In Life-Long Learning Module E in the text we broadly introduced you to a number of interesting considerations as we move forward into the future with technology.

No doubt about it – technology will change in unbelievable ways.

That is...

• Technology is big (relatively) today, but will be exceedingly small tomorrow.
• Technology is here and everywhere today, and it will be everywhere tomorrow although we may not notice it.
• We operate in a "time" environment today with hours minutes, seconds, and so on. Tomorrow, "when" will become irrelevant.
• We do see technology today. Tomorrow it will be as ubiquitous as electricity.
• We pay great attention to technology today. Tomorrow, technology will become just a normal part of our lives.

Given that those statements are true, let's "look into our crystal ball" and at the bigger picture.

DIGITAL CASH IS COMING

We believe that digital cash is an inevitability. Already, we use digital forms of cash with debit cards, services like PayPal, smart cards, digital communicators on cars for toll booths, and the like.

You can certainly expect digital cash to continue to creep into your life, with the grand finale being that of completely (or almost completely) replacing folding cash and coins.

Folding cash and coins are expensive to make and actually quite an antiquated form of monetary exchange. A long time ago, people used bones and raw materials (such as silver and gold) as forms of currency. Even as recent as 70 years ago or so, the U.S. was on a gold or silver standard. Now, those surrogate representations of wealth have been replaced with folding cash and coins.

And, we are moving to replace our current surrogates of wealth with electronic forms.

There are both substantial opportunities and substantial pitfalls associated with digital cash. Digital cash, right now, is fairly easy to copy because of the lack of standards concerning how it should look and work. We consider those to be rather minor obstacles to overcome.

The opportunities are tremendous. Just think about never having to find an ATM. Someday, your debit or smart card will have wireless capabilities. When you run out of money on your card, you'll be able to get more while driving down the street. You'll simply use your car's computer to access your bank account and download money to your debit or smart card.

Don't get caught with your pants down believing that we will not eventually make the full-scale transition to digital cash. Those organizations that refuse to have digital cash as a part of their long-term strategic plans are doomed to failure.

BIOMETRICS (FOR SECURITY AND IDENTIFICATION) WILL BE ESSENTIAL

The only pure form of identification is your body itself – most notably your DNA and iris scan.

From research, we know that iris scans are unique. And your iris scan takes only 512 bytes in digital form. Of course, DNA is the best form of biometrics (except for identical twins), but it's expensive right now to use.

In the U.S., you can expect the government to move to a new form of identification based on biometrics sometime around 2010. At that time, new-born babies will receive a social security number and their iris scans will be captured for further identification.

The widespread use of biometrics will dramatically change everything. Think about buying something at a store. You can use your credit card, but the store will also scan your iris for identification. That scan will have to be processed to determine that you really are you.

For almost every type of organization, this will mean incorporating biometric processing with typical transaction processing.

There are significant opportunities for you here. Banks are trying to determine how to incorporate biometric processing. Every retail organization is trying to do the same. Your opportunity lies in helping those organizations integrate biometric processing with their transaction processing.

E-GOVERNMENT WILL BE THE ONLY WAY TO COMMUNICATE WITH THE GOVERNMENT

Right now, on a monthly basis U.S. federal government Web sites receive more unique hits than either Amazon or eBay. That's astounding when you think about it.

All federal governments worldwide are making great strides toward full e-government. The goal now is to become a click-and-mortar operation, giving citizens the ability to receive information and services either online or at a physical location.

The next step is to eliminate the physical location. We know this will happen for filing taxes in the U.S. later this decade. You simply won't be able to file your personal taxes by sending an envelope with paper forms. You'll have to file electronically.

In this instance, you can look at the donut (be an optimist) or you can look at the hole (be a pessimist). If we all have to file our taxes electronically, what happens to people who don't have access to technology? You can say that's bad, but there is an opportunity for you and your organization to provide those people with that capability.

If you want to take a look at the best government performing e-government, visit the Canadian government's Web site. For three years running, Canada has been determined to be the most forward-thinking government in terms of e-government.

TECHNOLOGY WILL BECOME UBIQUITOUS

Ubiquitous means everywhere and available to most everyone. Think about electricity. It's a normal part of your life and quite literally available everywhere (some areas of the world notwithstanding).

What that means is that technology will be available to everyone and every business. That will make technology into a commodity. To achieve an advantage through technology, you and your organization will have to become exceedingly more innovative in its use. If every organization has technology, setting up shop on the Web will no longer be an advantage – it will be necessary for doing any kind of business.

Again, consider electricity. Since every organization has it, no organization includes electricity as a part of its strategic business plan. Instead, it's simply a commodity that all organizations use, and no one achieves a competitive advantage because of it.

So, you really must begin now to "think outside the box" and search for very innovative uses of technology. Customer-integrated systems (CISs) will be a standard mode of operation for all businesses. What you need to think about is things like m-commerce, that gives your customers (no matter where they are or what they're doing) the ability to use their smart phones, Web-enabled PDAs, and other portable devices to access the information and services you offer.

Right now, technology is a major source of competitive advantage for many organizations. As it becomes more of a commodity, the ability to achieve a competitive advantage because of it will become more difficult, but not impossible.

In the future, your organization will achieve a competitive advantage through technology not because of the technology itself but rather because of your innovative use it.

The ball is in your court.