MCC 110: From Information Age to Engage Age: Mastering the Digital Evolution

I’ve long been interested in how technology has impacted the way people communicate. On application, the promise of ‘plug & play’ so often seems to collapse into ‘problem & dismay’. Once upon a time we would phone our friends ‘…for a chat..’. How quaint. To do so now without first clarifying by text message whether it’s convenient is considered forward, if not plain rude.

Instant messaging wants to invade any platform or device we have, and the latest app promises to replace email. But never quite does. Email hangs on as the ‘carbon paper’ of the 21st century: an outdated technology that’s just too useful, easy and ingrained to die.

It seems unbelievable now, but when I joined the nascent IT sector as a young engineer – more than 40 years ago – carbon paper pads were an essential part of the order processing system. Email was the dream of some bright spark in a far away laboratory. The internet was unheard of and the term ‘web site’ (as it was written then) a foreign language.

Computers belonged in the Data Processing Department and were the size of wardrobes. The very concept that a computer could be ‘personal’ was a nonsense, until IBM changed the world by launching their Personal Computer in 1981.

In the early 1990s I worked at IBM’s research centre in southern France helping create the consulting methodology for the newly formed IBM Consulting Group. In time this led to a position as Director of Consulting Services in the air transport sector.

The more complex technology has become the clearer it is that organisations face challenges on two fronts:

• Clarifying their thoughts and developing a clear message
• Communicating that message via an effective online presence

Early this century I branched out on my own and founded Active Presence as a niche consulting firm in 2002. The focus has always been helping business leaders develop a clear message and communicate it effectively online.