AV integrators spend their time trying to figure out the best way to solve their customers’ technology needs—but what happens when a new technology comes along that these integrators either don’t understand or view as a threat to their livelihood? [related]
Imagine if the world operated the same way it did 100 years ago—or even 10 years ago.
With all of the advances in technology, it’s hard to imagine we’d all as a society turn our noses up at things that make our lives better—or at least more efficient. Yet that happens far too often in the business world.
Author Geoff Colvin will talk about this paradox in the opening keynote of the 22nd annual NSCA Business & Leadership Conference (NSCA BLC 2020) Feb. 26-28 in Irving, Texas, incorporating tips and tricks from his most recent book, “Humans Are Underrated: What High Achievers Know That Brilliant Machines Never Will.”
“It’s perfectly clear the way the AV industry is being transformed by technology,” says Colvin. “That’s going to require everyone to adapt in all kinds of ways.” That includes an understanding and acceptance of machine learning, artificial intelligence and even working remotely, he says.
“There are things technology is doing that it couldn’t in the past,” says Colvin, who will talk about those things and look more closely at how they force business owners to change their business model.
“That’s a difficult thing for practically any company,” he says. “Technology, as it advances, always changes the value of various human skills.
“The companies that have been particularly successful often will have the most difficult time changing when technology changes the environment. The reason is obvious: they’ve been so successful, so there’s all kinds of incentives in the organization not to change,” says Colvin.
Evolving with Technology
The problem with sticking with the status quo is most people dig in the hardest at the exact moment “when change is most necessary,” he says.
“People will inevitably see technology as a threat and an opportunity,” says Colvin. “They can really worry about the threat part of it. The hard part to keep in mind is this is a huge opportunity and we will be better off.
“Technology has always eliminated jobs and will continue to do so. At the same time, it creates new jobs no one had ever imagined and enables the creation of more new jobs that may not be part of the industry as currently conceived,” he says.
Colvin doesn’t know exactly how artificial intelligence and machine learning will be incorporated into the business world today—or what technology will come along next and leave everyone wondering how to incorporate that into their processes, but he knows the evolution will never truly end.
“Every technology ends up being used in important ways that the creators never imagined,” he says. “The challenge for the people in these businesses is to think about it now. You really have to expand your mind.
“It’s hard to get people to think as broadly as necessary sometimes. It’s their industry so they feel like they understand it already. The challenge is to get people to expand their minds beyond what they know and what they think they know,” says Colvin, who adds in-person interactions are more important now.
