I find the whole sociology of technology interesting. It is fascinating to see how people have embraced or rejected it and to see the extent to which it has made a difference in the quality of their lives. Personally, I love it. With my Blackberry I can be in any place that has a deal with Cingular and I can send or receive emails and text from anywhere (and I literally mean anywhere!) and send or receive phone calls made to a local United States phone number. EFax offers me the same as far as faxing and scanning. Whereas 10-15 years ago the saying "I'm going away on a business trip to London and I'll be back in 5 days" had a whole different relevance, today it is simply business as usual. You call me on my local mobile number as you would any other day of the week and it rings on my mobile phone, in London. Voice Over Internet Protocol ("VOIP") through companies such as your local cable provider, Vonage, Skype, or emerging companies like Telkonet, early players in the "quadruple play" (TV, phone, voice, power over one wire), open up tremendous communication avenues and opportunities for even small players to be big. Within minutes of downloading Skype (which is owned by EBay) in April I was able to find an old college friend who lives in Australia and chat for 20 minutes for free. Consider the impact for retirees with limited budgets who can now speak to loved ones around the world every day, if they wish, for free.
I've posted over 285 times between this blog and the Structured Sales Authority. No printing costs, no mailing costs, no delays and the price is right. Through indexing and permalinks you can build an impressive resource for your readers.
In my industry some structured settlement firms, including mine, have made continual investments in technology to improve their service capabilities while others haven't.
Bills can be paid on line through the vendors themselves, or using a bank or brokerage house which offers these services, as a conduit. If you are paying the same bills every month (mortgage, car payment, insurance payment etc) save yourself the time and the postage by setting it up once and more or less forgetting about it. Got a single bill but you're all out of stamps and it's Sunday night? No worries...pay it on line!
Some people appear fearful of technology, perhaps because they don't know how to use it or for fear that it will further complicate their lives. Some feel that it is impersonal. Age seems to be irrelevant on this point.
Technology is here to stay. So learn it! Adapt to it! Benefit from IT!
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