Tech Revolution: Impact of Technology on the World - Research Paper

Introduction

The world is a dynamic and this which means that it can undergo any form of change. There are various types of changes that have been experienced in the over the past few years. The main change that the world has experienced is the development of technology. Technology refers to collection of tools as well as machines that are applied to solve various problems as well as develop new things (Orel & Kara, 2014). The impact of technology on the world is that it has made it easy to carry out multiple activities. As much as technology has had a positive effect on the world, some negative impacts have been experienced (Orel & Kara, 2014). However, the positive effects of technology are overwhelming. There are various features of technology that have been developed. These features have made it easy for technology to be used in different areas. One of the areas that have experienced a lot of positive impact on technology in business (Orel & Kara, 2014). Technology has been employed in business to help in carrying out activities such as selling products to the customers. In most supermarkets, retail shops and restaurants, customers tend to line up when they are purchasing their products. These institutions believe that when the customer's line up to purchase the products, a lot of time is consumed (Orel & Kara, 2014). As a result of this issue, these businesses have resorted to the acquisition and the implementation of the self-checkout kiosks. The self-checkout kiosks, also known as the Semi Attended customer Activated Terminal (SACAT) machines gives the customers a means to process their goods or services from a retailer. The self-checkout kiosk provides an alternative to what used to be referred to as the traditional cashier staffed checkout (Orel & Kara, 2014). The development and the implementation of self-checkout kiosk in various retails stores are taking away jobs from human beings, and there are multiple types of self-checkout kiosks that are being used in different places.

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Retail Self Check Out Kiosks and Human Jobs

The development of technology has come along with a lot of benefits, and one of them is to make work easier for human beings. However, instead of the retail self-checkout kiosk making work easier for human beings, it has ended up taking jobs from some of them. Several retail stores have implemented the self-checkout kiosks whereby the customers purchase goods and then process them on their own.

Initially, these retail stores had employed people to process the goods of the customers. Therefore, when the self-checkout kiosks are introduced, these individuals will be rendered jobless because the machines have taken away the work that human beings used to perform.

Saving Resources

According to Orel and Kara (2014), self-checkout kiosks are taking the job used to be done by human beings because they save resources. Self-checkout kiosks save on resources and in particular time (Orel & Kara, 2014). Customers queue in the retails stores as they wait to be served. In most cases, these lines usually move slowly since the humans who are serving them get tired at times. Therefore, the implementation of the self-checkout kiosk will save on time because the customers will process their goods and there will be no delay since the machine will be moving fasters.

Serve More Customers

Another reason why the self-checkout kiosk is taking away human jobs is that it can serve more customers (Bellis Jr, Keys & Behrens, 2003). The number of customers that human beings serve at their retails stores is limited since they get tired this results in negative customer experience. The self-check out kiosks will take away the jobs of these individuals in the sense that they can serve more customers and efficiently. This action will improve the customer experience as well as the customer's base helping the company to gain more revenue (Bellis Jr et al., 2003). Furthermore, when the customers are served faster by these self check out kiosks, their satisfaction will increase.

Adaptability

Adaptability is the third reason why the self-checkout kiosks are taking away human jobs (Collier, Breazeale & White, 2017). Technology has taken the world, and this has made it comfortable people to adapt to the use of the self-checkout kiosk. In this case, the customers who are using the self-checkout kiosk for the first time will not have a hard time using it. Therefore, these customers will get used to the self-checkout kiosk easily and help the retail store meet its goals and objectives. Therefore, this concept will quickly take away human jobs since more customers will be opting for the self-checkout kiosks to process their goods (Collier et al., 2017).

Connectivity

Connectivity is the next reason why this self-check out kiosks will replace human beings in various retail stores. The connectivity of the self-checkout kiosk has been enabled by the fact that that they are networked (GAO & Huang, 2018). Therefore, the self-check kiosks can be accessed as well as controlled remotely while using an internet connection. Furthermore, data can be collected from the self-checkout kiosk easily and can be used in deciding to improve the retail store (GAO & Huang, 2018). This feature is better compared to human beings whereby one has to move from one person to another to collect information which is tiresome and time-consuming.

Accuracy

The self-checkout kiosk will take away human jobs because they are accurate. Human beings are prone to errors, especially when they are tired (Lazar, Jordan & Vanderheiden, 2019). Therefore, they might end up processing wrong information which may result in a more significant issue. For example, when a person gets tired or confused, he or she might enter the wring details of a product such as a price.

