There is inspiration to find in every situation whether it’s good, bad, or indifferent and if you can’t see it, then you aren’t looking hard enough. This is true and probably underpins the paradigm ‘live everyday to the full’. But in reality, how many times have you wished that you could use technology to fast-forward time; to get through the dull stuff in order to get to the good stuff?
I have, on many occasions; sometimes I’m desperate to see what comes next, and other times it’s because I would rather skip something I’d rather not be doing. Both reasons have the same objective, I want to spend my time doing the things I believe are important.
Would you fast-forward through life?
In 2006, Michael Newman found the answer when he came by a universal remote control that enabled him to skip through the parts of his life, he deemed irrelevant. His intentions were good, and he used the tech to get through the tedium of work, to get promoted, and spend more quality time with his family. Whilst we do have people that can give a very good explanation of the spacetime continuum, time travel is still anchored in the domain of Hollywood, and Michael Newman was the lead character played by Adam Sandler in the film ‘Click’. As the story unfolds, Newman’s life becomes more and more disjointed and he becomes more and more fractious as he tries to keep it all together. His time hopping meant that he missed many small bits of information that provided the context for the bigger decisions he needed to make. As a result, he ended up making the wrong choices, it all became a horrible mess, and he dies unhappy and broken.
Whilst we don’t have the time travelling technology to do a ‘Michael Newman’ we all still try to create the affect. We manage our time by focussing on what we see as the big picture and the things we perceive to matter the most. But are we missing the point that its often the things we classify as small and unimportant that make the biggest difference?
Retail Technology
Early in my career the retailer I worked for held a ‘Technology Strategy’ event. The Group IT Director talked about the internet and how it was becoming more commercial and why it was likely to have a big impact on retailing in the future. He also talked about robots and how one day we might live in a time when there would be staff-less shops. At the time, even to me in the IT Department, it seemed a little ‘sci-fi’, but it was fascinating stuff and very thought provoking. Sadly, the business never got to the point where digital transformation became a thing because it failed before that could happen. It had been a very well-known brand in its time, but it didn’t keep up with change, which is surprising for a company that employed an IT Director with such vision. Maybe it’s easier to appreciate the reasons for the demise when you consider that the ‘Technology Strategy’ event was not attended by a single person from outside of the IT Department and the Warehouse. Every department was invited to send representatives, but none of them did, all citing that they were too busy on more important matters that were critical to ensuring the success of the business in the long term. There is no doubt that the missing attendees pressed the fast-forward button on the day of the event classifying it as unimportant and something they could skip.
Are retailers missing out?
This experience was about 25 years ago, but I am sure in some places, it is being repeated today and will be again tomorrow. Even though technology is said by many retail leaders to be vitally important, I do wonder how many are still avoiding getting too involved in what digital transformation actually means, and how many of them make delivering it a critical objective. The good news is that there are companies that can help retailers ensure their big picture is based on the details that reflect the present and future needs of the business; not to optimise current performance but to provide competitive advantage and drive future growth.
One final point and it refers to smaller things making the biggest difference. This is especially true when it comes to technology partners. There was a saying in the 1980’s and 90’s that you didn’t get sacked for buying IBM. This was based on a belief that big companies always knew better and their opinions and judgment were somehow divine. Well, in my experience, smaller companies with a niche area of expertise, where ownership, responsibility and a clear vision make the best partners for retailers. They are more flexible, more innovative and will invest more time getting to know the businesses they work with. Technology is important but so are good working relationships.
Anyway, that’s it. There is no more, you can ‘fast-forward’ now… THE END.