Human technologies
Until it gets to a motivated environment
filled with inspiration, technology is no more just a tool –says to Napi Gazdaság Gupta Sanjay, business intelligence and
information management solutions division director of T-Systems Hungary.
−Technology is nothing... –you cited Steve Jobs on the Business Intelligence –Human Technologies conference
organised by T-Systems Hungary. What do you think about this remark of the
former company leader?
−I do very much agree with the approach and spirit on the basis of
which Steve Jobs made this remark, because he continued like this: “What is important is to trust in the people,
believe that they are fundamentally good and smart, and if you give them the
tools, they’ll be capable of
miraculous things …”Technology is no more just a tool until it gets to motivated
environment filled with inspiration. That’s why we have chosen the Human Technologies as title for this
conference: this way we emphasise that technical excellence is not enough: we
must also consider the human environment we want to place the given technology
to, as there are business and social factors acting behind it, and the
importance and strength of these aspects is a relevant aspect of technological
development.
−In your lecture you mentioned intelligent society. It’s been a long way to merely talk about such
thing, and it’s going to be a long
time before it fully develops. What was the course of this path?
−In the beginning information technology (IT) was appeared as a means
supporting corporate operations. However, the development directions it set
course for later –for example that the internet became faster, cheaper, and more
easily accessible –have broadened the scope of the users. In the meantime, the demand
and needs of the society towards technology have been more clearly formulated.
The adaptation of technology to the needs
is an evolutionary process. As in case of many inventions, it sometimes
happened here too that the inventor wanted to invent something completely
different from what he eventually did. But this doesn’t mean at all that this is an invention created by mistake. It only
means that the initial motivation changed in the course of the development, and
the inventor realised, that in another form these inventions might play an
important role in responding to certain issues of the society. Innovation does
not always mean the creation of something that didn’t exist before; in many cases it is a new utilisation of an existing
thing. In today’s world, part of the
innovation processes in the field of info-communications (ICT) means placing
existing technologies to new contexts.
−What has T-Systems Hungary done to be part of this process?
−Among other things, our Smart City –Digital City initiative is an attempt to
answer this question. With its various solutions, this initiative covers a
significant spectrum of city operations and management. Our developments
related to transport –such as our Courier project or the ticket selling systems or our
healthcare projects –are also good examples of solutions having direct impact on the life
of the people. But our big data solutions serve the same purpose, for example
the one with which we can deliver real-time, relevant promotional and advertising
information to all, who require them. Another big data based solution of ours
is the so-called Social Media Command Center (SMCC), which reveals what the
customers of our customers –i.e. the end users –think about the services, products or
campaigns of our customers in the social media. Information provided by the
SMCC may help our customers to align their market offering with the needs and
preferences of the end users more efficiently.
−Is the intelligent society created on the basis of the needs of the
people involved in it, or is it the goal of the ICT companies?
−This is a question that can be asked of any player of any innovative
industry. The question is, whether and to what extent the inventions generate
the need, or responding to the existing needs creates the new inventions.
It would be immodest on my part to clearly
answer this question in this complex –ICT or social –environment. I think this effect is mutual. Information
technology or the info-communications industry does bring certain topics to the
surface, but –in their defence–they always offer real and tangible values, otherwise
masses of people would not use their solutions. On the other hand –in a sense –needs formulated by the
society are being responded to as well. How surprising it may seem, for today’s ICT companies and inventors it is an “obligatory
practice”to deal with social sciences. Needs coming
from there also emphasise and reinforce certain directions of development.
Community opinions appearing in the social media –either directly or indirectly –can give inputs to the
ICT companies driving them to various solutions and innovations. So, this is a
bidirectional process, but part of the society will always be critical
regarding how much we generate the needs ourselves. In the meantime, as long as
we do it in order to make life more comfortable, more transparent and more
predictable –and this way creating an intelligent society –I think we serve a
good cause.
Source: NAPI Gazdaság (József Diószegi)