By Pepper Parr
BURLINGTON,ON March 31, 2012 Nick Bontis, one of the uber prof’s at McMaster’s DeGroote School of Business on the South Service Road in Burlington, told a business audience that there are currently 2.1 billion IP addresses in the world that has a population of 7 billion when Nick last counted.
An IP address is the unique address given to your computer when it goes out into the internet.
The premise of the presentation Bontis was giving is that if you think you are being bombarded with more email than you can manage now – get ready for the tidal wave, because we are about to have mail from – wait for it – your car, your refrigerator and dozens of other devices that will have a level of computerization built into them
Bontis told an Economic Development network meeting how to prepare for information bombardment.
Bontis is energetic, speaks faster than anyone I’ve ever heard and still be understood. He is certainly informed and while there is a big entertainment quotient to what he does – he makes his point and explains where changes have been made in the way we communicate and suggests what we are going to have to do to cope with the change that is already on its way.
For those who can’t cope or don’t want to cope with the change Bontis doesn’t suggest a cave somewhere but he doesn’t seem to have any other option for them. But let’s be optimistic and go with the flow Bontis creates.
Here is a scenario he painted for the audience at the Burlington Economic Development Corporation’s Mayor’s I “Imagine-Ignite-Innovate” luncheon series.
You’re driving along in your car and the car talks to you – “running a little low on gas – the lowest price ahead is $1.27 a litre – GPS has you three minutes away.”
Seconds later the fridge calls and says: “If you’re turning in for gas cross the road when you come out and pick up three litres of milk – none left in the fridge and the price is very good. GPS has you just a minute or two away.”
You come away from the gas station with a full tank, the milk is in the cooler in the trunk and as you drive north the GPS pipes in and tells you “ there has been an accident three minutes away” and gives you two alternate routes to avoid the traffic delay. You make a left turn and you’re passing a mall and Holt Renfrew calls to say “there is a very good deal on a jacket that will go very well with the slacks you bought a month earlier” and then photo shops a picture of you in your slacks with the jacket they are suggesting you buy and puts the image up on the small screen in the car – when you are at a stop light -and then advise you that “you have enough points in your Holt Loyalty card to get the jacket for next to nothing.”
That’s the world Dr. Nick Bontis sees coming our way – and he should know – he teaches graduate students at McMaster on just how to do this. All the pieces to put an information flow like this exist today and some of them are already in place and operational – and it will be privacy be damned,
Bontis made another strong point – 80% of the world’s population speaks, read and writes either Hindu, Chinese and Arabic – “which we don’t understand. And we are arrogant enough to think that if it wasn’t thought about in English or written up in English then it isn’t important. We are letting a lot of information and ideas get away on us.”
Yet another point made with his audience (this guy delivers value for money) was that time wasn’t the thing that was scarce – it is our “attention span” that is scarce. How much attention span do you have – can you increase that span?
Like any good prof there was homework and a quick quiz. Bontis gave out a link to his web site with a special extension for the people at the BEDC luncheon. How many people actually clicked on the link? If you missed noting it: Here you go – www.nickbontis.com/BEDC.htm
How do we deal with the massive flow of data? We create sort acronyms that convey information: BYOB, LOL, FYI, FTE – there are thousands of the things that allow us to communicate faster.
Bontis explains that we have to learn how to work “smarter” and that means controlling the flow of information that comes to us.
If the rate at which you read is the average of 200 words per minute (I could have written WPM) and you use acronyms like FTE for Full Time equivalent – you’ve just goosed the rate at which you read. The kids have taught us how to do this – they know the direction things are going in. Do you?
Google Alerts – use them says Bontis, one of the most popular prof’s in the country and you just know after five minutes with this guy that the students love him.
Training and development – critical says the prof. He uses the formula T&D/FTE – which will tell you how much money a corporation spends on training and developing its staff. When looking for a job says the prof, look for a company with a high T&D/FTE ratio – you know you’re going to get grown there.
Given that information is coming at us a tonne at a time Bontis tells you – learn to read faster. And you can learn to read faster he assures you.
Dr. Nick Bontis explains how we can begin to deal with the information bombardment coming our way.
While email is a great way to communicate – it will never replace face to face. “Bontis tells of the boss he had while he was in the securities business who told him: “I want you to take someone out for lunch every day. That way you will build up a network that will serve you very well in the future.
And, he added, don’t forget alumni. Remember the people you used to work with, or the people who once worked for the company you are with now. They have all kinds of institutional knowledge that is available to you – especially over lunch.
During the BEDC luncheon Mayor Goldring made mention that Gillian Sheldon was leaving the organization after eight years. He wished her well on the new direction she was taking. Gillian was the longest serving staffer at the BEDC – when she goes out the door a lot, if not all, of the institutional memory goes with her. Will the BEDC head honchos do a solid exit interview with her and keep in touch or will they sulk over losing a good one and lose touch.
Bontis has a number of goodies on his web site. If you want to extend the value of the fifty bucks or so you spent for that lunch, create a Google Alert and keep in touch with this guy. Begin an email relationship with the guy – he wants one with you. www.nickbontis.com
