Technology Is Easy, People Are Hard

<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><root available-locales="en_US," default-locale="en_US"><static-content language-id="en_US"><![CDATA[<p>Few today would go back willingly to a world without the Internet. For many young adults, such a world may even be impossible to conceive. Information and communications technology (ICT) and the Internet in particular have already changed the world dramatically and all indications point to an even higher rate of transformation of our lives over the next decade. While the precise nature of these transformations is difficult to outline accurately, technology trends are evolving in a few predictable directions over the next few years - what I term as the move towards SLIM technology:<br><br>Social: ICT is becoming more intricately linked to people's behaviors and social networks. The horizons of ICT are expanding from the traditional processes and automation themes to include a human and social focus.<br><br>Local: Geography and local context are becoming important. ICT provides an effective medium for linking people and objects (and processes) to the local environments. This will allow differentiation across local contexts and the provision of tailored services.<br><br>Intelligent: ICT will become even more intelligent. People behaviors, individual preferences, object interactions and other aspects will be more easily stored, analysed and used to provide intelligent insights for action.<br><br>Mobile: The wide adoption of the mobile phone has already brought ICT to the masses. Advances in hardware (screens, batteries etc), software (e.g., natural language interfaces) and communications (e.g., broadband wireless) will continue to make computing more mobile and more accessible.<br><br>Today we live in a world where more people have access to ICT (usually a mobile phone) than to toilets or clean water or the electric grid. While researchers and industry observers have documented the positive impact of ICT diffusion on an economy's GDP - estimates show that a 10 per cent increase in mobile phone penetration is associated with a 1-per cent growth in GDP, we continue to be challenged by a simple but important question: Can we use ICT to improve the quality of life for each individual and societies at large?<br><br>This question becomes particularly relevant given the important role played by ICT (in particular social media) during the recent political upheavals in countries such as Tunisia and Egypt. Governments and public organisations are slowly realising the power of ICT in redefining governance and modes of engagement with citizens. However, institutional change remains slow and hard. For ICT to be used effectively, technology needs to be matched to the local context and be sensitive to people needs. Doing all this is not easy. The first law of technology change mentioned by John Gage of Sun Microsystems remains true even today: "Technology is easy. People are hard"<br><br>The author is the Roland Berger Chaired Professor of Business and Technology at INSEAD, France.&nbsp; He has authored&nbsp; several books on technology, policy and innovation.<br><br>Comments on this note can be sent to: mail(at)soumitradutta(dot)com</p>