AI is grabbing all the headlines – it’s that child in the front row of the class with its hand perpetually in the air. But it would be unwise to focus solely on this attention seeking, headline-grabbing technology.
We are asking ourselves, how we can harness other emerging technologies in our pursuit of improved innovation, increased collaboration and better outcomes, for our clients and their customers?
While AI is where the hype is, industry experts remain confident that the Cloud is still the real horse to back. Cloud-based platforms bring new capabilities to market more quickly, innovate more easily, and scale more efficiently—while also reducing technological risk and debt to organisations. This is concrete commercial value to be grabbed. While there are multiple benefits, perhaps the most clear is the flexibility that cloud-based platforms offer to businesses that experience seasonal spikes or sudden changes in demand or talent shortfalls. Cloud-based platforms allow those in seasonal, trending, or volatile industries to adapt quickly to changing market conditions and customer needs.
That isn’t to say that ‘Cloud-first’ hasn’t taken some flack recently, major outages of Hyper-Cloud services have caused tangible impact to the economy, irreparable brand damage, and in the worst cases, endangered lives. The emergence, however, of ‘Cloud-smart’ initiatives seems to be recovering the position, with organisations using business goals such as carbon reduction, cyber security enhancements, and proactive incident management to continue to move services into the Cloud, at pace.
The days of debate about whether gamification is appropriate in a place of work, is long gone. There is extensive evidence that aspects of experimentation play a significant role in how we work, particularly when we want to innovate and/or collaborate. Both in person and on online platforms, reward systems and immersive environments are making a real difference to motivation and outcomes.
More and more of us spend a lot of our spare time on our phones, and, as an extension, on social media platforms (TikTok, VR games, CandyCrush) so why not borrow from the enemy when we need to get focus – applying techniques that appeal to short-term attention spans that are used to immersive environments and immediate gratification. This doesn’t imply the dumbing down of work – but simply breaking the monotony of traditional environments, as well as promoting creative, provocative thought, and building more collaborative teams.
If we look beyond the advertising – “Replace doom scrolling with micro-learning!” – microlearning is gaining a significant following in the workplace and education. Often referred to as “bite-sized”, this concept offers intense, short, focused opportunities to absorb content. It also has the benefit of being learner-led. A 10-minute podcast, a virtual flashcard, a short animation or visualization – can be consumed at a time and place that suits the individual. The application of Micro-learning can benefit the workplace, educational institutions and could even provide a channel for Government (in every form) to connect with citizens.
Beyond the arcade where teenagers of the 1990’s mastered Sega Rally, most of us grew up with the idea of the flight simulator as a training device. In the last decade we have seen the concept roll out into other high-risk professions – police, military, medicine, and air traffic control. However, both VR and AR can now create immersive training environments for most subjects and professions. By going beyond the boundaries of the workplace or office, VR and AR can mitigate risk, expand the possibilities of collaboration in spite of physical barriers and improve practical customer experience. VR immerses users in a fully digital environment, while AR enhances the real world by overlaying digital information onto it. We are all familiar with the idea of medical students performing virtual procedures, but VR/AR has as much capacity to transform the way we mend a heating system, choose a car or talk to our bank about a loan.
Emerging technology has already transformed the way we work, the way we live, socialise and form relationships. From AI (we had to mention it once) transforming not only administrative tasks, but customer relationships, to creating immersive working environments through alternate reality, to cloud platforms democratising access to services, to the use of micro-learning enabling every business function to act as an R&D department – these advances ensure that tech does the heavy lifting.
Chief Technology Officer (CTO)
Chelsea Chamberlin leads Roc’s Solution and Technology strategy, ensuring continual innovation and focussed partnerships which drive outcome based value for our customers. Chelsea’s background includes designing and delivering software and networking solutions within mission critical environments. Outside of work she is a green belt in Kick-boxing and mentor to young women paving careers in tech.