This course has opened my eyes to the ever evolving world of Information Technology and its effect on the business world. If companies fail to adapt to new technologies and changing markets they will find themselves struggling to compete and survive. Just a few of these new technologies such as social networking, biometric technology, RFID, and cloud networks have completely changes the way companies operate. They have redefined and replaced older technologies and have managed to do so at a rapid pace. If companies do not set themselves up with flexibility to implement new technologies they will soon be out of business. Cloud networks have become increasingly popular due to the cost savings and effectiveness of their design. A company is able to save money by not having the overhead and staff to maintain and service their own servers. I think that this type of network will soon become a standard business model for all companies. As the security features continue to advance, the cost savings provided by the cloud will be too great to pass up. The cloud has also contributed to the rise in another type of network, the social network. The increasing popularity of social websites such as Facebook and Twitter has spawned new ways to market and advertise. The traditional forms of advertising are slowly being phased out and being replaced by more direct advertising based on the information a user provides to their social networking site. The ability to capture and use this information as well as the ability to adapt to new social network sites will be a pivotal quality in successful business in the future. Another technology that is evolving rapidly is RFID. With new RFID technologies business in the future will be able completely change their operational structure. They will be able to use a less expensive, more technologically advanced RFID system to monitor the location of their supplies and materials as well as change the interaction at the time of purchase with the customer. RFID technology has high potential to save businesses money and give them a strategic advantage against their competitors. The new developing technology that I think is going to impact business in the future is Biometrics. The current advancements and future potential advancements have the ability to completely change our daily life. In the future I believe this technology will give businesses such detailed information on a potential customer that it will redefine commerce. An example of this would be a customer walking into a store; the store has an iris scanner that scans that customer automatically pulling up a wealth of stored data. Then the store would be able to send a coupon directly to that person’s smart phone based on that individuals buying habits. The potential uses for Biometric technology is endless. As we discussed in class the Indian Government is currently use it to screen welfare recipients in order to detect and eliminate fraud. I believe the Indian Government is going to be the first of many and the United States will be using such programs in the not too distant future. These four examples are only a few of the new technologies we discussed in class but I feel they give a good indication on where society is going as a whole. The ways businesses are structured and operated are changing as fast as technology will allow. The companies who are best able to predict, prepare, and implement new technologies are going to be the ones who are the most successful. In order for these companies to predict, prepare, and implement these changes they are going to need quality people in place who understand where technology is headed and have smart ideas on how to take advantage and use them to increase business. This class has taught me that I need to be one of the people that understands the new technology and where it is headed so I can use it to grow the business of my current employer or in any new venture of my own.