Technology is here to stay; embrace it

Since the discovery of fire and the wheel man’s brain has not stopped coming up with innovations aimed at easing life. The innovations have become so many that today’s innovators will never be feted in the same light as Alexander Graham Bell of the telephone. Thanks to the triumph of capitalism over communism, innovations are now profit driven and therefore designed in such a way that many people are compelled to adopt them. In other words, when a mobile phone is invented, we are expected to all acquire one and those who do no eventually find life very difficult. At one point, it was a luxury to have an email account. Today, an educated person without one not only evokes surprise but pity from friends. The same applies to so many other innovations integrated into day-to-day life making it inevitable for a sane person not to embrace them. Many in the business sector drag their feet when it comes to technology, something that costs their companies a lot in terms of growth and revenues. For example, many companies still pride in having a post office box at a time when an email account is a must have while others still view a website as a luxury. What such companies fail to realise is that it is these technological advances that expand the company’s reach beyond physical barriers. For example, a newspaper may not be physically available in a rural town 50 miles from the city centre but with a website, it can be read by people in places as far as Hawaii or Iceland. Some companies that set up websites ignore the importance of updating them or making them interactive. This leaves the site with lots of obsolete information and static pages that more or less billboards with very little to offer. Such a website is like a closed shop. One may be able to see what is inside the shop but unable to purchase anything or interact with any staff member. With so many people now using social networking platforms like Facebook or Twitter, it is suicidal for a business not to have presence on these sites. For example, there are over 600 million users of Facebook and the majority are so active that they log in almost on a daily basis. Therefore, a company that cannot afford to even have a page on Facebook is basically not aware of the times we live in. The internet is no longer a luxury considering that majority of the users are those who access it through their mobile phones. Therefore, the argument that few people have access to the internet is simply founded on gross ignorance. A smart company strategist should be able to lookout for technological trends and see how they can be integrated in their systems to increase mileage. In Rwanda, for example, many hotels lose money simply because they do not accept credit cards. Companies basically have to wake up to the reality that it is 2011 and things have changed a lot and only dynamic companies can stay afloat. Older company executives who may not be well versed with some of these new technologies ought to employ younger and tech savvy to bring on board the much needed agility embedded in new technologies. ssenyonga@gmail.com