Issue link: http://www.e-digitaleditions.com/i/128820
Industry Insights Staying Ahead of the Curves y father, Henry Motes, started forms of technology with a longer and his job in the restaurant equip- definitively speedier reach, and major ment business at the E. H. investments in information technology Thompson Co. in Jacksonville, Fla., in led to gains in efficiency, scale, and 1952. He became an owner, spent time ROI. as a FEDA board member, and worked So, to a FEDA member, what is the the company into a successful family next step? How do you build a business business. He was a dealer for 10 years plan to leverage oncoming technology, before the invention of the copy to stay ahead of the curve? machine, 20 years before Well, there are two the mini-computer, 25 The best practice is curves, both highly preyears before the invention for FEDA members to dictable and potent. Curve of the fax, and 35 years No. 1 is the exponential before the mobile phone. be optimistic and to growth in computer Technology did not make be progressive with power or Moore's law. him better, it made him There is a certainty that technology. more efficient. It cut his computer power and costs and expanded his Distribution in every bandwidth will continue boundaries. to double every one to two industry is When I was in college in years for the foreseeable challenged to 1974, I typed my senior future. So in 25 years,techthesis on an IBM360, a optimize the nology will be a million mainframe computer that benefits of these times more powerful than filled the building and was it is today. You can Google two influences... bigger than a basketball this. The science is well arena. Today I type quotes in AQ360 on established and the trend is inevitable. an iPad. My iPad is a million times faster No. 2 is demographics. Children today and ten thousand times cheaper than live and learn immersed in technology the IBM360. It does not make me that did not exist before they were born. smarter. It makes my work easier. If your kids or grandkids are awake, it's In my years at the family dealership, likely they are online right now. technology arrived in a hardware pack- According to a study by the Kaiser age—an AS400 for the accounting sys- Family Foundation, children ages eight tem,cell phones for the street salesmen, to 18 spend more than seven-and-a-half PC's for the desks, AutoCAD for the hours per day using a smart phone,comengineers. I bought a fax machine for puter, television or other electronic $3,400. I had no idea what it was, or device. And that does not include the how I would explain it to Henry. time they spend texting or talking on Starting in 1990, technology became cell phones. more about new software than about Now you see it. The best practice is new hardware—Windows, email, LANs, for FEDA members to be optimistic and dotcoms, broadband, websites. Then to be progressive with technology. Google came in the 2000's, along with Distribution in every industry is chalmore websites, smart phones and iPads, lenged to optimize the benefits of these ushering in even more change to our two influences, but we feel it a little day-to-day tasks. In the foodservice more because our channel has more equipment channel, faxes and print complexity than the verticals for sticks took a backseat to email and other continued on page 33 M Kent Motes, CEO of AutoQuotes kmotes@aqnet.com 6 FEDA New s & View s