When I was a child I grew up watching Star Trek: The Next Generation and was entertained every week by what I thought was a galaxy and the possibility that I would never see it in my lifetime. Really, warp drives? Traveling to new worlds and civilizations? Computers that can generate food? Surely something like that wouldn’t be possible in my lifetime!
Dear seven year old me: computers are now in the process of being able to generate food.
Just as the little child inside of me could not comprehend how IBM is pushing the realm of the believable, so to have many of my clients that so desperately hang on to old, outdated operating systems. Quick hand count, how many of you are using Windows XP? How many of you even know what operating system that you’re using? Well, a few months ago, Windows stopped supporting it’s XP operating system. Find out if you’re one of the affected here.
We all have in our mind the picture of the Luddite who not only refuses to stay up to date with technology, but is actively afraid of it. I hate to be blunt, but it’s true: if you refuse to adapt with the times you are costing yourself money. On an almost monthly basis technology innovators are pushing improvements that revolutionize customer service, inventory control, industrial automation and control, warehouse management, and even toll booths on French roadways.
Don’t get me wrong, there’s no reason to exist on the bleeding edge of technology, but if you are using a product that was released more than a decade ago, chances are you need to upgrade as you are more than likely costing yourself money.
You wouldn’t want to be standing outside of your pen and pad restaurant as the IBM Food Truck rolls by, would you?