In the event the price that has been entered is higher, the customers will not be satisfied since he or she will feel that the retail store sells its products at expensive prices (Lazar et al., 2019). The development, as well as the incorporation of the self-check out kiosk, will help to reduce these problems because of its accuracy and it cannot cause any error. Therefore, this concept will take away human jobs to prevent mistakes from being made and ensure customer satisfaction.

Kinds of Self Check Out Kiosks

The development of the self-checkout kiosk has received a lot positive comments, and this issue has made it be used to be widely used in various areas. Also, the positive impact of the self-checkout kiosk has led to the development of different kind of self-checkout kiosks that are used in different places.

According to (Lazar et al., 2019), the presence of these devices has made the life of human beings easy without realization. However, these self-check put kiosks have taken away most of the roles that used to be performed by human beings. Mentioning that, the following are some types of self-checkout kiosks that have taken away the jobs of human beings.

Financial Kiosks

The first type of self-checkout kiosk that has taken away human jobs is the financial kiosk (Bulmer et al., 2018). The revolution that has been experienced by the self-checkout kiosk began in the financial sector (Bulmer, Elms & Moore, 2018). In the financial sector, several digital kiosks have been developed. Some of these digital kiosks include the ATMs as well as other banking kiosks where customers can quickly deposit or withdraw their money (Bulmer et al., 2018).

Furthermore, these customers can check various details concerning their financial information such as the account balance. The recent advancement in technology has improved financial kiosks in multiple ways. One of the methods is that security has been enhanced and that human beings can transact at any time (Bulmer et al., 2018). The main people that have been affected by the development of this self-checkout kiosk are the bankers. There is no need for bankers since the presence of the self-checkout kiosk performs the roles that were once theirs (Bulmer et al., 2018).

The bankers used to help customer withdraw money from the bank, deposit and track their financial information while reducing the cost (Bulmer et al., 2018). For example, the cost of withdrawing money from a bank cashier is higher compared to when the same amount is removed from an ATM (Black & Spain, 2018). With the presence of the self-checkout financial kiosks, the customers can accomplish these activities by themselves. Therefore, financial kiosks have made the services offered in the financial sector simple (Black & Spain, 2018).

Kiosks Used for Bill Payment and Purchase of Service

The other type of self-checkout kiosk that has been developed as a result of technological advancements and has taken away human jobs are the kiosks used to pay bills as well as purchase various services. It has become part of human lives to pay bills and purchase multiple services so that they can conduct their activities effectively (GAO & Huang, 2018). Some of these bills that people spend on frequent occasions include gift cards, flight tickets, TV subscriptions as well as online gaming vouchers used with domestic and international recharges (Larson, 2019). Paying bills and purchasing products have been made more accessible by that they are easily located in any place.

Furthermore, the presence of these kiosks used for paying bills and purchasing various products have helped to reduce the footfall with the retail centers as well as the service providing shops. An example of such a kiosk is KIBIS self-checkout kiosk. The KIBIS self-checkout kiosk has simplified how paying bills as well as services with cash without resulting in a brick and mortar office (Larson, 2019). This kiosk has taken away most of the jobs that were meant for human beings.

For example, before the kiosk used for paying bills as well as purchasing various services were developed, the customers would visit multiple stores to get their bills paid and purchase certain good. In the stores, the customers would be served by humans who have been employed to work there (Larson, 2019). However, with the development of the kiosks for paying bills and acquiring service, the customers do not have to visit the stores and center to be served (Larson, 2019). Instead, the customers will use the self-checkout kiosks that have been installed anywhere and pay for anything they want (Larson, 2019). In this case, human jobs will be taken as the clients will no longer have to visit any store to be served since they can pay their bills at any time.

Check-Ins Kiosks

Check-in kiosk is the third type of kiosk that has taken away human jobs according to Bulmer et al., (2018). There are various types of check-in kiosks that have been developed as a result of the development of technology (Black & Spain, 2018). An example of services that are provided using the check-in kiosks includes the internet e-check in whereby the customer can check themselves in for various services (Taylor, 2018). An example of self-check-in service that is present is evident in multiple airports. Self-service in the airports have made it easy to process a number of passengers since the activity has been decentralized from the airports (Black & Spain, 2018). This aspect means that the customers can receive the services they want away from the airports and they can process for themselves (Black & Spain, 2018).

Initially, customers would line up for a lot of time before they could get served and this would affect the productivity of the airports. As much as the check-in kiosks are limited to the services provided in the airports, these kiosks can be found in the hospitals where a person can use them to book for doctors' appointment. Also, check-in kiosks have be...