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The Right Fit vs. First to Market

tech-0413We’re in a technology business. As such, you’d think there would be a collective learning from the past that applies towards future technologies. What we continue to see, however, is that we’re often innovating and inventing at such an exponential rate that we’re not taking the time to learn from the past before creating new disruptive technology. What can be fantastic and bleeding edge today can also be poorly implemented into a larger technology workflow. It’s simply not enough to build “better, faster, cheaper” (and I’m not sure it ever was); there is a needed pause to reflect on how we’re pushing our technologies into various vertical markets.

Of course, the House of Worship market isn’t normally one to sign on with the Early Adopter crowd, but with certain technologies at low-entry price points, the lure of the next cool thing is shiny and inviting. There’s a bigger responsibility, however, for the A/V/L industry to understand the importance of educating the market as much as — if not more than — trumpeting the Next Big Thing.

I predict that because of such rapid advancements in our technology sector, there will be a new push for technology that actually does less, at a lower price point and with better support. Sometimes, the race to the finish causes us to miss the many opportunities that are lost in the blur of ever-faster innovation and invention.

And while I think that the House of Worship market would appreciate this more than some other markets, it’s simply a numbers game to consider the vast number of average users across corporate, education, government and military vertical markets that feel the same way.

Maybe the race should be less about first-to-market and more about right-fit-to-market?

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