Christopher Thompson's Closing the Deal: Technology can change your business and your life -- if you keep up - The Union Leader

I experienced several eye-opening situations over the past week that caused me to step back and reflect on how technology has changed and will continue to change our lives and the way we do business.

In our fast-paced and technology-obsessed world, it’s virtually impossible to keep up with all of the advances and new products that are released.

Remember Blockbuster? Of course you do! Who can forget walking through those doors and browsing the shelves of movies, hoping that the one movie you were hoping to watch was in stock. They had the movie case facing the aisle, and behind it was a plastic case containing the VHS tape.

You took the movie to the counter, paid and went home. And if that movie you really wanted wasn’t available and the Blockbuster employee was in a good mood, they might check the return box to see if someone might have returned it. It was a huge win when that happened! If you were lucky and it wasn’t a hot new release, you could keep it for more than a day. And don’t forget: Be kind and please rewind before you bring it back.

Fast forward to today. There is one Blockbuster store left on the planet. Yes, only one. And who knows why? But it’s in Bend, Ore., and reportedly doing pretty well. I have a feeling that store will end up on the National Register of Historic Places at some point.

Last week there was also news about how FedEx will be piloting a robot that will be making same-day deliveries to homes. It’s a fully autonomous robot that can climb stairs and curbs and deliver packages right to your door. According to FedEx, the company will be experimenting with the technology with local businesses that have customers who are within a few miles of the retail locations. FedEx was forced to announce its plans so people who saw the robots roaming their neighborhood didn’t think our planet was being invaded.

If the pilot is successful, think about what this will mean to business in the future. Talk about a game changer.

And the best part about the FedEx robot is that it was developed in collaboration with New Hampshire’s invention legend, Dean Kamen. It utilizes the same technology as the iBOT mobility system, Kamen’s stair-climbing wheelchair. Thanks for making New Hampshire proud, Dean!

The last thing that happened over the past week that really made me decide to write about technology was an alert I received on my Apple watch in the middle of a meeting I was in. My watch vibrated and let me know that my daughter’s social studies grade that was a B+ was now an A.

I was proud of her hard work, but also blown away after I realized I just learned about a change in my daughter’s grade by receiving an alert on my watch. Think about that. It sounds surreal when you say it out loud.

These three examples of technology are simple, and nothing compared to what is going on in the world today. Keeping up with all of it is really a full-time job. In sales and business, it’s critical to dedicate time to researching and learning about technologies and solutions that can change the way you do business.

Don’t get left behind!

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