Geeks love to point out that WiFi and battery life have become the most basic form of human motivation. To illustrate this, these “basic needs” have been added to Maslow’s hierarchy of needs, represented as a pyramid.
Although it’s meant to be tongue in cheek, the image is actually becoming a reality for many people, especially those living in urban populations. In fact, 64 percent of millennials (ages 15-35) living in cities across North America, Europe and Asia rank Internet connectivity more vital than electricity, plumbing or transportation, according to a CommScope survey focusing on how Millennials are shaping the networks of tomorrow. Register here for early access to the report.
This demonstrates that the future will not resemble what we see today. Our children’s jobs probably don’t exist yet. In addition, our youngest kids will not need to take driving lessons. This is probably the last generation who will drive vehicles to commute or take a holiday road trip. Staggering, isn’t it?
Most of us don’t realize how fast change will take place or what kind of impact it would have on our lives. For example, although most of us have heard of autonomous vehicles, only a few have considered we won’t need to teach out kids how to parallel park.
I think my mother-in-law puts this concept into perspective. She says, “nothing has been more beneficial for women’s emancipation than the invention of the washing machine.” And if you take a look at this HumanProgress’ webpage, it’s easy to understand why. By the way, I take on at least half of the housekeeping tasks, just ask my wife.
I’ve recently read a very interesting book by Peter Hinssen (The New Normal) who says, “Digital has become the New Normal, and this will have an enormous impact on the way companies organize their communications with customers and the way they have to be organized internally."
Given the speed of change driven by “new technologies” such as robotics, neuroscience and artificial intelligence, businesses are doing their best to prepare for the future. They are re-engineering back office processes to support new services. Buildings are becoming smarter, data centers are becoming more energy efficient and networks are reacting to data created by the Internet of Things.
Digital has no boundaries. That’s what Cisco will address at the Cisco Connect 2016 event in Madrid. And since Cisco has chosen CommScope as its infrastructure partner, we will be there. Come visit CommScope and let’s discuss how digital will impact our future.