Technology Kills

Change in technology is great and will always be changing.  Adapting to those changes is what can make or break a company in their attempt to advance their business.  When you are in a small town and drive by a “mom and pop” store, the chances are, they haven’t adapted to the change in technology.  As recent as last weekend, I was at a restaurant in a small town that didn’t allow credit or debit card payment.  It was really inconvenient to have to pay with cash because I usually don’t carry much on my person, but luckily I had enough to cover the bill.  It is constantly surprising me that there are still stores that don’t accept card payments because the people running those stores don’t understand how to use them or think those machines are too expensive and wouldn’t be worth the money invested (even though there are really simple and easy alternatives to these credit card machines… i.e. The Square).

We have been adapting to change for a very long time.  Adapting to change has allowed us to stay on top and will continue to stay on top as long as we stay ahead of the technology learning curve.  Scott Allison states in his article on Forbes ““If the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.”  This is saying that if a business doesn’t try and adapt to changes, they will fail and this country has seen plenty of failed businesses and failed business ideas because of lack of adaptability.  (Check out Reebok‘s history is you want to see how not to adapt to changes)  Reebok has very slowly adapted to changes, but has lost substantial amounts of possible revenue because of a lack of adaptability. (Also, I don’t believe that we came from apes/monkeys, it was just a good description in picture form)

One thing that these small businesses do not do is adapt to change.  So the question becomes, “How do we adapt to change?”

An article by Edwin Mercer touches on some of the steps and the mindsets that people and businesses need to have in order to adjust to these changes.  In order to adapt to some changes, it is important to try and anticipate these changes as best you can.

Step 1- Read publications dealing with technology in your field and closely related fields.  Doing this allows for a company to see what is going on around them.  Having the ability to almost predict the future will let you stay one step ahead of the competition.

Step 2- Ask tech support and technology specialists in your office to explain what they are doing anytime they help you with a technological problem.  Having someone who knows more about a particular area teach you how to do something is how almost everyone learns.  It is more efficient on the learner because they are hearing the information from someone who knows what they are talking about.  If you try and teach yourself something that someone else could teach you in a shorter amount of time, you are not being efficient and are wasting time and money.

Step 3- Tell your employer that you are interested in staying current with technological changes in the field and would like to attend any trainings or workshops offered by the company.  Doing this shows your employer that you are willing to learn new skills that will benefit both you and your company.  People should be constantly trying to learn new things and skills to better their work experience.

Adapting to change

Step 1-  Ask a technology specialist to explain the systems in place in your workplace on your first day of work or whenever a new system is implemented.  If you wait and try and figure things out on your own, you will learn bad habits.  Learning from someone who knows what they are doing is the easiest way to learn.

Step 2- Streamline your technological experience.  This step suggests to make a list of all the systems you use and what they are used for.  Doing this allows you to look at it and figure out, depending on the project, what program to use, thus cutting time and being more efficient.

Step 2- Schedule a regular meeting with office tech support.  This is pretty self-explanitory.  If you meet with the people who are implementing the new technologies on a regular basis, you are showing that you want to learn.  You are also showing that you are trying to stay ahead of the curve when it comes to new technologies that will be applied to the office.

In the words of Barney Stinson, “Newer is always better.” This might not be a factual statement, but he is definitely not wrong.