Posts by Bob McCallister

Retailers no longer compete solely on persuading people to walk into their stores. Today, they also battle it out based on their technical wizardry. Specifically, the technology that creates engaging experiences while also making it easier to buy. Here are some of today’s best examples: Amazon Go Amazon has fulfilled every shopper’s dream: No more waiting in lines. At Amazon Go you grab what you need and walk out of the store, all with payment…  MORE

There’s no question that 21st century retail success depends on technical advancement. The companies that figure how to best implement artificial intelligence, apps, machine learning, and other technologies will most likely lead the pack. But it turns out this can be a one-sided relationship. Consumers want more – in this case, more humanity. That’s the overwhelming finding from a PwC survey of 15,000 consumers. In the U.S, 82% of consumers want more human interactions while…  MORE

Are you old enough to remember “Y2K”? If so, you can recall predictions of technological and business disaster when the calendar clicked over from 1999 to the dawn of the 21st century. You also know that everything turned out just fine. That’s the risk of looking into the future and making claims. But since we’re in the business of providing technology consulting, we can’t quite help ourselves. Here’s what we expect to see in 2019….  MORE

We all understand that technology constantly changes. Interestingly, it’s not only that old tools get swapped for new ones, it’s that our initial perceptions of, and uses for, a specific technology evolve as well. Take SD-WAN. When we first became aware of SD-WAN, it was considered as a smart replacement for legacy WAN solutions. Think of MPLS and you’ll understand where I’m going. But this approach has shifted with the rise of enterprise-level digital transformation….  MORE

In the world of telecommunications, you tend to see a lot of predictions. Some never match expectations, while others eventually live up to the hype. The latter is the case for Software-Defined Networking (SDN). Many companies are beginning to see the value of this networking architecture technology. For those of you not completely familiar, SDN facilitates network management and enables programmatically efficient network configuration in order to improve network performance and monitoring. SDN addresses the…  MORE

If you’ve been in the telecommunications or technology industry long enough, you’ve likely witnessed partnerships that didn’t quite work out. That’s the nature of the beast. On paper, a joint venture or strategic collaboration can seem like a great idea with a mutually beneficial future. Then in the real world the stars don’t align how you imagined. That’s why it’s critical to cover all of the details and ramifications before formalizing the partnership agreement. Not…  MORE

Technology trends may come and go, but few things remain as consistent as the growth of broadband. It’s an objective fact that broadband consumption keeps rising, which is a driving force for the overall success of the telecommunications industry. If you look at mobile traffic across the globe, it’s been increasing by nearly 50% each year, with wireless traffic seeing approximately a 20% annual boost.  What accounts for this seemingly endless growth? Sure, there are…  MORE

Ever since the invention of the wheel, people have been imagining and predicting how technology will shape human life (and business). Now that it’s impossible to separate tech from our daily lives, it easier to assess what will come tomorrow, next month, and next year. But rather than looking to just 2018, we wanted to take a longer, half-decade view. Here are some trends to be aware of from now until 2023: Technology companies are…  MORE