Dear Members
I’d like to share my views on technology related matters,
from time to time. The technology revolution seems a re-enactment
of the industrial revolution that happened 150 years ago-
and its lessons are valid even today. The industrial revolution
was propelled by innovations like telephone lines, rail
lines and other manufacturing facilities, but now the rules
are being rewritten, powered by silicon chips. With changing
paradigms, knowledge and experience in technology is no
more desirable, but a basic requirement.
Technology education-a must!
The need for technology seems obvious. However, I would
like to present a few reasons, which are somewhat different.
Here’s why we have to focus on technology education:
1. Find out how to use available technology. It
is estimated that only 5% of technology currently available
is being fully used. (Just reflect on this-Carrier never
invented the dehumidification technology for air-conditioning!
The IBM founder thought there was room only for a handful
of computers in the world!)
2. Find out where to use Information Technology
(IT)- match business needs and the right technology. Michael
Hammer once said: 'People who develop software do not know
what we need; we do not even know what we need until it
is here.’
3. Find out how to get ROI (Return On Investment)
from IT. As accountants, this is very important -technology
is an enabler, not the end result.
4. Find out how IT can be integrated and standardised.
Integration is the biggest business in IT these days. If
things can be standardised from the beginning, there will
be no need to 'integrate' separately later.
5. Find out the latest happenings in IT. "Technology
always seems to move faster than our ability to understand
what to do with it. And the pace seems to be accelerating.”
We need to be at the cutting edge of technology, as we need
to be ‘awake’ to the world we're building, and
not, as an old Sufi saying goes, merely asleep in life's
waiting room.
"...A crucial turning point comes when one is able
to acknowledge that modern technics, much more than politics
as conventionally understood, now legislates the conditions
of human existence". -Langdon Winner
S. Santhanakrishnan
email : itech@sandsca.com
Top
