Building technology with customers in mind is essential, according to tech guru Simon Dingle, a guest speaker at Saphila 2012, who spoke about where technology is going.
"It is important to know what the customers are all about and to carefully look at how human beings interface with the product," said Dingle.
According to Dingle, there has been a shift away from a focus just on the engineering of the device towards a focus on the customer experience. "We as the users are deciding what we can do with these tools and are increasingly taking technology and interpreting the tools for ourselves."
In general, software is not designed for human beings, he said, adding that he viewed the iPad as the first computer that came out of a box designed for a human being. "Tablet computers are fundamentally different from the computers we have seen in the past because you don't have to be able to read and write to use a tablet."
He also used the new Windows 8 interface as another example of a product that highlights the needs of the human being rather than showcasing the technology that was used to create it.
For Dingle, technology is still in its youth, and when asked about where technology is going, he likens the question to someone asking what his two-year-old son will be like when he grows up. "Technology is in its infancy. It is actually a lot like a four-year-old, stumbling around doing things that are inappropriate."
Dingle also discussed augmented reality and how it is becoming more and more contextual. He noted that brands are trying to better realise what the user wants, and augmented reality further facilitates customers buying the item they are actually looking at within this augmented space.
"A lot of this stuff is fun, but we need it to get a lot smarter than what it currently is," he said, adding that, with the number of global Internet users at just 2.4 billion, there is a long way to go.
Within a South African context, a rating of the world's consumer download speeds ranks SA 125th, with Hong Kong enjoying the fastest downloads. Dingle noted that, although things are improving, when talking about the Internet and download speeds n SA, the country becomes less special every month, but he remains optimistic about the future.
"Personally, I am quite excited about what is happening in Africa. We are starting to see the pieces of the puzzle coming together,” he said.
"When you start to think out of the box, you develop innovative solutions. As Africans, we have needs that are different to those of other regions,” said Dingle. “When Africans start applying their minds to tech, they come up with innovative ideas, and unlike Europe, our innovation is driven by necessity."
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