Technology improving lives

From “The Internet is a passing fad” to “There will never be a computer in every home”, we all remember the historical off-the-mark predictions made by high profile people and the media about technology. They stand out in our memory because they were so wrong. The incredible – and still to be achieved – predictions of science fiction also stick long in our imaginations. Flying cars, teletransporters and the vending machines that can conjure up our favourite meals out of thin air at the touch of a button; these predictions are still yet to materialise but they remain in our minds as tantalising possibilities of technology. But, in reality, many of the technological transformations that have improved our lives tend not to be so instant. They often to creep up on us over time. Their impact starts to slowly change our behaviour; the way we live and work. 

We appear to be at the beginning of one of those phases once again. A number of technology trends are converging to change our lives, hopefully, for the better. The rapid roll-out of 5G wireless networks will enable us to be more connected than ever before, with so much more data available, so much faster, wherever we are. 

This type of connectivity enables the Internet of Things and Industry 4.0 to become a reality. It enables sensors, systems and machinery to be intricately connected and many things to be automated, from our manufacturing, through the supply chain and logistics to their ultimate retail sale.

These changes in the way we work will also impact the role of the mobile worker and the technology they use. For field workers, predictive maintenance becomes a reality. Production lines, machinery or vehicles will be constantly providing information on their operational status, allowing us to predict when failures might be imminent and take corrective actions before they happen.

Production line workers will no longer be operating machinery and manually checking operations, they will be overseeing automated process with reporting and alerts automatically being brought to their attention via their mobile device.

Warehouse and logistics operators will be able to use their devices to oversee their automated supply chains as they adapt to changes in supply and demand.

Of course, as organisations and manual workers adapt to these new ways of working, they will require new capabilities and flexibility from their mobile devices. That’s why we offer our rapid application development services to enable businesses working with our devices to rapidly adapt and build new applications to take advantage of technological breakthroughs. And it’s why we have our TOUGHBOOK as a Service offering to enable organisations to pay for their devices monthly as part of operational, rather than capital, expenditure. This type of flexibility allows our customers to rapidly adapt to the changing needs of their businesses and technology as it develops.

The introduction of 5G networks, Big Data, the Internet of Things and AI are steadily changing the way we work. There are exciting times ahead and at Panasonic we will be ensuring that mobile workers have the right rugged mobile computing power at their fingertips to take advantage of these developments. Who knows, maybe one day we will be using a TOUGHBOOK device to call a flying UBER or replicate our lunch!

Header image source: Just dance/shutterstock.com