Welcome to PR Vibes, created by Calysto Communications to provide you with insight into the publications, thought leaders and events in the communications industry. Today, we visit with Clint Wheelock, founder and managing director of Tractica, a new market intelligence firm that focuses on human interaction with technology.
Wheelock has an extensive background in market intelligence surrounding emerging technologies, most recently serving as the founder and CEO of Pike Research (acquired by Navigant and now known as Navigant Research), where he served as managing director. Prior to that, he was chief research officer at ABI Research and vice president at the NPD Group.
In this interview, Clint discusses his long-time fascination with human factors and shares his thoughts on some of the “humantech” we’ll be hearing more about – from user interfaces to wearable devices to drones, robots and artificial intelligence. Enjoy!
Why does Tractica focus on human interaction with technology?
Human factors and the user experience are long time interests of mine. It goes back to my experience in the telecom carrier environment with both Verizon and Qwest Communications for broadband and wireless products. At the time, I was involved in new product development for early digital cable and TV technologies where we did usability research and human factors work in electronic program guides on TV, as well as other user interfaces such as remote controls. The difference between an initial engineering concept and what actually works for people is amazing! Even after many years of human factors work, you still see gaps where best practices are not applied in the design of technology products.
I started thinking about all the interesting activity going on related to human interaction with technology. Right now, nobody specializes in the user experience and the human interaction element when looking at different technology sectors. There should be plenty of interesting ground to cover!
What markets do you cover?
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Mobile
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The connected home
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Automotive
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Healthcare
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The enterprise
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Industrial markets
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Military
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Government
The sub-categories range from wearables devices, such as smart watches, smart glasses, and wearable sensors, to 3D interaction to automation and robotics. In all of these areas, human factors really make a huge difference in product acceptance.
Why is this area so important now?
There are a couple of important patterns and objectives that companies and industry players have been pursuing for some time.
#1 — The continuing development of greater computing power, with devices and within networks, as well as cloud architecture. We’re at a point where the computing power in a typical smartphone is pretty extraordinary. It’s at the level of supercomputing of the ’90s and now, that level of power and capacity is in the hands of everyday consumers.
#2 — At the same time, over the course of the past 20 years or so, there has been a big focus on the build out of networks, especially high-capacity broadband wireless networks. I think we’ve gotten to the point where robust network connectivity is pretty pervasive and ubiquitous.
However, in terms of people’s interaction with technology products and services, the limiting factor is the interface itself. Certainly there have been advances, with multitouch screen devices and other types of interfaces, but there are still limitations as far as people’s ability to access that computing power and leverage that network connectivity for maximum benefit.
Do you think we’re on the verge of some real breakthroughs?
I think it’s a matter of entering the next stage of development. It’s going to be important to unlock the potential of that computing power and that network connectivity and the capabilities of devices, as well as the cloud itself, to open up new kinds of capabilities. There’s good momentum building and one of the key gating factors for the next set of breakthroughs is the interfaces themselves.
Whether that’s a kind of automation that can help improve the efficiency of enterprises or manufacturing companies or improving capabilities in consumer products like health and fitness services, there are a number of key opportunities out there. Part of it is from automation and the ability to make things more efficient and part of it’s just opening up new applications, like more capabilities in the autonomous automotive environment.
So yes, I think there’s more opportunity yet to come, but it’s a chaotic time, with a lot of different players trying to figure out how to make sense of these opportunities.
Since you brought up automotive, let’s talk about connected cars. Thoughts?
One of the key concerns within the industry and within consumer groups is the driver distraction factor. The more “stuff” and more interfaces that are in a car, the more people are becoming concerned about distraction and the greater risk of accidents. So the question is, how do you create interfaces that enable the capabilities and the business models that people in the industry want, without distracting drivers? It’s by creating a more natural interface — maybe head up displays on windshields or voice controls. There are a number of potential ways to address that, but they all require the continuing evolution of these technologies. Make them more safe, effective, and efficient with alternatives to a touch screen or dialing knobs or other traditional interfaces there might be within the car.
Do you think science fiction is becoming reality in some instances?
Over the years, I definitely think science fiction has been very prescient in terms of thinking about, not only what technologies might develop, but some of the implications. People in the robotics space still talk a lot about Isaac Asimov’s “Three Laws of Robotics” as they begin to think in real world terms about the ethics surrounding artificial intelligence and what that means to the economy, as well as to society and people.
There’s somewhat of a rash of anxiety on multiple levels about artificial intelligence. Are robots going to take our jobs? Is robotics going to be a destructive force that might improve the economics for a select few, at the expense of a lot of jobs?
We’ve always had technology that displaces certain types of jobs and then other things come along to replace them. In that sense, there’s as much a historical context as there is a futuristic science fiction context. Others say, this time it’s different. It’s going to happen quickly and it’s going to affect the types of jobs that automation has not affected in the past — white collar professions like doctors and lawyers and customer service people and other professionals. It’s going to be highly disruptive and it’s going to reshape society.
Besides economic aspects, there’s the more science fiction-based anxiety around “are we going to create super intelligence that will ultimately destroy us?” It really does all intertwine with what we’ve been reading in science fiction books and seeing in movies for a number of years. Some of it’s developing along those lines and some of it is on a different trajectory.
I think science fiction is informative for these types of technologies. Not necessarily a road map for how the technology markets will play out.
Are there any trends that people aren’t paying enough attention to?
The whole idea of the user experience, design and human factors are issues that I think are often underappreciated in some technology markets. In each of the individual sectors, there are areas to pay attention to. The good news: I think they’re gaining steam and becoming areas of greater and greater focus.
As people develop new products related to robotics and artificial intelligence, it’s going to require a greater focus on the user interface and on the human interaction side of things. Other examples are autonomous vehicles and commercial applications for drone technology.
Speaking of drones, there’s a real inhibiting policy environment right now and the industry is waiting impatiently for the FAA to take action on regulations for use of drones for commercial applications in civilian air space. There are a lot of ideas brewing out there in the market, but regulators have been slow to act. It’s an area that people are watching very carefully, but there are similar types of issues in any number of these sectors around the human interaction with technology — and that falls within the broader human machine interaction space.
Stay tuned!
What’s the one thing that we should know about “human tech”?
Technology products and services continue to advance year by year, and in the decades ahead we will continue to see extraordinary developments that will change the way we live and work. As a technology industry analyst, these developments are always very intriguing, and I look forward to following the succession of “next big things” in the market. However, even as the industry shifts its focus to new sectors and new opportunities over time, the one constant is the question of how humans will interact with new technology – and our focus on this human dimension is how Tractica can bring a different perspective than other analyst firms, helping industry participants and stakeholders as they aim to understand the size and characteristics of new market opportunities. Through our research, our goal will be to look through the lens of user experience and help companies understand not only market dynamics, but also the psychological factors and the societal impacts as users and technology become more closely connected.