Communication Technology in the Business World

Smartphones have revolutionized how the business world operates.  They have made all forms of communication faster, more efficient and essentially made our world smaller and accessible by everyone. There was a slower time when business was done face to face, and businesses were primarily based from one country concentrating on one market. However with ever evolving technology, business opportunities have broadened and grown. They are now able to operate from any country and market their products to any other country.            It was in the late 90’s that this became a true capability with public access to the Internet growing and everyone beginning to buy a computer. But the cell phone was still limited. At this time it was unique to have a car phone, which had one capability, calls. Cell phone companies of the time poured funding into research and development knowing that eventually the cell phone would become the way of the future. They worked and worked and eventually, in 1999 the introduction of the Blackberry 850 changed our opinion on what a phone should be able to do. It was the first phone with email capability.  This began to shrink the world even further. Cell phones took off in the business world and it wasn’t long until every businessman/woman had a blackberry with email capability. The cell phone evolved exponentially over the next decade, and the product has coined the term “Smartphone.” Our phones of today contain our entire lives in them; they provide us with email, which seems like a required function like calling. But now they provide us with access to Internet browsing, text messaging, social networking, music, a camera (picture and video), a personal flashlight, our agenda’s for day-to-day operations synced to your computer automatically, and an application or the ability to download an application for just about anything.  The Smartphone has created so many positives for our personal and business lives, but they have also brought us many negatives. They are a cool media that affect our space and time.

Smartphones have made our space much smaller, we can access anyone and anything at the touch of our fingers and in many cases we can even have face-to-face conversation through our phone. It takes just seconds to connect to someone on the other side of the world and have a conversation and conduct your business. We no longer need access to a computer to go about our business or even be in range of wireless networking because new Smartphones provide that as long as we have coverage.  They affect our time because the expectation that communication is instant has become universal. When texts are sent they are expected to be answered in hours, when emails are sent they are expected to be answered in days. This changes how we must operate and creates self-reliance on our Smartphone. It means that people cannot go about their daily routine without their Smartphone in their pocket. Life flies by us everyday and we barely notice anymore because our technology speed has also changed our sense of time. The days feel shorter and the world feels smaller. Personally I wish I could return to a time without Smartphones and without all this technology, then I really think about it and I am grateful for all of the technology in 2012. Sometimes its just nice to check out.