to me that that was a big improvement in the industry; when they entered the busi- ness, you saved your old pins, and you could only purchase pins in one length. The true craſtsman used a device called a pin vice to fashion the pin to the proper length and radius for smooth key opera- tion of the cylinder. Change Is Continuous Well, by now, you get my point. I did a lot of reminiscing about the changes that have occurred in our industry since 1975 — some changes were made willingly and some unwillingly to keep up and grow my business. One thing that I’ve learned on this globe called Earth is that in spite of all the challenges we face, time won’t stand still. If you think a lot of changes have happened in the last four decades, we humans on this planet haven’t seen anything yet. There’s an old saying that “the best is yet to come.” I always stated business is like a bus; you have to catch it. That’s why the word “bus” is in business. There was uncer- tainty for me when I started my business and, yes, today that element still exists. But I do know we have more processes, products and services available to us now than we had 40 years ago, and more opportunities to conduct commerce in ways and means that weren’t available in 1975. Those who’ve used a pencil know you have to sharpen it for it to write. Our ca- reers are like a pencil, and how sharp it is determines how effective our outcome will be. So, with that, listed below are a few insights into trends — and hopefully some new ideas — that you can consider incorporating into your business plan. Electronics and The Internet of Things In electronics, we first had analog and then migrated to digital to increase con- WWW.ALOA.ORG “If you think a lot of changes have happened in the last four decades, we humans on this planet haven’t seen anything yet.” nectivity to the world. The new trend is to connect all the things that we use on a daily basis so we can have devices work effectively for us; this new trend is labeled the Internet of Things. The Internet of Things allows us to experience a web of connectivity that empowers us to interact with our devices, which ultimately allows our devices to interact on our behalf. Technology is beckoning for us to control and change the way we conduct tasks and analyze data. People and the socioeconomics of our cultures will be the determinants of what evolves and what dissolves. There are more smartphones and tab- lets being sold than laptops these days. Increasingly, there’s a movement to cre- ate a smarter and more efficient home. Home automation has made great leaps in recent years with advances in the wireless realm, such as with Z-wave, Zig- bee and Wi-Fi. Smart homes include ba- sic home security monitoring, and more customized control of appliances such as crock pots, washing machines, win- dow coverings, irrigation, entertainment systems, thermostats and door locks, to name a few. There are nearly 7 billion smart devic- es connected to the Internet, and in the United States, the average per household is 10 smart devices — two years prior, the average was five per household. In the next five years, those numbers will increase four-fold. It’s no wonder that the standard IP ad- dresses such as 174.60.66.215 will soon disappear — because the 32-bit source address only allows for 4.3 billion IP ad- dresses — and be replaced with a 128-bit source code, yielding approximately 340 quadrillion addresses. What’s also exciting is that the largest electronic trade show in the world — CES Expo in Las Vegas — had 160,498 attend- ees in 2014 and 50% more electronic-in- dustry start-ups exhibiting than the pre- vious year. Americans soon will be able to break away from mindless broadcast viewing and be able to multitask simulta- neously such as viewing emails, text mes- sages, cell phones and social networks. In fact, the average smartphone daily usage is nine hours. There are also some mysterious changes in the winds. For example, why is Google investing in fiber in Kansas City when they have 90% of the market share? Why did Google buy startup company Dropcam in June 2014 for $555 million in cash? Why did Apple stop exhibiting at the largest electronic expo in the world in 2014? In 2015, we have uncertainty what the big boys are up to, but with uncertain- ty there is always opportunity for small businesses. You just have to be aware of your environment, pick your battles and sharpen your skill sets for this year and years to come. ill Neff, CPP, PSP, CML, s president of Neff’s Inte- ated Security in Lancast- r, PA. He started in 1975 in e security industry and as taught many classes in the USA and abroad. He’s the recipient of numerous national and international awards, including the ALOA & Philadelphia Award. SEPTEMBER 2015 KEYNOTES 13
