Digital days

Are you spending more time on your smartphone than with your partner, family, or friends? Technology allows us to be constantly connected to the world, but it can also make us even more disconnected from each other. W. P. Carey students, alums, and faculty offer their advice for turning on devices without turning off relationships.

Making the most of the devices in business without powering down relationships

By Teresa Esquivel

If you're reading this on a smartphone or tablet, you're not alone. There are stats to back this up, of course. For example, geomarketing.com says close to 75 percent of U.S. adults will use a smartphone this year, and according to thinkwithgoogle.com, we spend an average of 75 minutes per day on tablets. But we don't always need numbers to prove we're in the digital age. All it takes is a casual look around to see people scanning their screens anywhere at almost any time. To find out how Sun Devils make the most of their screen time, we asked faculty, alums, and current students which devices they depend on to get through the day.

Moshe Cavalin (MBA '18)

"My future is very much in progress," Cavalin says. "Eventually, and I'm talking in the very far distant future, I'd like to start my own business. That's why I'm studying entrepreneurship. I don't have any ideas yet, but for the short term, I want to be more involved in product strategy and product management, which is why I'm studying marketing. Sticking with product marketing right out of the gate with the MBA is my plan, but that might change."

He has plenty of time to nail down a career. At 19, Cavalin is the youngest MBA candidate at the W. P. Carey School of Business. He's a high achiever who finished community college at age 11, enrolled at the University of California, Los Angeles at age 12, and began his first graduate degree – in cybersecurity – at 16. He's interned at NASA and Honeywell Aerospace, has a pilot's license, and is "big into martial arts and piano." He's also big into music.

"At work, at home, Spotify," Cavalin says. "I bought a premium membership around the time I was working for NASA. With it being on the Air Force base in the middle of the desert, the commute was an hour, maybe longer, so music was a big help in dealing with that, and I've enjoyed it ever since then. Pretty much I can't imagine my life without it."

His digital devices help keep the music coming, but they're also indispensable for all aspects of his life. For class, it's a laptop. For social media, he turns to his tablet, both to keep tabs on how companies are marketing themselves, but also to connect with classmates. Like every new MBA class, his has a Facebook group for sharing information about jobs, events, classes, and general communication. LinkedIn, he says, came in handy for looking for jobs, looking at companies, trying to network with recruiters, and networking with alumni.

"Outside of that, there's not a moment when I'm not checking email on my phone to see if classmates have replied to me," he says. "When I was frantic about looking for jobs, I was always on my phone checking for responses."

In his downtime, though, he says nothing from work crosses his mind. Instead, he relaxes by watching movies on his laptop or using his iPad to play games or read writing prompts submissions on Reddit. Or, he'll shut everything down and meet up with friends. "I enjoy spending time with my friends face to face, going places, watching movies, spending quality time with them just chilling and relaxing."

Reghenae Simmons (MBA/MSIM '18)

A self–described multi–tasker, Simmons is never far from a device or two. "They allow me to be more productive," she says. "I can be connected to real–time data while being part of a virtual meeting, and working on whatever project I'm working on. Also, through email or chat, I'm able to include others who might need the information. I know for some people, multi–tasking is considered a distraction, but it allows me to have a hectic day and get everything done. I'm able to focus on different things all at the same time."

Simmons has undergrad degrees in aeronautical and industrial engineering from Tennessee State University. She has internships with NASA and Tesla under her belt. An MBA with a concentration in supply chain management and a Master of Science in Information Management is in the works. For school, work, and play, she relies on a laptop and a smartphone.

"For personal use, for extracurricular activities that don't involve school, I use a Mac – that's my preference," she says. "But I have an HP for anything involving school because not everyone is Mac–supportive." She leans on software like Numbers, Google Docs, and Keynote for classwork. To scratch her itch for filmmaking, she turns to iMovie, and to feed her lust for new tech, Slickdeals leads her to the best bargains on the latest and greatest tech devices.

"I like to be at the forefront of technology at all times, so I like to upgrade my laptop every year," she says. Sometimes she sells the old devices, sometimes she gives them away to family members, and sometimes she keeps them. Her current tally is three laptops and three iPads, as well as several iPhones, including versions 1, 3, 4, 5, and 6.

"It's like an obsession or something," she says. "I have the 6s Plus, so I'm behind on the iPhone, but I'm anticipating the iPhone 8. I will cry when I get it. It will be tears of joy and sadness at the same time because I'll be spending $1,000 for a phone, but once I have it in my hands, I'll be one of the most excited people in the world."

Even so, she says she'll put her phone away when spending time with friends. Unless that is, someone else pulls their phone out first. "That's my excuse," she says, laughing. "If they have their phone out, mine might as well be out, too."

Thomas Kull, research professor, supply chain management

Some faculty prefer a tech–free classroom. Kull isn't one of them. "In fact, in a few classes, I require technology while we're doing the instruction or having the experiential learning exercises," he says. "Students usually have a laptop or a tablet, but sometimes they use their smartphone because the simulation we use is designed to be able to operate with a mobile device, as well."

The simulation, or sim for short, Kull refers to is one he had a hand in developing. Called "Coffee Trade: A Contract Negotiation Game," it allows students to work in teams to manage two supply chains, and the teams compete to accumulate total profit, according to the sim's description.

