the IT help guy OBSTACLES IN INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGY

from UAECreatives Magazine Issue 1, September 2023

Weird Tales & Adventures in Freelancing

No matter what industry we are in, innovation of technology is essential for our business growth to stay ahead of the competition and meet the needs of our clients and customers. Therefore, what are the obstacles that can hinder innovation? Here’s a point form view.

Fear of failure. We sometimes are reluctant to take a risk to try a new idea even if it is a good one because of the fear of making a mistake or being laughed at. What if it may turn out to be an unsuccessful project? We may not want to start the process itself, let alone present it to our investors. Some people are naturally resistant to change, which can increase stress levels and difficulty in focusing to implement new ideas and technologies..

Lack of resources. Inventing new tech is expensive when accounting for time, money, and manpower. If the resources required to do the project is a far reach and also the funding is not affordable it can be a discouragement. This puts us at a competitive disadvantage, over our competitors who can invest and bring new products and services to market faster. Lack of collaboration. Innovation requires people from different departments or teams to work together. When employees don’t work together or do not have a shared understanding of the goal, they are less likely to share information, ideas, and resources which can lead to duplication of efforts, wasted time, and missed opportunities, hiring more people to complete a project and be difficult to collaborate effectively resulting in delays, misunderstandings, and ultimately failure of the project. Also, not being part of the team can make them less likely to stay engaged and motivated. This can lead to low morale, which can further reduce productivity.

Lack of leadership. Innovation needs to be supported by higher levels of management like CEOs and CTOs. If senior leaders are not committed to innovation, it is unlikely that it will be successful if there are leaders that do not create a healthy culture of innovation and progress where employees feel supported and encouraged to take risks. They need to provide the resources and funding necessary to succeed. Diversity in the workplace can contribute to healthy new perspectives and ideas.

Hindered by regulation. Govt. and Corporate rigidity and inflexible bureaucratic regulations can be a brick wall to innovation by making it too difficult or expensive to bring new products and services to the marketplace. When it is unclear what the regulations are, or when they are constantly changing, it can be difficult for businesses to innovate. This is because they may be unsure whether their new products or services will comply with the regulations, and reluctant to invest in innovation fearing they will not be able to recover their investment.

Lack of focus. Some businesses try to be innovative in too many areas, which can spread their resources too thin and make it difficult to achieve success in any single area. Not being clear on priorities can easily deplete resources on projects not aligned with its strategic goals. Innovation is essential for businesses and organizations that want to stay ahead of the competitive curve and meet the needs of their customers. By understanding obstacles and challenges to innovation and taking steps to overcome them, businesses can create a culture of innovation that will help them succeed in the long run. Despite these obstacles, there are several things that businesses and organizations can do to promote innovation such as partnering with other organizations to share resources and expertise.

Gerard Perera

A Consultant & Systems

Integration

Designer

at WITECON, With his knowledge and experience working in the field of Electronics Engineering for over 30 years, he does visualization, planning, and implementation of digital technology projects including enterprise automation, IT Infrastructure designing, Security, for global corporate clients in Telecommunications, Digital Media (Broadcasting), Financial institutions, Academic Institutions, Petroleum, and Construction.

Website: www.witecon.com

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin. com/in/gerardperera/

How I used

Generative AI Apps to ideate for advertising campaigns

Generative AI Text to Image tools can be very useful to generate visual ideas for your advertising or social media campaigns. Here are a few examples of how I used Leonardo.ai and Bing (both free tools)

Umesh Ponnusamy started his career as an advertising copywriter and later spent a couple of decades in Web Content and Digital Experience management. He still moonlights as a copywriter and is available for writing gigs. He can be contacted at umeshp.com@gmail.com

Portfolio: www.umeshp.com

PROMPT: A woman soaring through the air on a zipline, her face lit up with joy and anticipation as she looks directly into the camera.

For a campaign pitch for a UAE client, I tried Leonardo.ai for the first time. Leonardo.ai were giving a trial run of their Alchemy algorithm free for a week and the results were quite good and useful for the idea presentation.

PROMPT: A skydiver or a lady tandem jumping looking into a mobile phone with Palm Jumeirah below.

PROMPT:

A woman soaring through the air on a zipline, her face lit up with joy and anticipation as she looks into a mobile phone.

PROMPT:

A man scuba diving underwater looking into a mobile

PROMPT: A couple or family camping in the desert looking into their mobile phone.

PROMPT: A couple or family camping in the desert in front of a camp fire, the night sky is filled with stars, realistic style.

For an advertising campaign pitch for Canon Service Centre, the message to be communicated was “Out of the world service and care”. Though the visual idea didn’t get through the first round with the agency, it was nevertheless exciting images generated which could’ve further been modified by a designer. Bing.com/creator

PROMPT: A canon camera floating in space above the earth and 3 astronauts are repairing the camera

PROMPT:

Canon camera floating in space above the Earth and being repaired by 3 astronauts

PROMPT: A canon scanner floating in space above the earth and 3 astronauts are repairing the scanner

Was asked by a client to also give image suggestions for a long blog article on hoodies featuring around 27 different types of hoodies. I tried both Leonardo.ai and Bing and they generated quite a variety of images as required.