Damato of the Day Is ... "Regrets of the Early Adopter"

I was accused of being a “gadget guy” this week. Not the first time I ever heard that one since I have had a history of leaping on new technologies soon as they emerge - often before I should and very often in ways that I should not.

My favorite story of not doing the right thing with technology was when I bought our very first PC and printer. The $2,500 “investment” came in 1984 and I really did have a vision for how it would help me greatly in my business world and make sure our young children would not fall behind the curve. It did help me indeed, and I learned enough early on to earn the title of “power user” in addition to the aforementioned “gadget guy.” Both titles combined have a net worth equal to this blog posting.

If, however, I had put the $2,500 into a bank CD for two years (they paid lots of interest back then) and invested it in Microsoft stock when it was issued in 1986, it would be worth over $500,000 today. I wasn’t so dang smart after all.

Today’s struggle, for me at least, is in figuring out which of the all-too-many technologies I need to keep and which ones really need to go. When I am sitting in my office it is not much of a problem. I have the two phones but I have developed the discipline to only deal with one while in the office. Most folks know to call me there and if I am not there my office phone will track me down on my other phone.

The “other phone” is a Blackberry and has about a gazillion times more horsepower than that PC I bought back in 1984. And I think it set me back $169. When I hit the road my challenge is staying off the phone while driving, a commitment I made several years back. I have not been entirely true to that promise but I’m working on it. With good connections almost everywhere now I can count on a time and place to log on and get the day’s work done.

And now I have more intermediate gadgets to consider - like an iPad. I have not made the iPad plunge yet; still waiting on a few upgrades. To be perfectly honest I have yet to figure out exactly how I would use one and I think it would just add to my dilemma of trying to decide what comes and what goes. Every time I add a new layer of technology the old ones never seem to go away.

My real struggle is figuring out your routine. As readers of this blog, you are my customers. I may not have a lot of blog readers but I do have a lot of customers. They come from a lot of different directions and backgrounds. I’m talking CEOs of Fortune 500 companies to marketing and PR types to publishers to salespeople and the list goes on. And doing a good job of communicating with them is important to my success in business and in life.

The best way to communicate with some people is by their office phone while others only work from their mobile device. Still others appreciate a text message and some really like e-mails with all the details. And there are some folks I cannot seem to connect with until we are face-to-face. That even takes technology today as we all need to check Outlook (we used to say our calendar) to find out when we can get together.

Maybe I am too old for all this technology, but I am determined to figure out a way to manage this little problem. Think I will use technology. I am going to start noting the preferred form of communication for the contacts in my Outlook (we used to call it an address book … or “little black book”). I’ll note whether they prefer a text or an e-mail or if they’d rather communicate via Facebook or Twitter or Skype or whatever. But just so you know I am taking it on myself so you don’t have to worry about it. Now that is customer service.

About the time I get this done somebody is going to come up with an app that will handle it automatically. If I were young and knowledgeable of such things I would do it myself, but I can assure you the world is safe from me creating apps.

So drop me a line or give me a buzz or Tweet me or text me. Or maybe we can Skype each other sometime (yikes!). Better yet we can do it my way over a very long cup of coffee or a lunch. Skype is good, but you simply cannot replace face-to-face.