The Future is Here

How time flies… it is now the 1^st week of the 1^st month of the New Year, 2015.  I would like to start the New Year by saying, “The Future is here!”  The future is indeed here.  I am reminded of some of my favorite bestselling book authors, Alvin Toffler, John Naisbitt, Faith Popcorn.  These are not just bestselling book authors; they are “futurists.” These authors predicted what it would be like to live in the 21^st century.

 

We are now living in what they have predicted… mobile computing, cloud… everything seems to be accelerating.  Technological developments, market growth and the popularity of social network platforms remind me of Moore’s Law. Moore’s Law, a rule of thumb for technological progress, was coined in 1965 by Gordon E. Moore.  Mr. Moore is the cofounder of Intel.  According to Mr. Moore, our computer-processing speeds would double about every two years.  After half a century, our computer processing speed has definitely accelerated and continuous to accelerate at a speed demanded by consumers.

 

The future is here. The question is no longer, “Are you online?” but rather, “How fast is your connection?” We want more powerful computing power and faster transactions.

 

The future is here. Technology has changed the landscape of business. If you can’t adapt to the change, your business will not survive in this face-paced technology. In advanced countries, more and more robots are replacing human labor.  Manufacturing processes are shifting to automation. New start-ups are doing very well. A lot of start-ups are technology driven or utilize the internet as their marketing platform. Entrepreneurs are becoming younger and younger, making money even before they receive their college diplomas. Most of these young entrepreneurs are utilizing the power of the technology/internet. They take advantage of how young people are expressing (and in most cases over-expressing their feelings and sentiments) over Facebook, Twitter and blogs. They may use the traditional survey but they add to that the social network opinions of today’s consumers.  Today’s consumers are extremely powerful in that they dictate what they want and need.  Manufacturers/sellers need to do as these consumers dictate or lose their business.

 

To survive, we need to be a continuous learner. We need to reinvent ourselves, adapt and always think in terms of innovation. As entrepreneurs, we need to come up with new ideas that will catch the attention of today’s consumers who have become not just powerful but illusive and picky. 

 

The future is here. We should be better in terms of attitude and character. We sometimes need to borrow the “young ones” business concept of being aggressive and playful.  Keep determination and perseverance as your character.  Keep learning and keep reinventing. Embrace the future and its infinite possibilities.