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The Partner in Your Pocket: iPod Comes of Age By Phillip G. Perkins, ACUMEN Corp. On Friday, October 20 of last year, I was watching the CBS Evening News as I often do after a challenging day at the office. I noted with interest that one of the anchors "teased" the viewers into returning after a commercial break by saying: "...more later on the device that has changed the way we live..." For several years I had been writing and speaking on the subject of emerging and/or enabling technologies and was more than a bit interested in finding out about this magical device. I was quite surprised to find out that the newsman was referring to the iPod, that innocuous looking little bit of technology that we have grown accustomed to seeing strapped to the belts of high school and college kids everywhere. Now I must admit that I own an iPod and that it is properly loaded with my favorite songs and albums (oh alright then, CDs). It even holds a few music videos that I particularly like. But I certainly wasn't convinced that it had changed the way I live. Since I was preparing to speak to a group of CPAs, CFOs and controllers at an accounting software conference in Scottsdale within a couple of weeks, I decided to do some research on the real impact of the iPod and other MP3 technologies. Once again I was quite surprised at what I found. In the field of education, I learned that Duke University, among others, was providing iPods to incoming freshmen to be used as a study aid. Much of the work done by students in the education department of Drexel University is also facilitated with the iPod. And commercial entities large and small were beginning to understand the potential and deploying iPods as training aids. In fact, Pal's Sudden Service, a small 20-unit fast food restaurant chain with headquarters in Kingsport, TN uses the iPod to provide orientation and training to new employees. Small wonder that this innovative approach was one factor allowing them to be the only restaurant chain to ever win the Malcolm Baldridge Quality award. I began to look at the iPod as just another content delivery system. However, for it to be an effective productivity tool in the highly competitive business environment, the content would obviously need constant refreshing. That's where "podcasts" come in. The online reference guide called Wikipedia defines podcasts as follows: "A podcast is a multimedia file distributed over the Internet using syndication feeds for playback on mobile devices and personal computers." So how might this technology impact CPA firms and other service providers? The first thing that comes to mind is competitive differentiation. Routinely providing clients with updates on tax regulations, new technological advances, corporate governance issues and so forth can separate the players from the bystanders. Given the declining price of MP3 devices ($79 to $300 depending on features), an argument might be made that the playback units themselves should be provided for key clients. Memorabilia companies now offer MP3 players with your corporate logo, a means to remind your clients of the value you bring on a daily basis. In addition, custom audio (if not video) podcasts are relatively inexpensive to produce and the payoff could be significant. The second possibility worth considering is the use of iPod as a mechanism to upgrade our own skills and knowledge base. Unlike attending a webinar, the content downloaded to an iPod can be heard or viewed at one's own convenience, whether at the beach or 30,000 feet in the air. A quick browse on the Internet yields a wide range of sites providing information of use to accounting practitioners and consultants. You might want to visit www.podcastingnews.com, www.podcaststyle.com, www.stevebragg.com and www.cpapodcasts.com. I am by no means endorsing any of these sites, but all seem to provide ready access to study material. Be warned, however, that many of the podcasts are sponsored and/or produced by companies using them to gain market leverage. Nothing wrong with that, as I mentioned above. However, for me the content seems more valuable if the "commercial" is more subtle. At the far extreme to simple audio updates on the latest wrinkle in cost accounting is the project mounted by Jack Bogdanski, a professor of law at Lewis and Clark Law School in Portland, Oregon. The distinguished professor is a five-time winner of Lewis and Clark's Leo Levenson Award for excellence in the teaching of law and a former member of the Commissioner's Advisory Group of the U.S. Internal Revenue Services and an author of the treatise Federal Tax Valuation. Mr. Bogdanski is obviously also technically savvy and quite ambitious in how he uses technology to deliver educational materials. Consider the fact that he is putting the entire IRS Code in audio form and making it available for podcasting. As for me, I'm not certain I would rush to fill my iPod with the IRS Code as opposed to, say, the latest album from Jimmy Buffett...but it's good to know it's available if and when I need it. So my opinion on the role of iPod in the business world has changed considerably. I'm now seriously looking at producing podcasts for use by my clients. In addition, I'm routinely browsing the Internet for best practices content that might prove educational and/or give my company a competitive advantage. That said, I'm still not convinced that the iPod has changed the way I live, but it has enhanced my ability to use my time productively wherever I am. |
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