Why does implementing innovative technologies take so long?

Lately, there have been many articles in different media about innovations in various areas of industry and the consumer sector. Artificial Intelligence, Cloud computing, robots and virtual reality are being introduced everywhere. But if you look around, you cannot say that robots are walking freely in the streets alongside us while unmanned taxis are driving on our roads; also, holographic advertising is nowhere to be seen. Why has it taken so long to introduce innovations and modern technologies into everyday life?

Let’s look at how the industry has developed throughout history and how innovations are usually introduced. Scientists identify four industrial revolutions that have radically changed all spheres of human activity.

Industrial revolutions

The first industrial revolution took place from the mid-18th century to the mid-19th century. Its most important feature was mechanization, leading to a shift from skilled artisans making goods by hand to workers using machines. The machines were driven by a water wheel and a steam engine. The shift to machinery was especially noticeable in the textile industry, and then gained popularity in other industries.

The second industrial revolution took place in the late 19th and early 20th centuries, from about 1870 to 1914, when the World War I began. While the first industrial revolution was mainly associated with the emergence of innovative technologies, the second is mostly characterized by improving existing techniques and tools, as well as improving the interaction between them. Electricity came along and replaced water and steam as the main source of energy in factories. The second industrial revolution marked the introduction of the assembly line, replacement parts and mass production. The discovery of the method of converting liquid iron into steel served as a huge impetus for the development of metallurgy, automotive and railway construction.

The third industrial revolution began in the 1960s. It was characterized by the automation and computerization of production, the development of communications, the creation of networks of personal computers and the emergence of cell phones.

The fourth industrial revolution is happening right now. Its prerequisite was the global spread of the Internet, as well as the massive introduction of cyber-physical systems into production (Industry 4.0) and serving human needs. The technologies of the fourth industrial revolution include:

· Big Data;

· Internet of Things;

· Artificial Intelligence;

· Autonomous robots and drones;

· Virtual and Augmented Reality;

· 3D printing;

· Quantum computing;

· Blockchain.

How innovations are perceived

Throughout history, we can see that innovations tend to appear first in one industry and then gradually spread to other industries. Scientists call this process the diffusion of innovations. It takes time for people to understand a new technology, try it out, and then implement it in everyday life.

According to how people perceive innovation, they can be divided into the following groups:

· Innovators: those who aspire to be among the first to try out a new trend — 3 %;

· Early adopters: those who accept novelties quickly but with caution — 13 %;

· The early majority: those who understand the trend earlier than the average, but after innovators and early adopters and after a long enough reflection — 34 %;

· The later majority: those who wait until public opinion recognizes the trend as worthy of investment — 34 %;

· Laggards: those who accept a new trend the very last, when it is already established and accepted by the majority — 16 %.

With time, the attitude towards innovation changes from enthusiasm to the feeling of something ordinary. Nowadays, there is no such excitement when the next smartphone model with a color touchscreen appears, as it was in the era of bulky push-button phones.

Difficulties in implementing innovations

All innovations are designed to make human labor easier, increase productivity, reduce time and additional waste of resources. But there are several factors that can hinder enterprise innovation.

Factors slowing down innovation:

· Lack of funding. A company simply does not have necessary resources to change and introduce modern technologies;

· Red tape. Decision-making will be delayed, the lack of motivation and clear KPIs will ruin any innovation in its infancy;

· Lack of skilled professionals. For example, to implement blockchain, Cloud Computing and Artificial Intelligence, you need qualified professionals, but a company simply does not have them among the staff at the moment and it is not always possible to quickly hire them;

· Lack of implementation strategy. Company’s management may not fully understand how modern technologies will help in achieving business goals and therefore does not seek to implement them;

· Fear of failed transformation projects. Companies are afraid of losing money to implement advanced technology that will not bring profit to the company;

· Security. Security issues force the introduction of modern technologies to be postponed. On the other hand, thoughtless implementation of technology, not paying attention to security protocols, leads to leakage of customer data and halting of business processes;

· Poor preparedness of employees. Company employees may simply be not ready to introduce new technologies and change the usual work processes.

Innovative product

With innovative technologies, it is no secret that testing and implementation takes time. But there are also innovative products, made using modern technology and already ready for use. Why are they taking so long to appear in our everyday lives?

This is due to the fact that any product has a life cycle, just like any innovation. It is usually customary to distinguish several stages of the product life cycle:

1. The first appearance of a product on the market;

2. Increased demand for a product, when the mass consumer joins the innovators who were the first to consume the product;

3. Ripe phase, when the demand for a product is formed and it has taken its own niche in the market;

4. Saturation, when most of those who intended to purchase a product are able to buy it;

5. Recession in sales, when interest in a product decreases and its sales fall.

Conclusion

It turns out that for modern technologies and goods to appear in everyday life, they must overcome many obstacles: not everyone is ready to immediately use the new and abandon the old; technologies can be expensive or too complicated to implement; sometimes, it takes a lot of time for people to appreciate and accept modern technologies. Therefore, you can often witness a situation when technology or a product has been used for a long time in one part of the world, and in another, it is just beginning to appear. For example, in the consumer sector, the latest generation processors have been available for a year, while they are just starting to appear in the industrial segment.

Of course, the process of introducing modern technologies can be accelerated. For example, it will take a long time to completely transform a large company: it cannot be done overnight, but you can start gradually and then scale it up. It is worth starting with the implementation of a pilot project in one of the departments of the company. First, you need to develop a technology implementation strategy, hire interested employees, and launch the technology in test mode. If everything went well and the management is happy with the result, then you can move on to scaling the technology, involving all employees, and training them to work with the new technology.

Technologies are constantly improving. Something new appears, and most likely in a few years, Artificial Intelligence, Cloud Computing, robots, unmanned taxis and holographic advertising will be commonplace for us.