In the past few weeks I’ve actually set a challenge for myself, and it’s a challenge that I want to extend to not only Technology people, but also Interior Designers, Architects, and Project Managers.  The challenge I set myself was actually to think outside of the box. This was all spurred from my recent trip to ISE.

ISE is a big trade show for our industry, and here I saw a plethora of amazing technology. I saw huge LED screens, I saw touch interactive screens, flexible LCD screens, and stretched out thin displays. I even saw an LCD screen that rolled up into a cylinder and fit into a box.

But I left the show a little bit disheartened. I was thinking how do we actually use these things in our everyday work environment? Most of these technologies are not applicable. Why are we having them in the first place!

Given a few weeks of time to reflect, this is where the challenge has come in place. We’ve got to think about new ways to be able to use these technologies, in ways that we haven’t done before.

I’ll give you an example. Imagine if we replace a projection screen with the screen that rolled up into a box, wouldn’t that be amazing?! All those thin stretched displays, we could put them next to a door and have room booking information on them, instead of those tiny little tablets. Or even for way finding solutions, we could get rid of the static screens and have those stretched displays, with active information that changes on the time of day, depending on what needs are in place.

And this is the challenge that I’m going to give to you today, again not just to Technology people, but the whole project team. How can we use these new technologies in ways that we haven’t thought of before to improve people’s lives?