Businesses like the ipod repair business is facing both unprecedented challenges and opportunities in today’s world. Global competition and the increasing pace of change, combined with slow economic growth, has meant that businesses are becoming more reliant on smart technology in order to cut costs and compete effectively.
The trends have been in place for some time, and we have seen much change in the way an office operates. For instance, air travel has been largely replaced with teleconferencing. Today’s sophisticated high-speed networks allow team members from all around the world to meet as if they were all in the same office. Picture and sound quality continue to improve, and in the future look for 3-D teleconference facilities – ones that do not require those funny colored glasses to work. Travel budgets have been cut, and some larger companies have shed their in-house travel departments in favor of Indian-based travel shops.
A big trend globally is the development of the “city in a building” concept. Tall skyscrapers share both commercial and residential occupants along with shops of all description so that one never has to leave the building. You take the elevator to work, or to the lobby where you can food shop and pick up your dry cleaning. A rooftop gym and solarium gives you access to the great outdoors when you occasionally crave the sun. Penthouse restaurants give you your choice of different cuisines and fine wines from around the world. These modern marvels are built to strict energy efficiency standards, and the amount of savings due to eliminating commuting is enormous.
A related smart-business trend is the “free” lunch. Employees remain at their desks during lunch hour, except for a 15 minute break to enjoy a free meal cooked up in the firm’s high-tech kitchens. For instance, you may want your top salesman to sell leads throughout lunch – in this way, he or she is gone for a mere quarter hour before resuming work on the phones. Thousands of hours of productivity gains more than offset the costs of this scheme. Businesses are requesting cooking facilities as part of their floor plans just so they can offer this incentive.
Certain businesses need to keep constant tabs on the whereabouts of key employees, so they have GPS chips implanted within employee bodies. These chips allow the firm’s central control unit to keep track of the location of all key people any time of the day or night. Still in the experimental stage are video implants that allow for the monitoring of everything the employee sees and hears. Think of all the time saved not having to keep meeting notes or transcribing phone calls, since it would all be recorded automatically. The future for business will be truly awesome.