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Digital Transition v. Municipal Wireless

The astute reader of this website will notice a change in the upper left corner of the main page...I don't get around to changing the "Featured Topic" section nearly as often as I should, and the "Exaflood" topic had cobwebs hanging from it. Mea Culpa. Managing this site is not unlike managing a household, or your desk. Sometimes you can overlook a desk drawer, and forget that it has a purpose other than to catch all the stray things that don't have a proper place. Maintenance of this site is an ongoing challenge, and I tend to focus on the blog posts, leaving the edges on their own. So, its news to me when I shift my focus and address a lingering issue.

I've updated the Featured Topic with what I think is a very important discussion item - Digital Transition. I've added this new term to the glossary, and consider this a key point and new direction for us all.

Digital Transition -The term "Digital Transition" describes the process all organizations must go through in the 21st Century, as they leverage new technologies that provide new options for Applications, Equipment, Processes, and Networks that make them more effective. In contrast, the term "Municipal Wireless" is limiting. It puts the network technology ahead of the application and process changes that drive the business case.

A good way to understand this issue is to consider analog v. digital. Analog technology was revolutionary in the 20th century, when radio and television changed the landscape through exploitation of better understanding of how radio frequencies behaved. But with the advent of the transistor and the integrated circuit, a digital alternative was born and it matured in the second half of the twentieth century. As this digital progress was employed with the internet at the turn of the century, the potential of the transformation became apparent, and private sector companies began to leverage the new tools to be more competitive. Public sector organizations are lagging now, and have much ground to make up to be more effective.

Thus, the "analog" approach reflects a 20th century mindset that still relies upon paper-based data, labor inputs, and manual processes. A "digital" approach demonstrates a 21st century perspective that takes advantage of low-cost, high-power digital computers and storage devices, VOIP communication devices and broadband networks to transform the potential of organizations. Undergoing a digital transition is a complex task that starts with a paradigm shift regarding the nature of the job, and a rewriting of the processes used to accomplish business objectives. Because digital technology evolves rapidly, a digital transition is more of an ongoing process than it is an event with a beginning and an end.

Is it such a big deal what you choose to call something? Actually, it's a bigger deal than we realize, because how we define an issue drives the discussion. As long as we refer to "Municipal Wireless," we're stuck talking about cities and mobile technology. Private uses of wireless broadband, and FTTH are left out, technically, when the title is "Municipal Wireless."

When I relaunched this site in January 2006, I recognized even then the limits of the term "Municipal Wireless," and the name of my original website, "UnwireMyCity," could be. I began to talk instead about Metropolitan Broadband, expanding the discussion to include regional perspectives, beyond the boundaries of municipal initiatives, and shed the limits of "wireless" to include all broadband technologies. Little did I realize at the time how limited even that term, "Metropolitan Broadband," would be. Because now I believe that has become limiting, and the larger issue is not networks, regions, or broadband. It is getting work done in the most efficient manner with the best tools.

The challenge we face is that we have all focused on the network so far, when the act of changing requires that you first capture the attention of those needed to accomplish the change. And wrapping one's brain around the complexities of broadband networks has proven to be too big a leap for the general public. What is far more relevant to decision-makers, and far more common to so many more people, is the impact of digital technology on our lives, and the opportunity to use digital technology to make our lives better.

As we approach the mid-point of 2008, as the first decade of the 21st Century draws to a close, we all can relate to the need to shed old ways of doing things when they become less and less effective. We all can relate to the need to move to adopt new ways of doing things, because the rationale for change has become irresistible. We all understand the power of holding on to the old and comfortable, resisting change, and the compelling need to let go at some point, to embrace the new and different, but better.

Here's a slide from a keynote presentation I delivered, believe it or not, back in September 2005, titled "The Future of Community Broadband." With this slide back then, I was making a point about the trend to Mobility, which is an aspect of Digital Transition. These two columns demonstrate the switch from analog to digital.

March to Mobility.jpg

The 21st Century will see a transition from analog to digital. And we will see a computing transition from a fixed activity where one is tied to a cord in the wall, to a mobile activity where the computing device goes along with the person. That is what I call the "March to Mobility." The reason we'll see both of these transitions is because they are liberating changes, saving both time and effort, providing more for less.

As we come under increasing pressures to do more with less, we will collectively turn to new tools, and the pressure to undergo a Digital Transition will grow greater and greater. At some point, the Pain of Change will become less than the Pain of Staying the Same. When that point hits, organizational leaders will turn to new digital solutions to transform the way they do business. Better to start now, go through the change, and come out better equipped to deal with the problems of modern life, than to deny the changes needed and hold on to the past.

Posted on June 03, 2008 at 09:11 AM

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