When compact disks were invented, the comedienne Rita Rudner said
she wouldn't buy them unless the companies promised not to invent
anything else. Like me, she probably has 78s, LPs, 45s,
eight-tracks and cassettes lying around the house.
We never seem to be up to date in technology. By the time we
take the latest invention out of the box, it's no longer the latest
invention.
In my house, there are four television sets, three VCRs, a DVD
player, three computers, two printers, two phone lines and two cell
phones. And it's not enough. We're now talking about scanners and
cable modems.
For businesses, the decision about what technology to buy is a
constant challenge. Is your travel agency just fine with the CRS
it's been using for years? Do you need Internet access and, if so,
how should it be configured? Should it be available to each agent
in your office or is a stand-alone workstation sufficient?
Technology decisions extend to the telephone system you use. How
important is cellular telephone technology to extending the
availability of your staff when they're not in the office? And what
about providing home-office setups for your key employees to allow
them to be accessible to their clients when the office is
closed?
Making technology purchase decisions involves major financial
concerns, but sometimes the investment is necessary to keep your
company competitive. For suppliers of travel information, including
companies such as mine, the need to expand the distribution of
content to take advantage of the burgeoning technology is a
principal concern.
We now deliver travel news via a twice-weekly newspaper, a Web
site and through e-mail subscriptions of our daily newsletter. But
like the home with only four TVs and three computers, we have a
long way to go.
The latest opportunity for distributing content is in the
wireless world via cell phones that also deliver e-mail and
Internet access, and pagers and other hand-held devices that
deliver e-mail and editorial material.
I was excited when I first received a laptop computer to use
while on business trips. Now I find the seven pounds that the
laptop adds to my traveling gear to be a burden and I can't wait
for my company to equip me with a truly portable gadget that will
achieve the same purposes.
Sometimes I feel as Rita Rudner does. I wish the technology
industry would declare a moratorium, promise not to invent anything
else for a while and let us catch our breaths.
But that's a pipe dream. The technology race won't slow down and
we'll need to learn how to run ever faster just to stand still.