As I jumped on the Red Line today in the Wrigleyville neighborhood of Chicago, I had my earbuds in and was playing some of my favorite songs. Once the train arrived and the doors opened, I headed towards one of the few open seats.
If you were to ask me which songs I listened to during that ride to work, there is a good chance I would have been able to answer you. However, if you were to ask me to name any sort of feature (hair color, shoe style, T-shirt design) about the people surrounding me during my commute, there is a good chance I would not have been able to answer you. That’s is because, during my 20-minute train ride, I was staring at my phone the entire time. Not once can I recall looking up and observing the elements around me.
This is the scenario that came to mind as I was reading Vlatka Hlupic’s Huffington Post article, “Technology Needs to Serve Us, Not Rule Us.”
It’s no secret that in recent years, technology use has virtually exploded. Over the last several years alone, massive amounts of people obtained smartphones and tablets. Even now, I bet many people are reading this blog post from a tablet or smartphone. This massive spike in mobile technology has changed the way we do business.
Despite the many benefits technology has brought to our lives—better communication, more efficient collaboration, and more intelligence about our customers—the following statement needs to be acknowledged:
Technology is of no use or benefit to us if we don’t know how to properly use it.
As Hlupic said, “The answer to getting the best out of technology is, first and foremost, to get the best out of people.” Take the adoption of a mobile sales enablement solution, for instance. A mobile sales enablement solution gives sales reps increased flexibility around sales presentations, reduces their daily administrative burden and enhances collaboration. However, these benefits can only be realized if sales reps understand how to use the tool to their advantage.
A similar point was made in an earlier Mediafly blog that discussed how enterprises are misusing mobile apps. In these cases, it wasn’t the apps that were the problem—it was the fact that the apps didn’t meet the business needs as well as a lack of direction on how to properly utilize them.
Companies who truly want to become mobile have to realize that the process doesn’t end with the decision to adopt the mobile technology. The real investment is empowering your employees to properly leverage the tools in order to see a return.
“Inventions should be our tools, not our masters.”
-Vlatka Hlupic
How does your company approach training of new technology?
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