Full STEAM Ahead – Altec Supports National STEM/STEAM Day 2017

National STEM/STEAM Day is today and it’s an important idea to take note of and celebrate, in order to inspire young people to explore and pursue their interests in Science, Technology, Engineering, Art and Math. STEAM is all around us and shapes our everyday experiences – in fact the U.S. Labor Department recently reported that almost all of the top 10 fastest growing occupations are STEAM careers.

In a recent article, Dr. Peter H. Diamandis, an international pioneer in the fields of innovation and commercial space stated, “The first technological steps — sharp edges, fire, the wheel — took tens of thousands of years. For people living in this era, there was little noticeable technological change in even a thousand years. By 1000 A.D., progress was much faster and a paradigm shift required only a century or two. In the 19th century, we saw more technological change than in the nine centuries preceding it. Then in the first 20 years of the 20th century, we saw more advancement than in all of the 19th century. Now, paradigm shifts occur in only a few years’ time.”

Ray Kurzweil, renowned author of The Singularity Is Near commented, “We won’t experience 100 years of progress in the 21st century—it will be more like 20,000 years of progress (at today’s rate).”

Technology is accelerating rapidly than ever before and as a society, we have embraced new technology wholeheartedly. However, so many corporations continue with traditional operational practices when it comes to their back office functions. To compete and succeed in today’s technology-driven world, companies of all sizes need to consider how to make a digital transformation.

The first step a company can take towards taking everything digital is simply getting rid of their paper. Too much paper is a global problem; all around the world offices continue to deal with a great amount of paper. Paper coming in, going out, passing through their organization – every day. Physically tracking those various documents is both costly and difficult. Going paperless is key in making a digital transformation, as companies like Shumate Technologies and Pinsly Railroad Company have discovered. Both were overrun with paper and spent far too much time and money managing it. Document management allowed both organizations to go paperless, as its benefits are significant, including:

• Cost savings: eliminate file cabinet and storage costs, reduce printing and form costs, mailing and courier fees
• Time savings: streamlined processes, significantly decreasing approval cycles, simplified audits, and instant document retrieval
• Process improvements: instantaneous reporting and auditing capabilities, and workflow automation

Companies that stick to their brick-and-mortar ways will certainly have a difficult time as the rest of world rapidly goes digital. As Diamandis stated, “The World Wide Web did not exist in anything like its present form just a decade ago, and didn’t exist at all two decades before that. As these exponential developments continue, we will begin to unlock unfathomably productive capabilities and begin to understand how to solve the world’s most challenging problems. There has never been a more exciting time to be alive.”

For this reason, Altec is dedicated to supporting STEM/STEAM focused activities and learning in education. We are fortunate to be headquartered in Southern California, which gives us access to growing youth organizations throughout Orange and Los Angeles counties. Members of the Altec team are STEM/STEAM advocates and have children who attend nearby schools with STEAM curriculum. Social media helps us stay aware of local projects and opportunities to get involved. Altec looks forward to supporting more youth-oriented STEM/STEAM programs in the coming years.

So join us in celebrating National STEM/STEAM Day today. And contact Altec to learn how we can help your company get a head start on its digital transformation.