Transcript 0:00 [on-hold music] Is the Internet of Skills facilitating and is it really an exciting concept? And we're already on our way there right now. We all know it, we're excited about it, we see it's happening. 0:14 It's taking over in, in our personal lives, now in our business. But all with this comes change. 0:20 We need to be considering the socio, the socioeconomic implications of such a shift in the workplace, and that is happening. 0:35 [upbeat music] Welcome to The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation, with your host, Peggy Smedley. 0:53 Hello, listeners, and welcome to today's edition of The Peggy Smedley Show. As always, I'm your host, Peggy Smedley, and what a great day to be on the radio. 1:02 All month long we've been having a meaningful discussion, and I should say discussions, about voice assistant technologies. 1:10 These technologies could contribute to the so-called Internet of Skills, and that's what I'd like to focus on today in this first segment. 1:19 But let me ask you this question: what exactly is the Internet of Skills, and how might it affect various sectors like medical, industrial, and anything beyond? 1:30 Those are the questions I'd like to ex-explore with you right now in this first segment. But later on in the show, I'll be interviewing some really great guests. 1:38 I'll be talking with Colin Thompson, Head of Infrastructure at Access Partnerships, and then later on in the show I'll be wrapping it up with Alisa Rapp, CEO of Surgical Solutions and author of Leadership and Life Hacks: Insights from a Mom, Wife, Entrepreneur, and Executive. 1:57 So let's get started. I'd like to describe the Internet of Skills as a world in which technology eliminates physical barriers between people and things, enabling the sharing of knowledge and skills in real time. 2:12 Companies like Ericsson call the Internet of Skills a key component of the future of a digitized world. Now, I have to agree with that, because I think it's a really great statement. 2:22 Ericsson uses this description for the Internet of Skills as a next step in the connected world that we all live, and is to enable any human being to teach, to be taught, and execute actions remotely. 2:39 So in this kind of world, a world in which any human can teach, be taught, and execute actions remotely, knowledge and skill can actually be given or received without worrying about traditional physical barriers. 2:53 Now, if you think about that for a second, or in other words, I don't have to be next to you for you to show me how to do something, how to learn something. The implications, if you think about that, are pretty profound. 3:06 So we can digitize all kinds of skills from painting and playing the piano to conducting surgery on a human being. Now, I think that's really cool if we dig into that. 3:19 So the result of the Internet of Skills will be much more efficient kind of spread of knowledge and skills globally. Again, there won't be the physical barriers like we have right now. 3:31 And I just want you to think about that because I really think it's really cool when we kind of dive into it. So the boundaries will be more technological in nature, and I'll touch more on that in just a second. 3:42 But it's fascinating really, the ability to transfer expertise in real time using technologies like robotics and haptics without regard for physical location or distance from the person or machine receiving your expertise. 4:00 So let's take a kind of a look at a couple of examples that I've researched and kind of things that I'm talking about. So say you'd like to learn how to play the piano, 'cause I think that's a good one. 4:12 A teacher in Texas could put on a haptic glove that tracks her fingers in every movement and stores this information in a skills database. 4:22 In real time or at some point later in time, a student in New York could download this data from the database and play the same kind of tune using a glove or a robotic exoskeleton to guide his or her fingers across these keys. 4:39 I'm fascinated by this example because I came across, you know, as I was researching, and that's how I was really looking at this, and I can't help but get excited about all the potential applications in the business world. 4:53 Now, just imagine with me for a moment the things that can happen in the medical and industrial arenas or really any sector that requires hands-on work. 5:05 The same idea that can be applied that we just talked about as a piano and teaching someone, teaching someone to play the piano. In the medical field, one thing all we like to talk about is remote surgery. 5:17 What if the skill sets of that top surgeons in the world were accessible without regard for physical location? 5:25 The top brain surgeon in the world, if that's a thing, could digitize his or her skills, which could then be used remotely anywhere, theoretically. 5:34 Of course, training is often considered to be a key application of the Internet of Skills. Medical training makes a whole lot of sense here, especially in surgical training. 5:45 Students can learn skills in a more hands-on way versus the more traditional watch and learn and then practice approach that we're all known to have learned up to this point. 5:57 So in industrial settings too, the Internet of Skills will make hands-on jobs more efficient.If you're working in a factory today and you need some sort of information, or you need to look up how to do something, you may need to call someone or walk to a computer and look it up. 6:16 The idea is that the Internet of Skills, the worker would be equipped with devices that would connect him or her to these databases filled with the exact knowledge and skill set he or she needs to complete this task. 6:31 There's, there's-- Actually, if you think about it, there's no more need to call in an expert or kind of fiddle around with something you don't know how to do. 6:41 We already have a version of this in a non-interactive form of what the Internet of Skills might be, uh, when we look in, into the future, and it's called YouTube, right? We all know YouTube. 