Recent Newhouse alum Laura Foti spoke about emerging trends in the post digital age. She discussed how to use technology to solve business problems and the importance of technology to business. Foti is now working at a company called Deloitte. She says that her days are filled with storytelling as she talks about herself, her clients, and Deloitte in terms of the past, present, and future.
At Deloitte, Foti dreams up new and creative ways to solve problems through technology without actually creating the technology. She leaves the actual development to tech guys who, although essential to creating software and writing scripts, are not always sensitive to the user’s point of view. Foti is responsible for keeping the user in mind and understanding the user experience.
Companies must take advantage of technology to further the user experience. A website’s design may be great online but may not translate as effectively to a smartphone or tablet. Companies are responsible for modifying content in order to fulfill the consumer’s craving for interactive media, especially social media. Social media should not just be something tacked onto a finished product or company. Social media needs to be baked into the user experience in a unique and accessible manner. It should foster relationships and make people feel that the company cares. As consumers evolve with technology businesses must evolve too.
Foti stressed the importance of creativity in the way we use technology to solve problems. She emphasized a problem solving strategy based in the future, encouraging us to find answers in terms of undeveloped technology. These solutions may not be able to be employed in the next week or year but working on development early puts you a step ahead of the game and gets your head in the right place.
A fantastic example of technological innovation to solve a problem is Jawbone’s Up Band, a wristband that provides the person wearing it with information about how well they slept, how many miles they walked, what they ate, etc. It solves problems people have with their own health. Maybe people don’t realize that they don’t get enough sleep or that when they eat red meat they feel sluggish. The Up Band, which is synced to the person’s iPhone, helps people solve these problems and realize these patterns. Foti believes that in the future these Up Bands will be used to enhance the healthcare system and that the technology makes people more aware of their all-around health.
Foti’s presentation was extremely interesting and engaging. Hearing Foti speak changed the way that I think about problems and inspired me to think about how technology could help me. Generally, I think about how I can use what I have and what I know to solve issues but this type of thinking won’t help me reach my potential. I need to go beyond what I already have and know. It seems silly that I had never thought to be innovative or to dream up Star Trek-y technology considering that so much of what was once considered science fiction has become reality. Perhaps being “in the clouds,” as Foti put it, is actually innovation at its finest.