LAST Thursday saw the UK’s largest mobile working conference, UnLTD2011, take place in the North East at the Gateshead Hilton.
Sponsored by CCS Mobile, Vodafone, Microsoft and Nokia, hundreds of delegates got to see the latest and greatest technology from these household names, combined with solid advice on how to deploy them into real life businesses.
They saw and heard first hand how new technology looks set to revolutionise the way we work today. For example, a demonstration of Vodafone’s new hosted PBX system OneNet showed that there is now no need to have both a mobile and desk phone as it provides one solution, which enables users to be in contact no matter where they are.
Combine this with the new Nokia Lumia and you have a startlingly beautiful business solution, which runs all you need away from the office. Not only does it look pretty cool, but if you use Microsoft365, you can literally work anywhere.
The day wasn’t all about the technology, though. It also included some useful insights from those who have already implemented this flexible and agile way of working .
The highlight of the event was hearing the former Dragons’ Den star Richard Farleigh talk of success and failure. I guess most of you think of Richard as blessed with the ability to never miss a trick. Well, you are very wrong. Richard showed the delegates that he has had some amazing flops. For instance, in business with fellow Australian, Pat Cash, he stockpiled 10,000 tennis rackets before finding out that he was only selling an average of six a week. A diamond mine in Sierra Leone also brought trouble ... but then he did buy it from a guy down the pub!
Richard’s message was so simple: If at first you succeed, you have probably been lucky and to expect the same thing with everything you go into is a little bit short-sighted. He also reiterated that the most important thing you need to succeed in business is not necessarily the right product or idea, but the right people to drive and deliver it.
A serial entrepreneur with a sharp wit, Richard was dogmatic about technology. Those who fail to change and evolve will fail.
:: Mark Lavender is sales director of Sunderland-based telecoms firm CCS Mobile