Imagine a world…

The preacher at church on Sunday morning arrived with a large cardboard box, filled with all manner of things – Address book, Yellow pages, SLR camera, A to Z, a Mirror, Dictionary, a Novel, Watch, Alarm clock, Cooking timer, Poster calendar featuring his favourite football team, an Encyclopaedia, a Phone, Laptop, CDs, Videos, a Torch… The question to the young people in the congregation was “what do all these things have in common?”.  Answers that came back were “they all belong to you”, “they all came out of the box”, “they’re all old things”!

The answer the preacher was looking for was “they’ve all been replaced by a smart phone”.

Right at the forefront and keen to embrace these technological advancements is the travel industry. Welcoming tech, such as virtual reality, with open arms means that travellers may soon see their shopping experience streamlined. Imagine placing your mobile phone into an in-flight virtual reality headset – you look through the headset and see menu options for you to build your perfect meal and duty free items such as aftershave and alcohol to stock up on before you land. Part of the beauty of it all is that it would know which seat you were in for easy delivery and your payment details would be loaded onto your phone, making checkout seamless.

You could even be offered personalised experiences, depending on which flight you were taking. Flying to Venice? Why not book your gondola while you’re in the air? Spending the weekend in New York? Get those Broadway tickets sorted en route.

My husband and I recently booked a cottage for us for a week’s holiday in Wales; included in the confirmation email were links to Amazon with suggestions to purchase rucksacks and walking boots, a link to the local supermarket to order a “Welcome Pack” and links to visitor attractions in the area.

Contactless is coming; in fact, in Sweden, for example, there are stores that are already refusing to accept notes and coins. Balance to balance transfers through mobile phones are also gradually being adopted in developing countries. From the government’s standpoint, the anonymity that physical cash provides is a drawback, as it can unfortunately be used as a cover for tax evasion and crime, so we can expect regulated contactless technology to be encouraged at all levels.

As with any new development, it’s a case of balancing any disadvantages with the potential it offers.

Having completed our re-brand, we at Henwood Court are now in the early stages of our Digitalisation Project, the aim of which is to make it easier for our clients to work with us, as well as improve efficiencies within the office.

In the meantime, don’t forget we are a social bunch! Please “like” and “share” our Facebook page, follow us on Twitter.

Now, where did I put my mobile phone down?