6:52 YouTube videos teach us, or all of us do-it-yourselfers, about auto repair, cooking, and all kinds of other skills. 6:59 Twitch.tv takes it one step further, and it offers this live aspect of what the Internet of Skills may be some-something like that. 7:09 But I can't just go on and on about the benefits without talking about the potential drawbacks and of what the Internet of Skills world is all about. 7:18 Because you know me, I like to tell you about the pros, but we also have to look at the, the drawbacks and the things because we have to look at it in the full capacity. 7:25 The Internet of Skills will change existing jobs, and I know all of you wonder about that, and these are things that cross your minds, but maybe it'll even eliminate some. 7:36 And, and we can imagine that when we talk about this. It's going to cause a lot of shifts in the ways we can't quite predict yet, and we know that, and, and we all are thinking about that when we think about this. 7:47 Another point I need to make is that all of this is based on the assumption that people who need to access skills remotely will have access to a wireless network and whatever devices they need to access this network. 8:02 So could the Internet of Skills widen the digital divide? Is that what we're actually talking about? Could it exclude some demographics from participating in the workforce? And that's what we have to think about. 8:17 How will people learn? How will they be able to accept the way this is all happening in the workforce and will be able to get things done in a timely manner? So I guess here's some things we want to address. 8:29 Here, here's my opinion for today. Is the Internet of Skills facilitating and is it really an exciting concept? And we're already on our way there right now. We all know it. We're excited about it. We see it's happening. 8:43 It's taking over in, in our personal lives, now in our business. But all with this comes change. 8:49 We need to be considering the socio- the socioeconomic implications of such a shift in the workplace, and that is happening. A question we need to, uh, ask of, of this month's feature, in fact, we already did this, 9:06 seems fitting here, so I'll pose it to you right now as listeners, and I want you to chime in with your thoughts on social media, is: How will on-demand access to expertise change the fabric of society? 9:22 That's a very important one here. You know, what will that do? How will we be thinking about that? You know, we have to think about society in general and what is that going to do. 9:33 Now, again, here's my tip for today as well. 9:36 As an industry and as a society, we need to consider ways to ease the transition to the Internet of Skills, because a lot of times we jump right into things, but we haven't actually looked at, how is this going to impact everyone around us, and how can we do this? 9:57 Those are the really important things that we have to consider and take into consideration, because the Internet of Skills is powerful. It's changing our lives. 10:08 It's changing our workforces, and it's going to change the jobs. It's going to eliminate a lot of jobs, not just some. 10:17 I think when we look at the numbers and we start thinking about it, the socioeconomic world that we live in is going to be impacted. And we've talked about the Internet of Things. 10:28 Now we're talking about the Internet of Skills, and we have to look at how it's going to improve the way industry works. We have to talk about how is it going to improve the potential applications in the business world. 10:42 And we have to take into consideration, how will people learn? How will they train? 10:48 And we have to think about from, both from a personal standpoint, as we started out, somebody learning to play the piano, all the way to how these business applications will be from the medical field, remote surgery, to even the most simpler things in a factory setting. 11:07 All of these things that we're talking about are going to have dramatic impacts, but we have to look at them, and we have to see, what are we going to change? How is it going to impact? 11:17 And we say, well, we're already doing those things on YouTube. People are learning. The do-it-yourselfers, the younger generation is on YouTube. They're experiencing. Now are we going to the next level? 11:29 But what's the transition time to which this is happening? How can your businesses make the transition to that, and how can you invest to make it? Does it happen immediately? 11:39 Is it one year from now, two years from now, five years from now? And how do you invest in the right technologies to do that? And I think those are the questions you have to think, but everything requires a strategy. 11:51 You just don't leap in and just do it. You have to have the right people, processes, and technologies to make all of these things happen. 11:59 And when you do it, all the transition happens accordingly and proper, and you'll make it there, and you can see how you can get to that transition to the Internet of Skills. And goes back to my tip for the day. 12:13 How can we do this? Proper strategy makes it all happen. All right. I'd love for to hear what you have to say. Tweet at me. As always, I want to hear your thoughts on social media, so tweet at me at ConnectedWMag. 12:25 All right. I'm out of time for this first segment. Check out our website at connectedworld.com or thepeggySmedleyShow.com website. We'd love for you to check out any of our past archives. 12:35 Also, as always, we're going to be right back after a quick commercial break. This is The Peggy Smedley Show, the podcasting voice of IoT and digital transformation. 12:43 And remember, with great technology comes great responsibility. Go get that quick cup of coffee, and we'll be right back. [upbeat music]
