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PRoCEss TECHnology sHould REflECT volumE And vARiETy 207
altered the way they manage their buying process. Connected IT systems allow many
suppliers access to a common data portal that gives real-time information about how
products are selling in all stores. Such systems enable the supply companies to modify
their production schedules in order to meet demand more precisely and ensure fewer
stock-outs. Here the defining technological characteristic associated with platform
independence is not coupling in the classic sense of integration, but rather a greater
degree of connectivity.
The issues connected with connectivity are similar to those concerned with scalabil-
ity and analytical content. Low connectivity is often associated with idiosyncratically
designed, bespoke and ‘legacy’ IT systems. Often such systems come with restricted
opportunities for the access that is a prerequisite to connectivity. High-connectivity
technologies, on the other hand, are usually based on the platform independence dis-
cussed above and have the bandwidth capacity to enable rich communications. Some-
times, however, their very openness and easy access can give security concerns. Much
new technology, although offering wonderful levels of connectivity, creates new oppor-
tunities for fraud, ‘denial of service’ attacks and so on. Two key drivers have allowed
‘connectivity’ to develop at such a phenomenal rate.

1 Hardware development – Client/server systems (initially promoted as a less costly
replacement for mainframe technology) have permitted the separation of user inter-
faces, processing applications and data sources. This has encouraged the develop-
ment of interconnection technology, including software protocols and connection
technology (such as bandwidth enhancement).
2 Software development – Arguably, the distinguishing feature of the development of
the World Wide Web has been the adoption of a universal browser interface, which
has considerably expanded the potential for connectivity.

example Technology or people? The future of jobs 3
In his book, The Power of Habit, Charles Duhigg relates a story to demonstrate that human beings
are more predictable than we sometimes like to think. A man walked into a supermarket to
complain to the manager. They had been sending direct mail to the man’s daughter contain-
ing discount vouchers for baby clothes and equipment. ‘She is only in high school’, the father
protested. The manager apologised profusely. ‘It’s the fault of a new programme that predicted
pregnancy based on the buying behaviour of our customers’, he said. It was, obviously, a mistake
and he was very sorry. A few days later, the man again visited the supermarket and said that
it was his turn to apologise. His daughter was indeed pregnant and due to give birth in a few
months’ time. The point of the story is that technology is increasing in sophistication to the
extent that it is now capable of performing tasks that previously required skilled people making
judgements based on insight and experience. Moreover, technology can often do those tasks
better. A piece of software has replaced the marketing team trying to guess who to sell baby
clothes to. So, technology is not only replacing people, but it is also ‘climbing the skills ladder
all the time’.
Of course, technological advances have always had an impact on the type of jobs that are
in demand by businesses and, by extension, the type of jobs that are eliminated. So, much of
the highly routine work of some mass manufacturing, or the type of standardised accounting
processes that pay invoices, have been overtaken by ‘the robot and the spreadsheet’. Yet the type
of work that is more difficult to break down into a set of standardised elements is less prone to

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