Developing a plan is the starting point to bridge the technology gap and build a new tech tomorrow for your family business.
Oh, wonder!
How many goodly creatures are there here!
How beauteous mankind is! O brave new world,
That has such people in’t!
Generations impact family businesses. Technology is a critical part of family business. Many family firms have come to rely on advanced, automated tools and processes. Today’s Generation Gap in family firms maybe the understanding of the value and the need to invest in advanced tools.
A recent article in INC, shared a survey of more than 250 small business owners nationwide by Microsoft, six in 10 admitted to having disagreements with younger family members over technology issues – a Generational Technology Gap.
According to respondents, older business owners are generally less interested than their children in obtaining the latest high-tech products and applications, unless they directly impact the bottom line, while their children are constantly worried about falling behind competitors.
Younger entrepreneurs were also more likely to be satisfied with recent technology purchases than their older counterparts and tended to place a higher value on investing in wireless devices and mobile technology, the survey found.
Yet, despite the occasional family squabbles, more than three in four business owners surveyed agreed that technology was important to sustaining their business, while nearly half said it was very or extremely important for growth.
Have you ever looked up and realized you didn’t understand the technology you were witnessing? And how did that make you feel?
William Shakespeare, whose banned works are quoted throughout the novel by John, “the Savage”. The plays quoted include Macbeth, The Tempest, Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet, King Lear, Troilus and Cressida, Measure for Measure and Othello. Mustapha Mond also knows them because he, as a World Controller, has access to a selection of books from throughout history, including the Bible.
Generations in family businesses are operant conditioned, when considering technology. Generations face Positive reinforcement, Negative reinforcement, Positive punishment Negative punishment and extinction.
A recent paper published by the Parma wrote, ”Technology can be defined as a particular form of knowledge applied to the development and commercialization of new products, services and processes. Technology strategy encompasses the long-term decisions that define how a firm builds, nurtures and exploits technology to sustain economic value creation.
These strategic decisions concern, for example, the timing with which a new technology should be commercialized; under which conditions a technology should be out-licensed or sold; whether the firm should devote resources to the development of radically or incrementally new products and processes.
Technology strategy decisions require the careful application of appropriate tools and methodologies, such as Intellectual Property (IP) management, technology foresight, technology evaluation and portfolio management techniques.”
Generations are as different as technology. 62 percent of Gen Y workers say they engage in social networking from work. That’s according to LexisNexis, an online information service. The results of LexisNexis’ Technology Gap Survey show vastly different attitudes about appropriate technology use among various generations in the workforce. According to a 2011 Cisco Technology Report, some Millennials say the ability to use social media, mobile devices, and the Internet more freely in the workplace is strong enough to influence job choice, sometimes more than salary.”
And this is creating a clash in Family Businesses.
Developing a plan — with as much understanding of the benefits, costs and management strategies — is the starting point to bridge the technology gap and to build a new tech tomorrow for your firm.
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