So I am by my own calculations a dinosaur of the Computer Age (sigh). No, I wasn’t there at the beginning exactly but close enough. When I went to IBM in the early 1970’s, computers still required city blocks of space, memory was made of magnetized metal “donuts” on a wire lattice and measured in thousands of bytes (K) instead of billions (GB). Many “computers” were still programmed by rearranging sets of wires (and yes I learned how to do it) or with new programming languages like FORTRAN, COBOL, and Assembler … and data was stored on punch cards. And that beginning is what has made the Computer Age such an exciting journey – the creation of a tool whose capabilities (both physical and social) has proven to be only limited by imagination and creativity. In retrospect,it’s been a unique privilege to watch it unfold.
So that being said, here is a short history of the Computer Age through six “C” Eras, and the resulting “C-Change” to business and society. What is important and most interesting is that none of these eras came and went; each still exists with succeeding eras building upon the previous … a unique paradigm that explains not only why computing has evolved but also why we have still only just started.
The First Era: COMPUTATION
Early computers of the late 1950’s and 1960’s had a single function: to compute. Their very invention was for the sole purpose of computing or “crunching” large numbers and large amounts of data. Speed and Accuracy were the watchwords of the day. Computer systems evolved from behemoths to a size and cost affordable by both large and mid-sized businesses.Companies like IBM and DEC prototyped innovative small computers which would eventually set the stage for the modern PC.
The Second Era: CONTROL
The logical outgrowth of Computation was control; that is, using the computational power of a computer to control or regulate external devices. An electronic or electromechanical device could be connected to a computer which could monitor a flow of data from the device, make decisions based on a program, and return commands to the device. IBM’s System 7 and the DEC PDP-8 were early technologies widely used for power management and machine control in manufacturing (industrial automation).
The Third Era: COMMUNICATION
Early computing was conducted at a single point – next to the computer. Printed reports provided users and business managers with needed data. In the Communication Era, remote workstations (CRT’s) wired to a central computer brought data-on-demand to the users desktop. At the same time, individual computers became able to “talk” to one another (Networking) to share data or processing tasks by wire as well as telephone connections (painfully slow at 300 baud – bits per second). By the mid-1990s with the invention of the PC, improvements in telecommunications speed, Ethernet, and the introduction of the Internet and eMail and the Smartphone, communications came into it’s own, moving computing from the hands of the techie to the fingers and pocket of the comparatively unsophisticated user.
The Fourth Era: COMMERCE
The growth business websites and of eCommerce, direct results of the emergence of the Internet, continue to change the way we buy and sell products and services. In the mid-1990’s a business website was still unique but ten years later it becomes a requirement. ECommerce evolves from EBay to mainstream shopping for both consumer and business products. CRM enables sales organizations and provides instant customer support.
The Fifth Era: COLLABORATION & THE CLOUD
In the Fourth Ear we move from simply “sending” data to working together, enabled by data. Co-browsing and desktop sharing, video conferencing and web meeting, document collaboration and sharing. Collaboration is enhanced by the movement of document and data storage from the desktop or hard drive to internet and intranet accessible servers (The “Cloud”). Websites move to interactive “Web 2.0” technology away from static pages, and Blogs open a world of opinion and comments.
The Sixth Era: COMMUNITY
Computing was created for engineers and business but gradually, through the growth of communication and collaboration enhancements, it has taken on a new social aspect, especially with a techo-proficient younger generation. From AOL’s early chat and forums to MySpace to the evolution of Facebook, Twitter, Skype, and others, computing becomes a tool for building virtual communities.
As the Community concept becomes more prevalent and technologies have become more stable and mature (and perhaps to some extent the result of the current economy) the concept of business virtual communities is increasingly viable – and perhaps fundamental – for business. For the first time geographically dispersed organizations -and even their customers – are able to work together reliably, in real time, and often face-to-face across continents, countries and time zones. We can project that the next five years will bring significant expansion and advancements in business “community-ization”.
There is a lesson for business here as well. Six Eras, each a “C-Change” in it’s own right and each a building block for the next. Each is also a tool which has changed the fabric and competitive nature of business. We may choose to use or not use any piece of technology but it’s vital that we do so from an educated and informed standpoint, for neither will it go away or wait patiently for us to catch up.
– Tim
Tim McMahon has had an exciting career holding senior sales and management positions with IBM, Digital Equipment Corporation, and Sales Technologies, Inc. before launching a successful global management consulting practice in 1995. He is an in-demand keynote speaker for conferences and corporate events around the world. Tim was initially trained as a Systems Engineer and Systems Analyst and maintains a “tech savvy” status.
If you read The BizCATS regularly then you know that we pick new and emerging technology products that we like, try them out, and then write about them. You may also have noticed that we don’t “dump” on anyone – we only review our favorites and, logically, generally say pretty nice things about them. If we don’t like you we don’t review – simple. Now it also makes sense that any company whose product we positively review ought to be more or less happy about it and maybe even use our reviews to help boost their marketing. I know that if you wrote something nice about The BizCATS I’d share that with everyone I know. Finally, you would also assume (I know, always a dangerous thing) that these technology companies would be keeping an eye out for any mention of their products, especially good reviews. Since we aggressively share our reviews via Twitter, Facebook, Google Buzz, and just about everything else, any company looking for their product ought to easily see it – especially a tech company.
