This Week's Herman Trend Alert Purpose Emerging as Important Driver of Engagement

The Herman Trend Alert February 17, 1999 Our Technological Future is Right Around the Corner Technology will have an increasing impact on workplace and workstyles. Current, developing, and emerging technologies will substantially affect our personal lives. Video teleconferencing will be more common in the office, in home offices, and on the road via laptop clip-on miniature video cameras. Telephone teleconferencing, already routinely used for staff meetings, will be more heavily utilized with personal videophones not far away. More of us will be dictating directly into computers. This speech recognition technology is one of this year's hot new software lines. Expect to see fewer clerical support people as executives become more comfortable with their ability to create sans keyboard. Some of our traditional barriers to doing business internationally will vanish, as real-time telephone language translation enables cross-language business management. Collaborative software allowing geographically dispersed teams to work seamlessly together will build greater productivity of our intellectual workforces. As more cities install cable modems and offer instant access internet service, we will facilitate real-time communication. Integration of phone, pager, fax, e-mail, and Personal Digital Assistants, with one number following you everywhere is right around the corner. Using a 500 area code, AT&T introduced its "Follow Me" service several years ago. Satellite phone networks, like Iridium, offer instant communications literally anywhere in the world, shrinking our planet even further. Since we are all now more mobile, the communications technologies will help us stay in touchùno matter where we are. Holographic image processing and transmittal may seem far out, but may not be so far off. Your holographic image may soon represent you in places you can't (or don't want to) go. Paper documents will give way to electronic documents, but issues of security, storage and retrieval (over long time periods) remain to be solved. Some computer applications cannot read documents they produced in earlier versions. While anomalies will make the transitions difficult for a while, technology will soon make paperless functioning comfortable and affordable. Special thanks to Futurist Terry van der Werff, PhD, CMC, for his input for this week. © Copyright 1998- by The Herman Group, Inc. -- reproduction for publication is encouraged, with the following attribution: From "The Herman Trend Alert," by Roger Herman and Joyce Gioia, Strategic Business Futurists. (800) 227-3566 or http://www.hermangroup.com. The Herman Trend Alert is a trademark of The Herman Group, Inc." WHO SENDS OUT YOUR NEWSLETTERS? We are convinced there is no better choice than ours! We have happily used DataBack Systems to deliver The Herman Trend Alert for over 10 years and. Visit their website (http://www.databack.com) or call Byron directly at 503.941.0427. You'll be glad you did. IS YOUR EMPLOYER AN EMPLOYER OF CHOICE®? Our effective, onsite seminars, workshops, and consulting can help you get there. We offer 1-, 2-, 3-hour, and full-day programs to help you communicate what it takes to become an Employer of Choice® and inspire your folks to get it done. In the future, being an Employer of Choice® will not be optional. Call Carol at 336-210-3547 to arrange a no-obligation conference call. Or order the electronic version of the Employer of Choice book on your desktop for only $17.80 @ http://hermangroup.com/store/books_all.html#2. STRUGGLING TO FIND THE PEOPLE YOU NEED? VETJOBS CAN HELP! Recently, hundreds of thousands of jobs remain unfilled due to a lack of capable people. If you are looking for qualified candidates, you need to hire a veteran using VFW-sponsored VetJobs, the largest military employment site on the Internet. Thousands of returning veterans are looking for good jobs now. Mention this ad in The Herman Trend Alert and receive a 10% discount on job postings. Call Ted Daywalt at 877-838-5627 or inquire at info@VetJobs.com. Herman Trend Alerts are produced by the Herman Group, strategic business futurists, Certified Management Consultants, authors, and professional speakers. New subscribers are welcome. There is no charge for this public service. The Herman Trend Alert is received by over 30,000 subscribers in 78 countries, in addition to other websites and printed magazines. Do you enjoy receiving this weekly e-mail update? Contact us about our co-branded Trend Alert service. Click here to sign up for the Herman Trend Alert. Subscribe or Unsubscribe to weekly Herman Trend Alert View this week's Herman Trend Alert Archived Weekly Herman Trend Alerts

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