Mark Devlin discusses responsible patriotism, information everywhere and protecting that very same information with security. Devlin, Industrial Market Trends‘ own contributing blogger, has been a technology- and manufacturing-focused freelance writer since 1999.

Information Everywhere

Arguably, information — or more accurately, data — is already everywhere. Two subsets of Information Everywhere will intensify in ’06: the depth of and access to that data.

During the past year, Google has probably made more headlines — in both business and mainstream media — than any other entity on the planet. While it’s easy to define Google as a search engine, the implications of Google’s mission — “…to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful” — will go far beyond being a threat to Microsoft (real or perceived) in 2006. That mission, in market- and societal-specific subsets, will be modified and adopted across the board — by every business, from Mom ‘n’ Pop shops to General Motors. In business, especially in manufacturing, organizing data and making it accessible and useful will blossom as a means to an end — that end being knowledge of the customer. We’ve all talked about the importance of knowing the customer, digitally, for a decade. Some companies have made this their mantra, but few have pulled it off. As it stands now, sales might know a few critical pieces of information about the customer, while engineering knows another piece, and customer service knows another. This information has not been adequately shared, if shared at all. The new year will bring a revived and more-genuine-than-ever recognition that this data must be organized, shared, integrated and made accessible by and to all departments of any given business.

Knowing the customer isn’t rocket science. Interestingly, it’s history repeating itself. Consider, for example, the trend of the Wal-Marts of the world burying small businesses. Big business lost something along the way: the personal touch. Proprietors of local, Main Street USA shops, for example, knew the customer. They greeted you with your first name and a smile. When’s the last time that happened? They remembered you, your tastes and your buying patterns. “Being a number” will fade considerably more in ’06, and knowing — and appreciating — the customer will make its way back. You’ll still be a number and the structure won’t shift. The personal touch will now be an important part of your number, however. The personal touch will come from big business this time around, based on customer data that’s been integrated and made accessible across an organization. Instead of “Think Globally; Act Locally,” the approach will shift in 2006 to “Act Globally; Know and Value the Customer Locally.”

Patriotism and Responsibility

All forms of media have been having the time of their lives with scandals. The media will continue to inform, framed with what gets the highest ratings or most traffic, and the vast majority of news outlets will continue paths of questionable objectivity and dueling political motivations. This will continue to hold true for both the conservative and liberal. Oh, well. Welcome to the real world.

The barrage of scandals has ramped up to levels of intensity not seen since Watergate and has even surpassed Clinton-Lewinsky (though without the impeachment attempts, so far, this time around). Regardless of which “side” one is on, levels of distrust and disgust are at all-time highs. What we’ve seen as patriotism for a long time now will be redefined. It must be. People — and that includes everyone from the average Joe to the CEO of GE — don’t know which way is up. More than ever, we don’t know who to believe or even with whom we should align. On both sides of the aisle, people are plastered with mud, and, increasingly, that mud is slung from one’s own side. We the people aren’t going to tolerate this much longer. Votes will eventually shift (with the most interesting demographics we’ve seen in a long time) not from what is traditionally termed liberal or conservative, but to what people believe is best for them, their family and the country, no matter how it shakes out.

Political and corporate responsibility will be less motivated by party leanings and more driven by “We the People.” The key word is responsibility. The public was shocked during the Clinton administration and, unfortunately, had to deal with family discussions of activities at the highest levels. The same thing is happening now. Then it was morals; now it’s ethics. “Why did he do this?” is still a question our children will ask of us. Parents, from soccer moms to NASCAR dads, will no longer accept the status quo. How will this play out for business? As a business, you’ll be eyed more critically than ever. Those moms and dads, who are not only customers but also business owners and executives, will be more likely in 2006 to take their business elsewhere if they don’t approve of your practices or affiliations. Customer relationship experts will swat spin doctors back by at least a couple of levels in the pecking order. This will apply not only to overall purchasing trends, but also in areas such as the environment and even outsourcing. Doing the right thing — from Republican to Democrat and everything in between — will finally move us back to a truer form of patriotism.

A truer form of patriotism will naturally affect businesses of all kinds. Chinks in the armor of outsourcing, for example, are already being discovered. Some products simply aren’t up to snuff. Communication is difficult at best. Customer support is often abominable. Understanding of processes and goals thousands of miles away is difficult.

Thus, “Made (and Supported) In America” will patriotically regain importance to the consumer, and thus fuel the strongest bipartisan effort in history to move the United States back to being a leader in education, manufacturing (in terms of both output and product quality), research and development, technology — and yes, engineering.

With any luck, Lou Dobbs will also expand coverage in the New Year to other topics beyond Exporting America and Broken Borders. (OK, Lou. Great info. We’ve got it. Give us updates when justified but, for the love of CNN: Dude, move on!)

Security

To wrap up this seriously questionable Kreskin impression, remember that the most important element in any of the above predictions gets back to the first point: the data. How much is there, where can we get more and better, how do we share it more effectively (including WiMax, for example), and how do we organize it — all are valid questions as a start. Data warehouses will grow, manufacturing networks will expand and also become increasingly wireless, and the public is already becoming more wary. Safety and security of that data, then, will skyrocket in importance. Sarbanes-Oxley and HIPAA are good starts, but data security legislation will increase. Various forms of wireless security are good starts. Firewalls were a good start at one time, but they’ve become mere annoyances for serious hackers. (Making firewalls more effective without hurting productivity is the trick.).

I’ve also believed all along that “terrorists” needn’t be strapped with C4 to damage our way of life. That can be done profoundly with no planes, no explosives, no suicide bombers — rather through network intrusion. Don’t be surprised to see a variety of attacks — from various forms of “terrorists” — in ’06. Beyond chem and nuke plants, could a large manufacturing operation be brought to its knees? Of course. Is the sky falling? No. Absolutely not. But parts of it could. Hopefully, we’ll be ready.

Mark Devlin, a technology- and manufacturing-focused freelance writer since 1999 and blogger for Industrial Market Trends since February 2005, was previously editor-in-chief of Industrial Equipment News, Software Solutions, Food Quality, and Pharmaceutical Formulation and Quality magazines.