Technology has never been a more integral part of my life. From the time I wake up, I’m always connected to my clients and colleagues, without ever having to leave my house. If you spend any time on Facebook or Twitter, you’d think the entire world had finally switched over to that paperless society we’ve been dreaming about for ages. Unfortunately, a lot of us live in this tech bubble. It’s great inside the bubble. Everyone knows how to communicate efficiently. We all share files instantly, keep up to date with social media, and always know about the next big thing that’s coming out in tech.
However, it seems like the gap between the people in the bubble, and the majority of the businesses I deal with on a daily basis is growing exponentially. I’m trying to figure out if this is unique to where I live, or if it’s a problem everywhere. See if any of these sound familiar:
- Using a fax machine because a vendor won’t let you email them a form
- Getting swamped in voicemails even though you ask them to email you
- Navigating through out-dated and useless company websites
- Calling during business hours and the phone rings 15 times before someone picks up
- Huge triplicate invoices from a dot matrix printer, that never seem to fit in a folder
- and on, and on
Isn’t this frustrating? We spend the time teaching ourselves these new technologies. Then, we spend even more time teaching our colleagues and employees how to properly use the same tech, only to run into these bottlenecks.
Now, on my end, I probably lean too heavily on the tech I use.
- I rarely talk on the phone, and I’m terrible for forgetting to check my voicemail.
- The phone on our landline (well, actually, a Shaw digital phone) broke about 3 months ago, and I haven’t bothered hooking up a new one.
- My handwriting skills have devolved into the scribbles of a madman.
- I have a nice stack of “dead tree” books I never read…I just listen to the audiobook instead.
- I can’t imagine I’m alone in this frustration. Do you run into this problem at work? I think most of these changes are inevitable. Eventually, I know the fax machine will sit in a museum next to the 8-track and a pair of neon Reebok Pumps. That day just seem to be taking longer than I would like.