Jim Keogh - Need-To-Know Technologies for a Successful Future

Jim Keogh

Need-to-Know Technologies for a Successful Future

ISBN 978-1-5474-1692-9

e-ISBN (PDF) 978-1-5474-0081-2

e-ISBN (EPUB) 978-1-5474-0083-6

Library of Congress Control Number: 2018963410

Bibliographic information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek

The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie;

detailed bibliographic data are available on the Internet at http://dnb.dnb.de.

2019 Jim Keogh

Published by Walter de Gruyter Inc., Boston/Berlin

www.degruyter.com

This book is dedicated to Anne, Sandy, Joanne, Amber-Leigh Christine, Shawn, Eric and Amy. Without their help and support, this book couldnt have been written.

De|G PRESS, the startup born out of one of the worlds most venerable publishers, De Gruyter, promises to bring you an unbiased, valuable, and meticulously edited work on important topics in the fields of business, information technology, computing, engineering, and mathematics. By selecting the finest authors to present, without bias, information necessary for their chosen topic for professionals , in the depth you would hope for, we wish to satisfy your needs and earn our five-star ranking.

In keeping with these principles, the books you read from De|G PRESS will be practical, efficient and, if we have done our job right, yield many returns on their price.

We invite businesses to order our books in bulk in print or electronic form as a best solution to meeting the learning needs of your organization, or parts of your organization, in a most cost-effective manner.

There is no better way to learn about a subject in depth than from a book that is efficient, clear, well organized, and information rich. A great book can provide life-changing knowledge. We hope that with De|G PRESS books you will find that to be the case.

The tidal wave of technology over the past decade is rapidly changing the world in which we live. Automation and computing power have led to massive changes in virtually every job category. The need for re-education in areas that were formerly thought to be safe has become intense. Obviously, the rapid change in all aspects of medicine and scientific research are well worn examples, but as a prime example, marketing is no longer just the 4Ps. Advertising, marketing and social media campaigns driven by data analysis, artificial intelligence and other applications are changing the landscape completely. In criminal law, forensic technologies must be understood in detail. In most factory and warehousing environments, robotics, nanotechnology, packaging and delivery methods have been driven by the desire for efficiency which has often become the difference between success and failure. Most importantly, in all areas of business management, if you are not aware of and able to understand the technologies of today in data analysis, business intelligence, big data, artificial intelligence-based media, supply chain, and more, you really better be great at what you do. In finance and technology, the availability of smartphones, combined with open API technologies, have driven a revolution in investment and banking technologies around the world. These and many other technologies are redefining every business and managers MUST know these technologies and many more to remain competitive.

What does this mean for you? It means that those without this knowledge have fewer options and frankly can expect worse pay. A lot worse. Some jobs have simply been eliminated, while others have been given new birth. This trend is going to continue. The demand for people with the right technology skills is gaining intensity and around the world governments are doing what they can to promote technology skills to make their citizens competitive in the worldwide job market. But this is not a book about jobs. It is a book about helping you get a good one.

We are not talking here about a basic knowledge of using a cell phone, Word or Excel, though all of those can be impressive and necessary skills for many jobs. We are talking about a broad understanding of technologies that are used today with a focus on business that we believe to be ESSENTIAL to your success in the future.

That is why Need-to-Know Technologies for a Successful Future has been written. It attempts to introduce you to a very broad spectrum of computing, information technology, and business technologies. The idea is to provide the most information possible in the least amount of space in a palatable way. Everything you need to know and then some. Caution! Learningreally learningabout technology is addictive so much so that you might get the byte and find technology as a way to spark your career in new directions. If you can perform addition and subtraction and find a way of doing something, then you have the basic knowledge to understand basic computing technologynot a joke.

Need-to-Know Technologies for a Successful Future wont make you a genius, but it demystifies all aspects of computing and related technologies giving you a foundation to build on your technological knowledge and technical skills and place you squarely on the road to mastering technologies that professionals need to know.

Youll be exposed to a broad array of technologies in rapid succession. The idea is to give you clear and efficient instruction on the foundations that will enable you to pick out areas that may be of interest to you. If you are a business manager, it likely may be more than you bargained for, but if you stay with it, you will learn a lot and be able to understand what your developers, network engineers, and your IT department can do and what they are telling you.

In fact, the book was conceived to improve on what has been taught in basic computing or computing and society courses, especially in terms of new technologies, but with far more in terms of breadth of coverage. So, we invite professors to consider it as a colloquium course book or a first course in technology at the college level. But the book was written with a goal to provide people of all ages with an opportunity to improve their chances of success in the future. Some may wonder why we chose to present topics in a certain way or in a certain order. In part it was to make what might have been a deadly dull book more interesting and part was to weave in different aspects of technology that most people do not know. Even people in the profession. It is likely that we missed some things or you may want more depth (and it would be next to impossible to include everything). But the book will serve as a launching pad into your investigation into technologies that are in high demand.

We hope that you will enjoy the book and it is our sincere wish that if we can improve your chances of success just a bit that the effort to pull these technologies together as efficiently as we could has paid off.

Technology drives business, and you need to embrace technology to be competitive in the market place. These are words that youve heard before; however, you might be less than enthusiastic to apply technology because technology is too complex to understand. It is not, as youll discover throughout this book. Technology seems complicated at first, but when reduced to fundamental elements, technology is no more challenging than addition and subtraction. Technology seems magical until you see how the magic is performedthen it all makes sense, and you can put technology to work for you. However, sitting back and hoping that youll get by without knowing technology is wishful thinking. Why? Because you are missing career and business opportunities, and someday youll wake up one morning to discovery that your value in the market place has diminished.