Based on your exploration, try to summarise in 400 words what you know and think about the influence of technology on society in general and specifically on organisations. What are some of the main points organisations have to consider that they may not have had to consider in the past?

This world is turning into a digital world. We can now only use the digit wallet in our mobile phone to carry our credit card, driver’s licences, and many other membership cards. It is very convenient that we can use a small mobile device to record all of this useful information. In fact, the outbreaks of the Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the procedure of digitisation. People need to scan the QR code to record all the venues they have attended, so that all the casual and close contacts can be chased. The innovation of technology helps the society moving towards a digital world.

If an organisation has not paid much attention to the impact of the advanced technology, it could be left behind in the near future. For example, a live-chat conversation is much more efficient than the way of using email communication. Some questions can be solved by Artificial Intelligence system, which will save budget on human salaries. Just as Cox (2020) argues that the AI may take the academic librarian’s role in data analysing and literacy training et al. (p. 9). There is no “working hour” for an AI, so the clients could contact them at anytime. Therefore, the technology will help the organisations to provide better services.

In addition, as the world is moving towards digitisation, information organisations need to consider the changing roles of their employees. When the organisations start to apply new technologies to replace some jobs, they need to educate their users. Take the AI system as an example, although AI system could make recommendations based on our searching result, it may not be able to provide the exact result. Therefore, there is still a need for human involved activities. Just as Anna and Mannan suggest (2020) that librarians should transform their roles from from the traditional data manager to the knowledge provider. Information professionals need to teach their clients how to use these new technologies more proficiently. Therefore, the employees must keep the same pace with the development of the organisation and always be acknowledged with the innovation of the new technologies.

The world is moving towards digitisation with the inevitable usage of the new technologies. Organisations need to apply the advanced technology to improve their competence in the society. Meanwhile, they should also pay attention to the changing role of their staff.

References:

Anna, N.E.V. and Mannan, E.F. (2020). Big data adoption in academic libraries: A literature review. Library Hi Tech News, 37(4), 1-5. https://doi-org.ezproxy.csu.edu.au/10.1108/LHTN-11-2019-0079

Cox, J. (2020). The higher education environment driving academic library strategy: A political, economic, social and technological (PEST) analysis. The Journal of Academic Librarianship. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.acalib.2020.102219