The emergence of the personal computer and cell phone in the 1990s and the smartphone in the 2000s are some of the drastic changes the business world has seen in recent decades. Technology has caused businesses to be run differently, established new prerequisites for success, and influenced the way consumers act. However, while it’s easy to sing the praises of technology, it is important to understand what innovation is significant and what will largely be uninfluential.
Forecasting future technological standards and their effect on consumers is difficult, but typically can be done with a degree of accuracy. This process starts with a “cone of uncertainty” or a graph that tracks the expansion of technological capabilities alongside critical milestones.
