A recent IDC study of 2400 workers across 17 countries showed that a new form of information technology hypochondria (an excessive, usually long-term preoccupation) called hyper-connected is rapidly affecting us.
Sixteen per cent of those surveyed used seven or more devices and nine or more software applications simply to stay in touch with business associates, friends and loved ones. Disturbingly a further 36 per cent used from four to six devices and six to eight software programs – that’s 52 per cent who expect to always be connected and the number is growing.
I pondered this and tried to come up with a checklist to see if I was a hyper-connected hypochondriac. Devices I use include:
1. Work PC
2. Home PC
3. Travel notebook (soon to have a 3/Next G card installed)
4. Windows mobile PDA/smartphone (with GSM, Edge and 3/Next G capability)
5. Home telephone – landline
6. Work telephone – VoIP system
7. Answering machine, Telstra 101 or voice mail for all phones
8. Home fax
9. Work fax
Hmm – two over the addiction level. Not to mention I occasionally use satellite phones, 3/NextG data connections, wi-fi connections (airport lounges, McDonalds and in our interstate offices). No wonder it is so hard to get any serious work done simply by trying to be “available”.
I can’t think of more devices unless someone still has a pager (yes, they use them on Grey’s Anatomy). Don’t worry there will be more devices soon, especially once medical monitoring applications and personal safety (GPS tracking and panic alarm) products become a must have.
Software I use includes:
1. Outlook for email to my work account with at least five email addresses
2. Outlook for email to my BigPond personal account (as well as accessing my work account)
3. Outlook web access while travelling (uses Internet Explorer)
4. Voice Over IP – VoIP to route work calls via the internet to wherever I can get a broadband connection
5. Internet Explorer
Damn I fall short on the software front. So what else is there?
6. Personal VoIP – Skype or similar programs
7. Video VoIP – sound and pictures
8. Instant messaging – MSN Messenger or dozens of other offerings from Google, Yahoo, etc.
9. SMS – short message service. But this is morphing into MMS (multimedia messaging service) and who knows what is next.
10. Social networking – Facebook, MySpace and dozens of other sites designed to facilitate interpersonal communications.
11. Collaboration tools such as internet blogs and forums
12. Chat rooms
So what does this all mean? Well for starters hyper-connected people will have several email addresses, several phone numbers, dozens of logins and passwords and spend a significant portion of their day just trying to be available and or answer communications quickly.
But more importantly they now expect to stay hyper-connected demanding low or no cost internet and data access via free wireless or wi-fi hotspots in hotels and meeting venues.
The trend in the US and Europe is to provide that service either low cost or free – I hope Australia picks up on that too.
A couple of years ago Event Planners introduced free wi-fi access for delegates at the conferences we organise. We advised delegates that they could connect their wi-fi enabled PDA or notebook for free at the event and it is amazing to see the number of users taking advantage of this.
It has been so popular that we have started to provide additional tables with power and even a printer. One event I attend now uses classroom setup for all sessions with wi-fi and power to all tables to allow delegates to attend sessions and keep in touch.
Is that rude? Is it impolite to the speaker? Well possibly, but it’s a fact of life. Already half a million Gen Y’s use internet-enabled phones to access their Facebook site several times a day (yes, even in conference sessions). I think it is becoming expected that you will always be connected and we have to accommodate this trend. Isn’t it better to have delegates sitting in the conference sessions regardless of whether they are paying 100 per cent attention to the speaker? From what I have seen many are using the notebook to take notes about what was being said anyway.
Unified communications is what it is really about. It is time that the telecommunications providers (who make a motza from all this communication and even more from the various redirections required to route emails and other comms to you), and developers, introduce one universal locator number for life and develop software that seamlessly directs all forms of voice, data and other communications to one convenient pocket-sized device that can do it all. It is not far away. Today that might be via a PDA/smartphone and tomorrow it may be as simple as having an embedded chip in your body and hooked directly into your aural and visual cortex. Fine as long as there is an off switch!
Ray Shaw is an accredited meeting manager (AMM), IT journalist and chairman of Event Planners Australia. To contact him email ray@im.com.au or visit www.eventplanners.com.au.
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