Page 233 - Managing the Mobile Workforce

212 � mAnAgIng the moBIle workForCe

that Sony and Phillips were set to introduce the write-once optical
media CD and player, a technology that would combine the use of
audio, text, and graphics and basic navigation logic? (Note there is no
mention of video even at that point.) So, to stay ahead of the “Joneses,”
LearnKey was one of the first companies to invest in building and
distributing CD-ROMs into the learning market.
The catch? The PC manufacturers had not yet fully embraced the
technology. The learning curve was steep with the CD-ROM pub-
lishing software, and it took months, in 1992, to actually create con-
tent and repurpose the video media that would play back on the PC
boxes with Windows 3.1. Showing real-usage case studies was also a
challenge. LearnKey found that being an early adopter (three years
early, in fact) by charging ahead into the CD-ROM technology game
could be both expensive and risky. But once CD-ROM caught on in
the mid-1990s and became the default medium and playback device
for audio and video media, the investment paid off. In the twenty-
first century, technology changes a lot faster, format wars rage on vast
battlefields, and the chances of making the wrong choice in technol-
ogy to support your organization are higher than ever.
Keeping up means making an effort to continue educating your
staff and moving the company technology and process forward. In
the LearnKey scenario, innovation started the company and pushed
the company forward for more than two decades. Early adoption of
new technology slowed its pace, as it did with most companies, but it
never halted. The need for innovation to move the company forward
has kept the company in a strong financial position. A simple film
clip showing how technology adoption progresses might start with
capturing video content to VHS, then moving to CD-ROM, then to
DVD, then to online learning portals, and now to what John Clemons
calls “the next big idea,” which is delivering the content to any device
with complete mobility. It is now a reality that the ability exists to
bring content to wherever your “mobile self” is currently located.
Stories from many others are similar to the LearnKey story, and
buying technology is only a portion of the expense to keep up with
this ever-moving technology shell game. Early adopters are the true