We are living and working in the 21st century where the majority of the information is available on one click — depending on the availability of access to internet services. In such an era, only those who have the right skills can have the opportunities to save their resources compared to those who don’t have and likewise they can have access to different earning and knowledge learning opportunities. Let’s take an example of radio broadcasting in Pakistan; a few decades back long tapes were used to record audios which were very costly, and one person cannot complete this job alone because of the long process involved. Then if there was a need to remove a portion of the recording then they have to manually cut the specific portion of the tape. Thus, the recording used to be finalized and finally broadcast.
We have so many such examples where due to the lack of technology we had to spend days and sometimes months to complete a job that takes hours or weeks nowadays. All this has been possible because of technological advancement. Data proved that nations have succeeded by adopting technological advancement and bringing innovations in different fields of life. There were nations who called all this as ‘Devil Work’ and didn’t adopt the technological advancements. Unfortunately has many such examples where such innovations were deemed as a fanatic deed or devil work by justifying this is against the religion or cultural norms. Fortunate were the nations who have succeeded in the technological innovations and unfortunate were those who didn’t.
This has been a long exercise in our daily lives, in our work, and in our businesses. I am working in the social sector, so I will take an example of the social sector. Many small and medium-sized non-profit organizations are reluctant to invest in the technological development and innovation due to lack of long terms planning as well financial constraints — as the sector is mostly relying on the grant money and funds from larger non-profits that are project-based. While in project-based it is hard to put budgets for such things that can contribute to the long run.
If we see the statistics, on average 570 websites are created every minute in the globe but it also matters how frequently they are updated. It is important to adopt technological innovations at the organizational level but most important is to have the team who is capable of using the technology as well — to enhance the speed of work and work efficiently and effectively. In my experience with the social sector, I have seen organizations have invested money in the technology but the issues they were facing were the lack of technical expertise among the team.
We should have an understanding of the need and its use. If there is really a need we should go for it otherwise shouldn’t go for such innovations. Do we really need technology in every sphere of our work? This is a question where enough energy should be invested because without proper cost-benefit analysis even a technological innovation won’t add enough value to accomplish your mission and will not create any ease in our work. Although, it is important that most of our staff should have technical skills in using software that is crucial for their daily activities.
During the need analysis, the focus should be given to ‘Why’. Why we need this tool and would be the short term and long-term impact of the tool on the team as well as on the organization. If the cost-benefit analysis is giving you a GREEN signal that means that investment of this innovation is worthy — as is helping the organization and the people working in.
As the famous Jim Rohn has once said: If you go to work on your goals, your goals will go to work on you. If you go to work on your plan, your plan will go to work on you. Whatever good things we build end up building us.
Coming up with any new tool either tech-oriented or non-tech oriented, we should have a proper plan in hand both in the stage of development as well as its practical implementation and usage.
What are your thoughts on the topic and what have you done when you were in a situation when you were developing a tech-oriented tool?