4. Technology changes (1)

Some technologies are very fast paced such as electronics and computing. Consider some of the massive technology changes that have happened and the impact these changes had on a whole swathe of industries. For example, the introduction of the electronic calculator in 1970.

Up to 1970 most engineers used a slide rule to do calculations. This required a lot of practice to build up the skills needed. Then the electronic calculator came along that could do the same thing much quicker, more accurately and required minimal maths skills. Suddenly anyone could carry out complicated calculations. Consider the impacts :-

  • Slide rule companies went out of business unless they found a new product to make
  • Relatively unskilled people could now carry out calculations, which affected the way companies recruited staff for numeracy work (payroll clerks, cost estimators etc).
  • Engineers and scientists within companies could now be much more productive as calculations were quicker - this boosted the rate at which new products appeared in the marketplace.
  • Battery suppliers suddenly had a massive new market, there was also opportunites to beat the competition by developing longer lasting battery types (alkaline) or rechargeable technologies (NiCad, now Lithium Ion).
  • Fierce competition to create better displays with lower power consumption, so LED technologies were gradually replaced with LCD displays.
  • With millions of calculators sold, there were huge efforts to pack even more features into them and this helped drive the effort to minutarise electronics. This had an impact on all the other electronic devices coming along as well.
  • Schools had to think about the effect of calculators in education - should they be allowed in exams for example. How did they impact the teaching of maths and science. No more need to use the old logarithm tables or trigonometry tables.

The simple calculator we all have today had a massive impact on many industries. It affected the skills people needed to learn for their jobs. It affected how companies recruited staff and it changed the way were taught in school and took exams.

So a relatively specialist piece of ICT equipment had a significant effect on organisations.

 

challenge see if you can find out one extra fact on this topic that we haven't already told you

Click on this link: Impact of the electronic calculator