You thought that things changed fast in the last decade, get ready for the next ten years. At our presentation with Microsoft at the SPARK Forum Nov 7-9, we talked about the changes that have been but also a glimpse into what will be. Overhead projectors with transparencies were cutting edge just 60 years ago with the first major advancement since the printing press. PowerPoint made its first laptop presentation in 1992, now it is the”norm”.

Cell phones started in 1973, 17 years later there were 12 million subscribers, and just over 17 years after that period, there were over 4 billion cellular subscribers.

With all good innovations, one thing that has helped make change happen faster is when the “switching cost” has been low. The best example of this is with the MySpace and Facebook battle. MySpace launched in 2003 and was the clear leader in 2008. Facebook launched in 2004 and by 2010 was the clear leader. With no real cost to change combined with a better offering, the speed of change was fast.

We see the same with client communications particularly with the expanding use of tablet PCs and Smart phones, combined with the cloud. There is no software to load and configure on your device, you just access a web site and off you go. Gone will be the days where you have to fire up your laptop to create a client document, much in the same way you do not need to use your laptop to check email.

Creating client communications will become second nature. It will just be one of the many ‘apps’ that exist on your tablet PC or Smart phone. There will be no thinking involved – just choose a client, a document template, and click ‘Go’. A document will be delivered to your device in minutes.

There is a clear fork in the road for those preparing for what is coming and those that will be forced there. And as the famous Yogi Berra once said, “When you come to a fork in the road…..take it. “