For most of my life there have been clear distinctions between what you would categorize as private or public and what you would categorize as work or home. Distinctions between private and public and work and home are diminishing as the infrastructure that once supported them shifts to keep up with exponential technological advances. 

How have private and public, work and home merged within your life?

One example from my life is represented by the icons on my Window’s Phone for four email accounts:

• my official work email
• my personal email
• my semi-official church ministry email
• my wife’s personal email (she knows and approves)

Mobile technology and the Internet have spawned a culture of constant 'connection,' resulting in my ever-present access to email.  I (occasionally) respond to non-work related emails at work and (often) respond to work related emails at home, hence a merging between work and home where I rely on my actions rather than my location to differentiate between the two.

Email has evolved into the ultimate example of private becoming public. Once an email is sent, you have no control over it being forwarded, making what may have started out as private communication public. Social media similarly blurs the line between public and private communication. When you comment on your friends’ Facebook posts you have no idea who will see your comment; it could be a friend of one of your friends or perhaps one of your friends’ friends who also happens to be your customer. 

I am in the technology business. My aim is to get great software into the hands of growing manufacturers so they can achieve their business objectives. As a thinking, breathing, feeling person working in technology, I take time to consider the social trends and implications that are driven by technology.

 Consequences of the merging of public and private, work and home:

• Confidentiality - it is much harder to achieve
• Increased knowledge of the personal lives of colleagues
• Increased personal contact with distant relatives and friends
• It is easier for enemies to find you
• Personal intimacy – is it enhanced or inhibited?
• Greater opportunity to proliferate a good idea
• Increased possibility to make a fool of yourself to large audience
• Personal opinions, viewpoints, political affiliations, religious values are available to colleagues, customers, and the public

I already mentioned that I see the difference between work and home as something I choose based on my actions. Well, another choice I have is how I thoughtfully and ethically use technology in light of the above factors.

One choice I’ve made is to be as honest as possible about who I am, across online mediums and IRL (which as my daughter taught me, means In Real Life). Another is to operate with the awareness that everything I write and share has the potential to be seen by likeminded people, twisted and shot back at me or simply ignored. 

I’ll leave you with one final, outstanding consequence of this merger between business and personal: Who you are is more important than ever to your business. This stew of public, private, work and home, which the Internet Age has cooked up has commercialized an idea successful businesspeople have known about all along: better people are better for business.

I’ve been at MAX for 28 years and many of my colleagues, your support team and consultants, boast equally long tenures and the resulting manufacturing-specific, MAX-specific expertise. Over the years I've gotten to know this team very well and I can say with complete confidence that the people behind MAX are what make the product so great. We strive every day to make your ERP work for you, from the software details to seeing through successful implementations day in and day out.  

Contact one of our consultants to see for yourself.