Your business needs to be connected in order to connect to everybody else, well that's pretty obvious, isn't it!

But, if you're not, you won't be able to meet your competition head on and it will disappear - to another plane, and one that you're not able to compete with!. You'll soon find that there's less competition and ultimately you'll have less customers.

The market we are working in is changing all the time; over the past 20 or so years we've moved from a mechanical era to a digital era and now we're entering the virtual era. The price point or entry-level to this virtual market is time. Time to understand the impact on your business, time to understand the technologies that are available and time to invest in your staff to ensure that they are adequately trained.

Its definitely "time" as many of the tools we need are software products and they're at an all time low cost and indeed many of them are free.
So who needs to use the technology; it's interesting how consumers and more specifically our younger generation have embraced video and web technologies however this hasn't filtered through to the general business community.

I believe this will become a more serious problem as the months and years pass by as businesses who do not embrace these emerging technologies will find it more difficult to employ staff who grown up to expect a certain level of technology in their lives, be it at work or at home.

Many businesses have a fear of technology which is why new systems are such a struggle to implement. Whilst a method of operation is imperative it's more important to understand the direction you have to follow.

So there is a bit of a "double whammy" here. If you don't master technology your competition will and if you don't have it as part of your overall infrastructure, you won't be able to attract new blood.

The real changes started in the 80s, many will remember a Loadsamoney and the Conservative governments plans for everyone. The 90s reflected the digital era and the emerging Internet related technologies. The 00s began to represent a change in working practices and attitudes. It seems our lives became more ordered and structured as a direct result of the laws and regulations as well as best practice strategies.

It seems to me that the status has changed from nouveau riche (referring to cash) to the new rich (referring to healthy slim fit people) to the now Nouveau Tech (referring to individuals and companies that have harnessed the power of combining technology awareness with the psychology of personnel and more importantly... the buyers).

Life has changed, of course it has - 20 years ago my NEC mobile phone and car kit cost £2000, the same cost as my PC. Now, both can be picked up in Tesco's for the price of a monthly Broadband contract, and you get Clubcard points!

Broadband has changed everything. It has allowed the Internet Marketeer right into your office and boy are they capitalising on this digital and virtual economy by using television and age old techniques on the Internet to encourage you to buy. Failure to recognize this will result in your business life being made more difficult and competition increasing.

Call "time-out" and get a handle on your technology. Plan to make sure that your business comes out on top and not your competition.

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