NWA tech event speakers talk business disruption caused by ever-changing technologies

Nearly 800 techies and business professionals converged in Rogers on Tuesday (Nov. 10) to learn more about how technology is reshaping the future of everything from fashion to automobiles.

“We are living in the age of Gutenberg,” said Jon Stine, global director of sales and strategy for Intel, and one of the presenters at the NWA Technology Conference held by the Bentonville-Bella Vista Chamber of Commerce.

Stine said just as Johannes Gutenberg revolutionized the printing industry in the 15th Century, “today more than ever we are living in a time of inflection points … where technologies, social change and political change and business change are all bouncing off one another.”

Continuing, he said: “We are living in a time when in a year or so two or three bright individuals in a room in Berlin, a garage in Silicon Valley or perhaps a high school class in Rogers, Arkansas, is going to develop some application or technology that is going to rock our world. It will be.”

He said when computers are the size of buttons, they can easily be woven into fashions to monitor things like blood pressure and heart rate. While it may seem a little far out, he sees applications for technology to be imbedded into people at some point to monitor things like blood sugar for diabetics. Stine said there is no industry immune to technology changes, and specifically mobile technology has to be the plan for businesses going forward or they need to start over.

Retooling companies of all shapes and sizes to handle the disruptions that technological advances are rendering today was a main thread discussed at Tuesday’s event.

DISRUPTORS
Ralph De la Vega, president and CEO of AT&T Mobile Business Solutions, kicked off the conference with his thoughts on changes underway in the the telecommunications industry and words of warning that all industries are likely to impacted by disrupters in the coming months, if they have not already been affected.

He said last week when he was traveling in London, he read a headline in the Financial Times that one of the oldest institutions within the city was being shut down. He said the Black Cabbie Colleges were being shuttered because of high overhead costs, taxes and Uber.

“This was one of the most rigorous training programs in London. It took three years to complete if you wanted to be a Black Cabbie driver. Uber has shut them down,” De la Vega said.

He said companies either embrace changes in technology or be disrupted by them. 

“Uber and companies like Air BnB have no assets and are among some of the fast growing businesses in the world. Morgan Stanley recently looked at the top 1500 companies in the U.S. by market capitalization, they found out that more than 20% of them don’t have any inventory or assets. Which companies are those, they are the Ubers of the world introducing a completely different model because of the combination of software and mobility,” De la Vega said.

He said that as software has become easier to create, their applications are increasingly helpful and are radically moving toward a world of virtualization. De la Vega said by 2020, 75% of network functions at AT&T will be virtualized, or completed with use of software thereby eliminating the need for hardware.

Today anyone who carries a smart phone has eliminated the need for a camera, flashlight, calculator or an alarm clock, De la Vega explained. He said firewall protection is also now down with software and he predicts more software will replace hardware. De la Vega said another trend disrupting the status quo is the rise of video.

“Fifty percent of our traffic in our networks is driven by video which has dramatically increased the network data usage. From 2008 to 2014 our network usage has grown 100,000% that’s the equivalent of adding 1,000 lanes to whatever highway you drove in on today. There is no stopping it, data usage is only going to continue because what consumers love,” he said.

INTERNET CONNECTIVITY
Lastly, De la Vega said the internet of things is only going to get bigger. He said things that have never been connected to the Internet before will become connected in near future. For example, a few years ago no one considered that cars would be connected to the Internet.

Auto engineers now use feedback from their auto performance tracks to help them improve design and functions. Vehicles are equipped with online connectivity that facilitates everything from driving directions to satellite music and movies on mobile devices used by passengers in the vehicle.

Stine said the auto industry has been one the early adopters of technology integration. He said it won’t be that long from now that when he gets in his car in Portland, Ore., his car will ask him what his plans are for the day.

“I might want to build a deck for two months of sunny weather we get in Oregon. My car would point me toward the nearest Lowe’s or Home Depot and off we will go,” Stine said.

De la Vega said cargo containers are now being tracked because of their connectivity, which has been a fairly new thing. He said between 25 billion and 50 billion things will be connected to the Internet by 2020, and either number is gigantic.

BUSINESS APPLICATIONS
Tracey Brown, chief member officer for Sam’s Club, said retail is at the brunt of a technology revolution which is driving consumer behavior. She said retailers like Macy’s have done a good job figuring out how to integrate digital with physical, Sam’s Club is making strides in that direction but no one has quite figured it out as well as Disney. 

She said Disney’s use of personalization with its guests, before, during and after their trip is the best model out there. Brown said this notion of personalization and everyday stardom is very real among consumers today in the age of the selfie. She said retailers and other companies that can figure out how to excel at personalization will be likely winners. 

Netflix does it with their television subscribers, and retailers from Wal-Mart to Kohl’s and Kroger are also dabbling in personalizing shopping experiences. However, the field is still wide open, said Michael Stich, chief information officer for Rockfish. He said personalization is going to be around for a long time.

He expects that one of these days he will think about about a product and it will be added to his virtual cart, to which he will thank the retailer or opt out of the purchase by simply speaking into his phone “yes” or “no.” Stich said the technology capability is there, but consumers will likely have to be more comfortable giving up some of their privacy to make room for some tech intrusions.