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Some of you might have seen that device in the picture a long, long time ago. Maybe your parents were using it, maybe you even already had one. I’m talking about the Palm, which was one of THE devices in the early 2000’s, a personal digital assitant (PDA). However, with the rise of smartphones, in the meantime the Palm has been discontinued by HP.

But in the last few days, you might have heard the word “Palm” come up again. The “Palm Pre” is a device designed by a start-up from San Francisco which purchased the rights to the brand, so it has nothing to do with the initial team of developers, trying to make your life easier with the Palm PDA. The Palm Pre, however, is not a phone. It is a phone for your phone. What do I mean with that? It is intended to complement your current smartphone like a wearable would complement it. It is promoted as “a fully connected product that is in sync with your existing smartphone, so all of your connectivity can go where your smartphone can’t”. With the size of  a credit card, it comes fully equipped with Android 8.1 and even face-recognition, but no other fancy features such as fingerprint-sensors, wireless charging or even a headphone jack. The Palm Pre is connected to your existing phone plan (which is currently only available from Verizon in the US), and not realy a stand-alone device.

Overall, it is simply a minimalist phone, intending to help you take a break from your phone.

So what do you think about complementing your current phone with a minimalist phone, to help you step away from your phone? To me, it sounds like a stretch to reduce your smartphone usage by buying another (smart)phone.

sources: 

https://www.theverge.com/2014/1/23/5339164/qualcomm-buys-hps-palm-patents

https://www.theverge.com/2018/10/15/17974850/new-palm-smartphone-android-lifemode-time-well-spent-verizon

https://arstechnica.com/gadgets/2018/10/palm-rises-from-the-dead-as-a-zombie-brand-launches-tiny-smartphone/

https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-45876934

https://www.techradar.com/news/palm-is-back-with-a-phone-for-your-phone

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Everyone has probably already heard of the magic abbreviation “RPA”. But what is this “RPA”, why do we need it and does it change anything?

When we are talking about “RPA”, we are actually talking about Robotic Process Automation. We are talking about automation technologies which allow organizations to perform simple, rule-based but also time-consuming often back office tasks such as integrating data from several sources into one system or issuing basic invoices without the need of integration like for example ERP systems. Simply put, RPA does the work previously performed by people.

So why Robotic Process Automation instead of relying on your employees’ work? Well, according to a study by PwC, a Return on Investments of over 300% is not uncommon for RPA implementations. Besides that, RPA can reduce the error rates to a minimum, perform tasks at any time and in a faster pace compared to human workforce.

But all of these advantages also steer concerns. What about the employees whose tasks will now be taken over by machines? Predictions say that over 100 million FTEs might be replaced by the implementation of Robotic Process Automation.

However, many supporters of RPA argue that this change will only result in a workforce which will be reintroduced to interesting, demanding jobs, after a period of performing bland and deskilled tasks. And further, employees will not loose whole jobs, but only parts of their job, and only the less interesting parts.

Overall, RPA seems to bring a massive change to today’s way of working by bringing efficiency and offering the possibility for reorganization in times of digital transformation. Let’s see what further changes to today’s way of working the introduction of RPA will offer!

 

Sources:

https://www2.deloitte.com/content/dam/Deloitte/in/Documents/strategy/in-strategy-innovation-rpa-digital-workforce-noexp.pdf

https://www.pwc.com.au/pdf/pwc-rpa-and-your-digitisation-strategy-report.pdf

https://www.uipath.com/blog/how-rpa-supports-digital-transformatio

https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/digital-mckinsey/our-insights/the-next-acronym-you-need-to-know-about-rpa

https://www.computerwoche.de/a/kollege-roboter-uebernehmen-sie,3331269

https://www.capgemini.com/de-de/resources/robotic-process-automation-special-edition-summer-2017/

Lacity, M. C. & Willcocks, L. P. (2016b). Robotic Process Automation at Telefónica O2. MIS

Quarterly Executive, 15(1), 21-35.