New technologies in the dynamic arena of IT keep on certain flares in the media and on the net. It must have wondered how fast this growth engine is. But they should realize that only a few technologies may be of use to them, or only a few of them may remain stable. These new technologies are likely to remain firmly entrenched on the IT canvas for at least a decade to come.
The first and the forest among the new waves of IT is Direct to Home Technologies (DTH). It is, in fact, a digital technology that is not directly related to IT or computer operations. It represents a sea – change in entertainment technologies, which are essentially based on the science of dissemination of information. The DTH technology is a boom for households. TV signals are digitized and compressed. Then, the signals selected by the viewer are sent to the satellites in encrypted formats. From these satellites, these are beamed back to the earth. The home antenna of the viewer is a pizza – shaped disk that receives the signal. A decoder is installed before the television set. It decodes the encrypted signal and the viewer is able to see clear digital signal of the channel. He can choose the channels. The signals received through the DTH are best from among those developed by the digital technology.
All are well versed with the Short Messaging Service (SMS) that is available in every cellular phone. It has been now replaced by Multimedia Messaging Service (MMS), which enables a cellular phone user to send and receive pictures. Text can be combined with photographs, sound, colour, voice and animation. The cellular phone must be MMS – enabled; there must have in built in camera too. The MMS must be sent to the E – mail addresses. It can also be published to the net or stored in the personnal album of the sender and the receiver.
Then, call centre management is a new feather in the cape of IT firms. A call centre is a node of a worldwide network, which is essentially hooked on to the net. Four basic types of IT services are provide by a call centre, as follows :-
(a). Customer Care – These include after – sale support, remote maintenance, help and grievance handling.
(b). Finance and Administration – These include data analysis, medical transcription, insurance claims and inventory management.
(c). Human Resource Management – These include pay rolls, credit card services, cheque processing activities and employee leasing.
(d). Content Development – This service includes development of digital contents, research and development, LAN networking and application maintenance.
It has been estimated that India would emerge as a major CRM power in 2008. Nowadays, CRM is the fastest growing industry in the field of IT. Online phone banking services have received a fillip due to the expansion of telecommunication services. Reliance infocom is offering cheapest cellular services ever and also offering new cellular phones in exchange of old ones. Other cellular majors like airtel are likely to cut down their operational cost of the mobile phones in the wake of new entry of this new competitor. Cellular operations did the prices of their services in January 2004, however.
Our readers can also use the internet – connected PC to talk to their friends to a larg\e who have cellular phones. They can surf through web sites www.pc2phone.com and sms.ac.in to send their SMS message number of to a large number of cellular phones.
While the lads, lasses and professionals dream about new gadgets and technologies, we pose two questions that need to be answered by them. Firstly, are the new gadgets needed by them? The answer to this question is partial Yes! We do not need all those gizmos that have stormed the markets. Our youth and professionals should choose only those gadgets that help then in growing in economic, professional and knowledge terms.
Secondly, is IT the only dream of the new era? The answer to this question is an emphatic No! Other careers also beckon our youth. These careers are equally good. There is a gult in the field of IT and IT – enabled services. Everyone cannot become a Customer Related Manager (CRM) in a call centre, to quote an example. Technology changes at a fast pace in this field. What our youth should be looking for is stability and not thrill. A rolling stone gathers no moss!
Conclusion
Thus, SMS, MMS, WAP, DTH, BPO, CRM, and cellular phones with igital cameras would rule the IT scenario of this 21st century. Our readers must choose the gadgets (and services offered by these gadgets) by keeping their requirements in full view. A DVD writer may not be of use to them. But a DVD player could be indispensable, to quote an example. Finally, computer connoisseurs have suggested that our readers should not buy new PCs. Rather, they should upgrade old ones with add–on devices like CD–writers and peripherals (like web cameras and portable colour printers). Do not follow technology; use those strong points of this gamut that could be beneficial to one in commercial as well as in intellectual terms.