A computer that is super fast, that remains on even when switched off, that can change direction and decision instantly. The BRAIN – firmly tied to the human body, and the best computer of all.

Remember Aldous Huxley’s Brave New World. Spooked me the first time I read it, but here is a version of it in our world of IT. Companies able to adapt to this new world of cloud computing, open source, software-as-service (SaaS) have a geuine opportunity to steal a march on the competition. This is where the future lies and doing things the old way wont cut it – customers know what they want (and if they don’t it’s a door open for managed services!). Lots of change, lots of opportunity, the digital natives will eat this up!

Nobody has any time for anything. Anything not immediate is deemed too slow. We want fast food, nuked in the microwave because we can’t be bothered to cook (and yet we all watch cookery programmes), we can’t bare to stand in a queue so we bank online and we expect news to reach us as it happens. Shops stay open 24 hours just to remain competitive, or to satisfy our need for doughnuts at 3am. And yet loyalty to stores and brands is old hat, itself having disappeared with time.

How many people read that headline and saw the words “How intelligent are you?” What a key question. Sir Ken Robinson turns that around, and asks “How are you intelligent?” In other words, what are you good at, and how can we combine an individual’s passion with talent, to find their Element. I am still going on about this book, but it is that good. Some people are good at science, others good at music. My sister runs the most most fantastic tea room, the Vintage Tea House in Surrey, my brother is a film director. No one is better than the other, just different. How are you intelligent? I have not stopped thinking about this for a week now.

I joined OCR on the final leg of their roadshow today at the Ricoh Arena in Coventry. I was very animated in my presentation – I enjoyed myself and like working with the OCR team, always professional and well-organised. What is clear, despite resistance from some quarters, is that technology-fuelled change is like steering a kayak. You cannot turn around – we are going in one direction only and we need to embrace it. Get on board, because our students are leading the way and they are comfortable with it. They live and breath new technology, social media and doing 5 things at once. It’s time to learn from them.

I presented at the IT apprentice awards yesterday for e-skills UK, hosted at the fabulous site of the Institution of Engineering & Technology in Savoy Place. The photo above was taken with my iPhone and the view was spectacular. The refreshing thing amongst our doom and gloom headlines was the passion and enthusiasm of the apprentices receiving the awards. As our workforce of tomorrow, they are a shining light of example for the youth of today – if they work hard and truly commit to the task in hand, they have a promising future ahead of them. Investment fund manager Witan said in an advert a while back, “First-rate people hire first-rate people; second-rate people hire third-rate people.” Powerful words that resonate true.