Each year The Consumer Electronics Association (CEA) hosts the largest consumer tech trade show in the world: The Consumer Electronics Show, more commonly referred to as CES. The show is held early January in Las Vegas, Nevada. This exclusive event features presentations and exhibits of the latest tech wizardry as product or prototype from thousands of exhibitors and draws an estimated 140,000 attendees.
While the new products and technologies introduced at the show each year are aimed at consumers, CES is not open to the public. It is primarily aimed at tech vendors and companies. However, the press is welcome. This allows anyone who is interested to get a sneek peek at what is coming around the corner. For the technophile, it can be very exciting. But for the entrepreneur, it can be very important for your business.
Before I go further, let’s step back a moment and think about your business.
One of the key ingredients to the success of any business is a clear vision of its purpose and objectives and how you will reach them. What does it offer your customers? What want or need does it fulfill? Who is your target market? How do you plan to deliver and fulfill this want or need for the customer with quality and value and keep your business profitable so that it grows?
These are all important things to consider, but it is the last question that is at the heart of this discussion.
There is no doubt that technology plays an increasingly vital role in the operation of almost any business today. Twenty years ago, starting a business was a costly endeavor that required a heavy financial investment in every aspect of it, primarily because so much of the operation had to be outsourced in one way or another. Needed business cards? You had to go to the local print shop. Needed to advertise? Newspaper, radio and TV ads cost a lot of money and generally had to be created by the media outlet in which you placed them. Needed a base of operations? You either had to open an actual storefront or work out of your home, which for some types of businesses and venues was not very practical and attractive to potential clients.
Today, thanks to technology, the average small businessperson can do all of it alone, in house and at a fraction of the cost. You can print your own business cards with a quality that rivals the local print shop, you can produce your own electronic ads that can reach anyone around the world via the Internet, you can market to a specific target audience through social media and you can open a virtual storefront and work in your pajamas if you want – with no stigma attached. In short, technology makes it easier, simpler and more affordable to start and run a business.
Which brings us back to The Consumer Electronics Show. Why is following CES important to your business? Simply because some of the new products and technologies introduced at CES this year may soon become the next tools you will use to run it.
As the saying goes, knowledge is power. Those who are visionaries today become the leaders of tomorrow. If you want your business to be the market leader in whatever market your business is in, you need to be able to see around the corners and know what is coming next, before anyone else in your market does. You need to stay on top of new technologies, new potential tools of the trade, and new trends. More importantly, you need to familiarize yourself with these new tools so that you can deploy them in the operation of your business immediately when they become available, so you are not spending billable time “getting up to speed” on them while deploying them to service your customers.
For the last four years, The Force Field web portal has covered CES as a free resource for owners of IT businesses (and every small business). This year, we are pulling out all the stops. The home page of The Force Field will feature 24/7 video coverage of CES 2012 in HD. This coverage will include a LIVE video stream from the show floor with on the spot views, reviews and interviews courtesy of The Tech Podcast Network. The Force Field Tech Business Podcast is a proud member of TPN.
To complement the video stream, the front page at http://www.theforcefield.net will also include a live, interactive social media stream and a live interactive chat 24/7, where virtual attendees around the world can discuss and debate CES 2012 in real time. We will also offer a concurrent audio stream so you can listen while away from the screen, on the go or at work.
To make our full coverage complete, The Force Field Forums will open the CES 2012 Forums to the public for the latest comments, debates and discussions during CES 2012.
Pre-show coverage begins 3 PM EST Sunday, January 8, 2012. For a complete schedule of times and program events, check The Force Field TPN CES 2012 Program Schedule.