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Modern tech moving us forward?


Think about some of the most recent technologies;  Solar fields, I doubt the designers considered the impact on the bird population; Facebook, do you believe that they thought about the long-term ramifications regarding how false news might be proliferated through this platform; Twitter, could anyone imagine it would be such a haven for bullies; and what about TOR, the US government "internet" built for military families use in foreign countries which has turned into the "dark web" were all sorts of things are bought and sold? I would like to believe that all of these started with the best intentions in mind. Unfortunately it is not enough to dissuade those with impure and nefarious intentions. 



I continue to get excited about the future with items such as IOT and cognitive computing machines, assisting us in making better and more deliberate decisions, the other part of me gets nervous that we will inadvertently create a world of "black boxes" which a small community of people have built essentially manipulating inputs and outputs.  At face value, if our brains could compute multiple variables simultaneously, the need for computers and algorithms to assist us would be less important. The reality is we can't process or access that information quickly or conveniently to influence our point of view in the moment.



As we began to delve deeper into data sciences for workers we need to constantly balance science with human intuition. We may consider configuring innovation review councils, not designed to take away our ability to differentiate from one another, instead help the industry evolve.  For the first time in 35 years of working in the trade I see an opportunity for us to break away from control manufacturers strangle hold on customers with their proprietary software.  As service providers, let's not follow these unjust approaches of the past with the way we deal with IoT and workforce digitization. 



The next decade will be filled with change to the way we conduct business, empower our employees, and delight our clients.  Together we can create massive value for our clients and our employees, let's implement innovation with our eyes wide open.



Comments encouraged



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Next post:  in the "people" business can you really measure performance?

Questions?  feel free to leave replies or direct message me

See all of the "last mile worker" posts here:  http://lastmileworker.com

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