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Looking beyond typewriters towards new technology

02 June 2014 Grant Hopkins, Pfirestorm

The adoption of technology is one of the biggest success stories of the new millennium. While the financial services industry has been affected by the movement towards technology, industry experts believe that this is will be a major industry trend in 2014.

A question that we are frequently asked is whether there is a correlation between the age of our clients and the propensity for them to adopt our new technology.

From an organisation perspective, three basic questions need to be asked and answered before a new technology should be considered:

• Does the technology fit in with your organisation's long term goals?
• How will the adoption of this new technology support and facilitate the achievement of your business goals?
• How will it fit into your existing IT infrastructure and systems?

Curiously, none of these questions concern themselves with age.

Digging deeper to find the truth

So let’s dig deeper. Let’s assume that these primary questions all support the adoption of a new technology. What possible age related issues would deny adoption of a new technology?

Perhaps the best point of departure is to look for clues from a human behavior standpoint. We know, for example, that there is always a natural resistance to change - like adopting new technology - but to assume that the older we are the more difficult it will be, is not entirely based upon the facts.

Research shows us that there are a number of issues that influence resistance to new technologies. These issues include, to name a few: ambiguity regarding the reasons to change technologies; exclusion from the consulting process; threats to modify existing patterns of working relationships; inefficient communications around the perception of inadequate benefits and rewards following the proposed technological changes; threats to jobs; changes in the status and the power of individuals within the organisation.

The value to the organisation to adopt a new technology may be generous, but real adoption occurs on the ground. People are different and have their own realities to deal with and consider in terms of change. This is even true in very small organisations, which have one financial adviser and one personal assistant, where the adviser’s objectives are vastly different to that of the personal assistant’s objectives and daily tasks.

Again, so far, none of this is age related.

Finding technology more than just a challenge

For the most part, we all understand this. And yet the perception persists that the older generation finds change more than just a challenge.

Way back in 1993, a paper entitled Adopting New technologies – An entrepreneurial Act written and researched by Yves-Chantal Gagnon and Jean-Marie Toulouse provided an alternative to the conventional thinking.

This document concluded that neither the organisational benefits, nor the management inclusion in the processes alone created the environment necessary to fully adopt new technologies. It concluded that the adoption of new technologies is based more closely on characteristics associated with entrepreneurial rather than managerial mode.

Entrepreneurs make decisions differently and see beyond the scope of managerial input by being able to assess risks in a different way.

So what can one conclude for all of this?

Age certainly has an impact on decision making with adopting new technologies only in so far as each individual’s own realties and perceptions are concerned.

The fact that we talk about different generations - Greatest Generation, Baby Boomers, Generation X, Y and Z - which are based upon our experiences around our exposure during a specific period in history provides an obvious, and sometimes ignored, backdrop to understanding age and the myths that abound.

“The great secret that all old people share is that you really haven't changed in seventy or eighty years. Your body changes, but you don't change at all. And that, of course, causes great confusion” - Doris Lessing.

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