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Three Technology Trends Your Firm Can’t IgnoreTechnology is evolving…fast. For that reason, it’s imperative that your firm focus not just on the changes that are happening today, but also on the technological trends that are emerging and shaping the future of your organization and your industry.

Why? Because the more anticipatory you can be in regard to technology, the more creatively you can use it to gain competitive advantage.

As someone who has been accurately predicting the future of technology for over 25 years, I urge all leaders to focus on the following three trends that are emerging and reshaping the business landscape as we know it.

1. Just-in-Time Training

Thanks to cloud-based technology, we’re on the brink of a revolution in just-in-time training. This will enable people to use their laptops, cell phones, and tablet computers as tools to receive training precisely when they need it. In the current training model used by many organizations, people receive training for a variety of things before they actually need the expertise, thus taking the people away from their jobs and costing the company a lot of money. With just-in-time training, companies can keep people in the field without the specific training.

Then, when the person needs a certain skill set to complete a job or do a task, he or she can receive the training for it in real time via cloud-based technology.

For example, suppose your company specializes in selling and repairing commercial HVAC units. There are a number of different units your repair staff needs to know how to fix. But rather than taking your people out of work and putting them in a multi-day training course, you keep them in the field without the specific training. When they have to repair a unit they are not familiar with, they can receive the training on how to fix it in real time via their mobile device as they are servicing the unit.

Now, let’s take this trend a step further. Suppose the commercial HVAC repair person is onsite, servicing something he’s never worked on before. He uses the just-in-time training module via his tablet computer. But he’s still confused about a certain aspect of the repair. All he has to do is touch the “help” icon on his screen and it immediately connects him to a master trainer live on the screen. But instead of just telling the master trainer what the problem is, the repair person can put on a headband that has a camera on the front, much like the headbands with a light on the front that people use for camping or car repair.

By wearing this digital, high-resolution camera that interfaces with the mobile device, the repair person can show the master trainer exactly what the issue is. Now that master trainer can see what the repair person sees and can tell him exactly what to do. The master trainer can lead the repair person through the repair as if he were standing right there with the repair person. Talk about a dramatic savings and increase in efficiency!

Realize that using cloud-based technology for just-in-time services goes way beyond repair. It could be used to train people on new software, train salespeople on product upgrades, instruct employees on new policies and procedures, etc. And it’s different and better than a standard tutorial, because the training can be accessed via any device, anywhere, and at anytime…and it offers an option for live help. In reality, the applications for cloud-based, just-in-time services are virtually limitless.

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