is no stopping for those who don’t want to join the train. I am particularly fascinated by one of the key areas listed by Halal that deals with global access. According to Halal, before this IT boom,  2/3 of the people living in the developing world or should I say poor countries (that is just wrong sir) have or did not have the ability to make phone calls with there only being 2 phones to every 100 people. Even in the United States, there used to be a time when only 60% of the population on owns a PC and even then it is not always the greatest or even then it is very likely not connected to the Internet.

Globalization and rapid IT developments is changing all that. Wi-Fi, WIMAX, HSPA, satellites, you name it they got it, is changing the way people communicate with each other. Huge companies are horning on this power and are now moving their operations to areas where they would normally not venture due to power telecommunications networks. I mentioned I was particularly interested in this idea of global access for one reason: for the last 2 months I have not been to work. Yes I still work but I am under no obligation to go there because my company has embraced the idea that “work is work as long as you are doing it”.  My location is irrelevant. Much as I am happy with the setup, there are a few places I would like to visit but I am held back by the lack of Internet access in this areas. I thus cannot wait for the day when I will be able to sit in my parent’s house in Mamfe, Cameroon and do my job and no one will know I am not in the country.

Things such as global access can and will only be a reality based on the development and deployment of wireless technologies such as the ones we listed above. This brings us to the idea that none of the technologies mentioned above can exist in a vacuum. Some if not all of the technologies mentioned above are highly dependent on each other and it is my belief that it is this dependence that leads to the rapid development of each one of them, a sort of symbiosis.  The technologies showcased by Halal are leading to shift in the ways in which business are doing approaching profitability as we have already said above.

By far the greatest forecast made by Halal in my opinion is the idea of “teleliving”. According to Halal we should see a shift from the “dumb” computer i.e that box that sits on the desk and only responds when you type or click using a keyboard or mouse. The computer of the future will use AI and true voice control to interact with humans. No longer will be have to hunch over the keyboard as I am doing now but we will be able to tell the computer what to do simply by talking to it like we do to our friends, peers, and colleagues. Halal believes that this will truly mark the evolution of IT from the days when it was telephone, then television and now or should I say then “teleliving”.

Super isn’t it? Yes it is. But it leaves me wonder. What is the place of humans in all this? Technology is automating all of these tasks that used to be performed by humans so what is the human supposed to do. There are a couple of possibilities here but none in my opinion is viable. For one thing we can all become programmers because with all of these computers doing all what we used to do we will need someone to program and repair them if and when they break and believe me you don’t want to be around when a computer malfunctions. The other option involves moving to the Bahamas or better still Hawaii and lounging on the beaches all day—if we don’t have any work do to since computers are doing all the work we might as well take the day off , did I say the day, how about taking the whole year off and why not the decade.

Wednesday, June 8, 2011