Technology and Modern Business. How long will it last?
Technology and Modern Business. How long will it last?
Technology is the result of human intelligence. It keeps on getting more and more advanced every day. Just look at these self-driving vehicles, satellites on the outer space, the computer chips which act more and more like the human brain, the development of Artificial Intelligence to this stage. But we are not talking about how wonderful technology is, rather we shall wonder how long will current technology last before a new one pops up.
Imagine a 3G phone that you bought a couple of months ago. That was the best phone you could have bargained for at that time. Those features it provided was the best in the market.
In the recent times, however, certain changes were seen. introduction of 4G, mobile computing, and massive boost on the features it provided including the lowly cost of mobile data the mobile phones today run at a whole new level. The modern sim cards don't run in those so called old phones. This is what technology does, it kills business houses like it killed your phone.
So what can you do at this point, you can buy a new one, or you can keep using the old one because on a personal level, getting the latest technology may not always be practical.
Technology is the factor that is truly dynamic in nature. The business of this century without the use of technology is impractical. In a sense, technology is someone with whom you have to live everyday with but who might beat the hell out of you and, quite literally, throw you on the road.
Technology is so dynamic that a product of yesterday is obsolete today. And it is growing so fast that the technology of today will be second best on the days to come. Changes in technology vitally affect the enterprise’s costs, profitability, plant location decisions, product lines, growth and development.
Technology can act as both opportunity and threat to a business.
It can act as opportunity as business can take advantage of adopting technological innovations to their strategic advantage. However, at the same time technology can act as threat if organisations are not able to adopt it to their advantage.
Let's say you bought a new machinery for your business incurring significant expenses of Rs. 1 crore. It can produce 500 units per day and uses 50 units of electricity per day.
But with the advancement in technology a new machinery was introduced. It costs 1.2 cr, but consumes only 30 units of electricity and produces 1200 units of products. This is what technology does, as seen in several numerous occasions where a product becomes obsolete halfway after it is launched and a new product overtakes.
If you can cope with it, and introduce it to your business, it is beneficial. If you lag behind technology, you will fall prey to the new entrants and powerful competitors all of whom will surely use this new technology, and that is a threat to the very existence of the business.
Technological opportunities and threats are not limited to the product or production. Technology spreads throughout the whole blueprint of business. From accounting to financing and marketing, from customers relationship to debtors management, from purchasing materials to shipping products, technology is used everywhere. And where there is technology, there are opportunities and threats.
