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The Downsides of Technology

The whole world seems to be entirely taken over by technology and all its benefits and advantages as they help businesses thrive and conduct business activities with ease. There is no secret that business owners, especially start-ups are more likely to jump on the latest and greatest new technology if it promises to offer them an edge over their competitors. So, the ever-rising popularity of technology as a whole is understandable but like every other thing it has its downsides and negative impact in our daily activities but before we go into the downsides of technology, let us take a look at the meaning of technology.

What is Technology?

Technology has different meanings to different people depending on their viewpoint but technology is generally the application of scientific knowledge to the practical aims of human life or, as it is sometimes phrased, to the change and manipulation of the human environment. It can also be defined as the sum of techniques, skills, methods, and processes used in the production of goods or services.
The benefits of technology cannot be overemphasized but if not used correctly, could sometimes cause major setbacks and could even destroy the new companies in extreme circumstances. Let’s take a look at some of the benefits of technology.

  • Speed and Efficiency

The goal of new technologies is to increase the speed and efficiency of the daily workflow, which gives employees more time to focus on other important work.
Businesses can compete more favourably against their competitors if they are able to respond quickly to data and market changes as they simply cannot afford to move at a 1995 pace in 2020.

  • Communication

Data is one of the most important things in today’s world and if that’s the case then communication is the second most important thing as it ensures the transmission of data and information. There is a reason computers replaced typewriters and email replaced paper mails. 
Companies are constantly looking for ways to improve and accelerate communication processes amongst employees and also with customers.

  • Automation

Another advantage of modern technology is that it enables the automation of tedious, repetitive and time-consuming tasks that may have required extra employees in the past and this saves cost and time for any organisation and also helps to eliminate human error.
These cost savings can be invested in other ventures that show a higher return on investment.
The above are some of the most obvious benefits of technology to organisations so now let’s take a look at some of the most impactful downsides

The Downsides

As great as technology is, there seems to be a lot of downsides that largely goes unmentioned especially by the industry especially tech companies that provide some of these technologies as services. 

  • Expense

Expense is probably the main disadvantage of employing technologies in business. For example, as of today, a single computer or software program could cost several hundred or even thousands of dollars. This coupled with the fact that companies can’t buy their technology once and for all as they need to constantly update it in order to stay abreast of current technological standards and improvements or maybe pay a certain fee regularly to maintain access to a technology that is based on a subscription model. Additionally,  having technology means that the company needs to pay professionals to assist with the usage as well as to maintain and monitor that piece of technology.

  • Loss of Personal Touch

Experts (like Dennis Aubuchon of the California Chronicle) have claimed that businesses that create a personal atmosphere for clients are more successful than those that don’t and since technology streamlines business processes it usually has to displace the personal touch of the business to do that effectively, for example, getting an automated service instead of a phone or customer care representative when calling a company.

  • Negative Impression

The use of the latest and greatest technology usually gives the impression of innovation and progressiveness. So, when a company doesn’t jump on the latest technology bandwagon, they risk having the public and other professionals see their company as “slow”,  “ineffective” and “not keeping up with times” which could discourage the best talent for working with them. Company managers are often willing to deal with the disadvantages technology brings rather than to risk leaving such a negative impression of the company.

  • Error and Business Halting

Since modern technology is super intuitive once you fully understand how to use it, employees may become over-reliant on those technologies in order to complete tasks. This could mean that errors may go unnoticed or may be completely halting business activities if such technologies are removed or changed. An example is a business that functions entirely online will be unable to process orders at all if the company’s server fails and assembly line not able to manufacture products if a robot is the assembly line fails.

  • Security Leaks

The usage of common and popular technologies could open your business and sensitive information related to your business to security vulnerabilities since hackers tend to target popular technologies in their attacks since it greatly increases their chances of success. Several popular attacks have occurred over the years and some even affected hospitals as they use similar technologies to handle patients’ medical files.

Conclusion

The importance of technology in our modern world cannot be overemphasized but before jumping on any new technology, it is very important to sit back and analyse the downsides of that particular technology and the kind of impact it will have on your business and day to day activities before making the move. There are quite a lot of companies that jump on the “latest and greatest” technologies without fully analysing the impacts it will have on their business and only realising the negatives too little too late. 
 

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