The basic difference between the two is this: technology can be used to protect something that has value or that is valuable in the eyes of the people who are using it. Technology can’t be used to protect something that has no value at all.
So, let’s take a look at why this matters first before we continue with our discussion of what makes technology important in business:
The Importance of Technology in Business
The other day I was chatting with a friend, and we were talking about the history of technology. We started off talking about the Internet, and how it changed our lives. At the time, it certainly did. It wasn’t just about exchanging information for money; we could experiment and discover new things without the hassle of having to leave our desks. It was exciting to learn how to develop software from scratch from a programmer who had never written one before, purchase something you didn’t really need (and then resell it at a reasonable discount) from a computer store that had gone out of business years before, or go to a museum that had been built on something else (the Smithsonian’s National Air and Space Museum is an important example).
As I mentioned earlier in this post, technology has enabled us to be more productive in many ways. One very interesting effect of this comes in the form of “technology addiction” (which can be summarized as:
• You don’t have time to work on your project or job because you are busy playing with your phone
• You don’t have time to work on your project because you are busy playing with your app
When the two are combined together, it can lead into a very dangerous position: when you feel like you have no choice but to build something for yourself because you feel like it is more important than just doing your job or job well — which is exactly what happens when technology meets our natural inclination towards self-indulgence.
The good news is that we can avoid this trap by thinking of technology as something that has its own best interests in mind. You do not want people to get addicted to technology — they will always have other things going on in their lives too; they will always have work waiting for them or jobs they need to do; they will always have family or friends who care about them more than an app can say. So let us stop building tools that add value instead of value-addition tools (that do not add value). Let us build tools that help us do what we want without adding value at all! Let us build tools that help us appreciate what we already love without making any additional effort! Let me try some examples:
• The Pomodoro Technique
This simple technique has become popular over the last decade due solely to its simplicity and effectiveness (and yes, there is an argument for using this technique even if
The Protection of Financial Data
The National Security Agency (NSA) has been a thorn in the side of computer users for decades. Mostly due to the fact that they have access to data on US internet users, including email messages and web browsing, as well as information encrypted by Apple’s Safari browser.
This access has prompted many companies and individuals to take steps to protect their sensitive data. If you are worried about your data being compromised by the NSA, there are several places you can go for help:
• TopSecretDataMinder – A browser extension that keeps track of all your web history (including emails and other communication) and encrypts it so it cannot be read by anyone but yourself. It does not keep any logs or store your data anywhere.
• Yubico – A free alternative to Google’s Chrome browser with strong security features that is also available for Windows, Mac OSX and Linux (a no-cost trial version is also available). Yubico’s encryption technology can be used in combination with a VPN that can encrypt your entire internet connection from anywhere around the world.
• TrueCrypt – A free open-source file encryption tool created specifically for protecting personal data against digital intruders.
There are however some limits on what kinds of sensitive data can be safely stored on a computer system or in a cloud storage account (e.g., medical records or personal financial information). Some of these limitations include:
• In order to use the TrueCrypt software, you must first create a valid TrueCrypt key file which you own or have full legal right to use (i.e., do not allow a third party to copy or distribute it). The key file must be stored on an unencrypted disk drive or erased at regular intervals using specialized software (e.g., after every reboot).
• You may only create one TrueCrypt key file per computer system; sharing one key file across multiple hardware platforms is not allowed. This means that if you own both Windows 8 and Windows 10 operating systems, you cannot share TrueCrypt files between them because they would conflict in their encryption settings—and vice versa if you own both Mac OSX versions 7 and 8 operating systems—it is possible however that this will not be an issue depending on how many different platforms you have running; it would only depend on how many computers each platform is running on if they were running on the same hardware platform itself so would potentially conflict with each other anyway anyway
The Protection of Proprietary Information
In the early days of the internet, there was a general assumption that “porn is bad”. That is, it was assumed that pornographic domain names were inherently evil and should be avoided. The idea being that any internet user who viewed pornographic sites would have some level of mental health disorder or moral lapse. If they did not, they must have done something wrong in their life.
In fact, people actually used to try to block porn sites with technical measures like DNS servers (the way you get around blocking porn sites today). It was a way of trying to protect oneself from potentially harmful content while still having access to legitimate content.
However, as new technologies and services have become available over the last few decades, the popularity of pornography has dropped dramatically (especially on mobile devices). The main reason for this is because there is no longer an excuse for people to not want to look at porn (or any adult content) because it is only a few clicks away on their phone or tablet.
The same thing has happened with many other popular forms of media: music, movies and books all had a rough start due to censorship laws in countries where it was illegal, but those laws are slowly becoming irrelevant as new technology advances make it easier and easier for people all over the world to consume their favorite media.
As more and more information gets put online (and will continue to do so), there will continue to be less filters between what people see and what they hear — particularly when we start using technology in our daily lives instead of relying on traditional methods like censorship.
This means that technology is going to play an even greater role in business than previously thought. Whether you are an entrepreneur or a small business owner looking for ways to protect your valuable intellectual property (think patents or trademarks), or perhaps even just a small business looking for ways to increase sales by customer-contactable customer service representatives or help desks (consumers will increasingly use technology itself rather than just using your company’s name), then you need to consider how your company can leverage this trend into new revenue streams.
The Competitive Advantage of Technology
A new white paper from Business Objects outlines the competitive advantage of technology. The key takeaways:
1. Technology is not a simple commodity that can be purchased from any store on the planet. Technology is complex and needs to be supported by highly skilled developers and business professionals who understand how to use it to its full potential.
2. It takes time, energy and money to implement technology into your organization — and that time, energy and money are spent on things you don’t care about (e.g., your employees know they need to learn Ruby or Django or NodeJS, but they don’t realize they have no idea in which order they should learn them).
3. The most successful companies make technology a core part of their strategy — either through internal investment (e.g., Google) or external investment (e.g., Microsoft).
4. At the heart of every company there are three things: people, capital and technology — any two of which can be developed at different times, in different ways and for different reasons by different people with different skillsets. These three things define the competitive advantage of any company — whether it’s a small startup or an enterprise with hundreds of employees spread across a number of countries and thousands of customers around the world.
5. Companies that invest in technology need to make sure that their engineers aren’t just building custom solutions but are also building products that will solve real problems for real customers — products that are also relevant for developers who want to get involved in developing these solutions for real users outside their own companies too (i.e., what we call Good Times).
Conclusion
The investments that businesses make in technology are a testament to their confidence on the future. It was only a matter of time before companies started investing in technology to stay competitive. Today, the tools and applications available today can support some of our most important business processes, allowing us to make better decisions faster and more efficiently.
In this post I will take you through the top five reasons why technology is important in business:
1) Technology can help reduce costs 2) Technology can help increase productivity 3) Technology can help reduce downtime 4) Technology can help improve communication 5) Technology can help create new products or services