The latest YouTube sensation that went viral involved CCTV footage of people walking whilst glued to their phones. It was hilarious with one clip of a woman falling into a pond.
Now this clip is humorous but imagine these people crossing the road especially onto a pedestrian crossing without looking and you have the prediction of calamity.
I read this weekend about a new technology gadget that alerts a driver when they are 20 metres from a pedestrian crossing and someone is about to cross onto it. Probably on their phone as well. The driver’s car stops automatically and everyone is safe.
This is another reminder that technology change is happening gradually and will affect all of us at some stage. If this worries you, then read on for some tips to prepare yourself.
- Learn a new piece of software each quarter that improves your productivity.
- Always look for a digital channel when evolving and improving your business
- Rid yourself of paper, digitise everything over time.
- Upgrade your technology each half year, something new and shiny
- Once a process has a known procedure, it will fall to Automated Intelligence of some sort. So move onto the next thing and delegate it.
- If a better person for the job you had in mind is on a lower hourly rate than you, then don’t do it. Pay for that person to do it and move onto something else.
- Realise where you can excel doing something that automation won’t cope with. Then do more of it. Selling, negotiating, creativity, influencing, creating.
- Being live is becoming more sought after, so don’t discount face to face contact with you. Video conferencing, virtual reality allow you to appear anywhere with little cost or inconvenience, so put your live appearance as an exclusive that further adds value.
Fintech, robo advice takeover has been much taunted recently and used dramatically to concern us. But the gravest danger is automation taking over some of our job, not all of it. Let’s learn to embrace it not fight it.
