This past weekend I tried my best to enjoy myself, but something happened that knocked me completely off my game.   It was something that for many people, would be a welcome change or no big deal, but not for me.  It derailed me.  It left me hung out to dry, killed my efficiency and effectiveness, and caused me to wake up a couple of times in panic mode. 

What was the issue?  My Apple iphone, which is use to run my life, stopped working.  After 18 months and an average of 3,500 minutes per month in phone calls alone, never mind data, the phone and battery waved the white flag and surrendered that it was tired, overused, and cooked.   At one point, I was driving along and almost threw it out the window of my truck to rid myself of the question marks and move on.  However, that would be bad for the environment, so I did not. 

Seriously, ask yourself when the last time was that you went to get a coffee and did not bring your cell phone or pda? How did you feel the last time you unexpectedly left your cell phone/pda at home or at the office for the day or maybe even lost it?  Now imagine, that you had the phone, and that something simple like getting phone calls, did not work.  It is just different.    The good news was that I could do 80% of what I needed to do and still leverage all the mobile applications and social networking sites I use daily enabling me to keep in touch with those who are in my network.

Prior to 15 years ago, I did not have any type of mobile device, so it was no big deal.   But since I owned my first pager, some level of real time access to my peers, friends, and family has been to a certain degree become the norm – even with a pager.  You remember how it worked – you would get a page, run to a pay phone (not sure if those still even exist anywhere other than hotels, bus terminals, and airports), scramble for change, make the call, hang up and thought I was pretty efficient.  Now, many of us don’t use our home phones unless absolutely necessary – we run our lives through our cell phones and pda’s and rely on mobile technology for efficiency.   Feels like a trip down memory lane now as I spend a minimum of 10 hours a week using my Bluetooth phone system in my truck as I travel to and from work and to meetings on conference calls.   And, the only reason I have my home phone is as a backup plan for when the technology I use daily breaks.   Yes, technology breaks – but seriously, what doesn't?

Having lived in the emerging technologies marketplaces for many years, I no longer discount any trend that exists.   At the early stages, the optimists tend to jump in with both feet while the skeptics tend to wait it out until they can quantify the actual ROI of their use.  Whether it is sales force automation software, mobile and wireless technology, collaboration tools -you name it – there were more naysayers than believers as those markets evolved.    Mobile, coupled with social media, will be here for a long time.  If you are not leveraging the mobile applications available, I strongly encourage you to make them an important part of our future strategy as they have become one of the main ways with which we communicate.

I am eager to get back to 120% productivity and experiment with the new mobile technologies Apple is introducing with its iphone 4g including video conferencing.  10 years ago, we were all talked about how that could save a company in travel expenses and time on the road.   Another one time “imagine that” trend that is now a reality for business.