Streamification -- the emerging world we live in: Technology

The world we live, augmented by technology, is increasingly becoming more fluid. Not to long past our lives were blocks of time and activity. The morning paper, lunch with friends, the evening news, a movie night out but that has changed dramatically as all things are available to us most all the time and the way that we interact in this technology enabled world I call Streamification.

“History is obsolete in the humanverse - it is only relevant to technology

as a predictor of the future”

I am an observer of human behaviour and technology -- it is my fascination. I observe the evolution of human/ tech interaction from a social perspective and it seems clear to me that we are on a quickly evolving path driven by two main forces:

• Human behaviour change enabled by technology. Our access to most everything is no longer time bound. We communicate with multimedia capability to friends without restrictions on time, geography or even having ever met. Our lives are an open book, a series of snapshots of our likes, dislikes, passions and idiosyncrasies. We seldom have an exclusive online or offline experience as the interconnectedness of the two coalesce into a single experience.
• Technology changes due to changing human behaviour. This has been long time in the coming as predictive modeling to anticipate desire is the Holy Grail of business, but we have seen it accelerate and morph in recent years largely due to Millennials. Snapchat is revolutionary. This silly app where pictures disappear was based on the premise that we live in the now and history is irrelevant. Our lives are truly a stream of events or periods of “now” being reinforced by the technology we use.

AI and bots are the hot topic of the moment. It may have seemed as if they emerged as some “cool” idea that took hold, but necessity is the mother of invention and bots are emerging because of Streamification and the need to cater to the demand of an almost infinite number of unique moments in time.

“In the most simple of terms, Streamification is “I want what I want and

I want it now” but it is far more complex and subtle”

Whether you talk in terms of customer journey, touchpoints or the uniqueness and spontaneity of the human spirit we each travel a path that is ours but touches so many other. . . everything. It is a stream of moments. Though we do embrace the notion of our own uniqueness, it is with greater precision that AI is able to predict our wants and desires. It is through the power of technology that at anytime we want to reach out, share or buy the expectation that there is a mechanism, whether human or technology, that will provide satisfaction is there and waiting. When you put this in the context of how many of us there are and how unique each of our lives, or Streams, are then it becomes clearer to see that ability to achieve Streamification lies with technology and human input on its design.

Much success,

Doug

Director

PRDA Asia