"What's been neat about the simulation is that it is online, so it's accessible throughout the world," he says. "We run some online courses where maybe one–third of the class is military, and they're dispersed everywhere, so we'll have people interacting in Germany, in Japan, and in the U.S., all at the same time."

Aside from the sim, Kull leans on traditional tech in the classroom, such as digital projectors and blackboard technology, and he makes good use of his iPad, too. "I'm often using my tablet for the iNote technology," he says. "It's useful for taking notes during research meetings and for showing people concepts that are harder to explain than just show. And, there are PhD seminar–type classes that I teach where the tablet is useful for the students and me for reviewing articles. Instead of printing them out, we use the tablet and the Adobe tools for highlighting and writing notes and putting comments on the PDF itself."

Amazon Cloud Drive enables Kull to prep for class or take notes away from school and access them in the classroom later. When he's not working, Kull is gradually amassing smart home devices. He currently has the Nest Learning Thermostat, the August Smart Lock, the SkyBell video doorbell, automated lighting for outside and, soon, the Amazon Echo.

"We've been talking a lot in the supply chain world about the Internet of Things and artificial intelligence, as well as machine–to–machine communication," Kull says. "My home is a testing ground, or playground, where I can learn how intuitive or unintuitive some of these systems are, how some talk to each other well, and others don't. I'm learning all the glitches. But I think my router is over–taxed. I look at it, and it's almost steaming because it's so hot with all the interconnectedness."

Kim Komando (BS Computer Information Systems '85), talk radio host, "The Kim Komando Show"

"I talk to people about living their best digital lifestyle," Kim Komando says. "I help people figure out what they need and how to get something done. How to use technology to help care for aging parents. What's happening with a husband or wife looking up old high school friends on Facebook. How you can see if your kids are texting and driving."

This ASU alum talks tech every week on "The Kim Komando Show" – which broadcasts on more than 450 stations – as well as in a weekly column for USAToday.com, on her website komando.com, on Fox News, and in a newsletter sent out to 40 million subscribers every month. Known as America's Digital Goddess®, her reach is broad, and her knowledge runs deep.

It's likely no surprise to hear, then, that Komando is "always connected" but likes to keep it simple.

"I just use my phone and my laptop," she says. "I've tried smart watches, but I don't want to be that connected. As a business owner, there is a time when I just need to stop. I think if I wore a watch, it would just be too much. And if I tracked my steps, I'd make sure to do 12,000 steps every day and not just 10,000, because that's my nature."

She also keeps the tech in check with a "no screen time during dinner time" rule at home, and by checking her phone just once or twice during the evening to make sure everything is "hunky–dory."

During meals out with friends and family, the rule stands, but there's a catch: "We put our phones face down next to our plates. Whoever turns theirs over first has to pay the bill," she says. But when it's not dinnertime, Komando is all about helping people make the most of the digital devices available to them.

"I love what I do; once people have the knowledge, they have power," she says. "I'm encouraged by not just the number of kids who can pick up an iPad and finagle it like an adult, but also folks who are over 70 learning to use devices and reconnecting with high school friends on Facebook and keeping in touch with what's going on with their family. Technology offers tremendous outlets for them to feel connected."

Even though she gets 50,000 calls into her show every week, and some 500 emails each day, some things still surprise her. One example is the increasing number of people who are interested in the "dark web," a place she refers to as the "bad part of the internet," and a place you don't need to go. She's also surprised – pleasantly – by the advance of technology that impacts our health. "Researchers have determined that if you're wearing an Apple Watch, it can detect if you have AFib (atrial fibrillation)," Komando says. "And most people are unaware until they have heart issues or heart failure. Those are the things I think, 'Wow, that's cool.'"

Martin Warioba (MBA/MSIM '07), co–founder and managing partner, WS Technology Consulting

Martin Warioba lives and works almost 10,000 miles away from Tempe, Ariz. "I have always been entrepreneurial and wanted to own my business for a long time," he says. "When I moved back to Tanzania, after working as a technology integration consultant at Deloitte in California, it was the right opportunity to set up my own business. Tanzania has been among the top–performing economies in Africa and, in the late 2000s, technology was starting to become a major factor in both government and private sectors."

Warioba co–founded WS Technology Consulting (wstechconsulting.com) in 2011 in Dar es Salaam, a city on the coast of the Indian Ocean, but envisions a time when the company will be recognized throughout Africa for its technology advisory, project management, software development, and IT security services.

The company depends on a range of devices and software to get business done, including an array of Windows–based and Mac laptops and PCs, as well as Android, iOS, and Windows phones and tablets for communications, work, and developing mobile apps. Their digital technicians' marketplace, Fundi247, connects consumers with professional technicians in various industries. The app, which is available through the Apple App Store and Google Play, will soon introduce mobile payments and other related financial services to the marketplace.

"We use the Microsoft Azure cloud services and Xamarin platform to develop and deploy mobile apps quickly," Warioba says. "And for our conference calls, we switched from Skype to UberConference because it is easy to use and affordable. For content management, we use Dropbox to manage and share all content we develop in our company. We can view shared documents across multiple devices, and this has improved our productivity tremendously."

The company is sometimes at the mercy of spotty internet connections when working with clients in rural and semi–urban areas. The workaround is to develop apps that work in both offline and online mode.

When he's off the clock, Warioba is all about work–life balance. He spends time with his family, and makes time weekly to play basketball and golf. He also enjoys reading and traveling. "Sometimes it is not pretty, but life isn't easy when I'm away from my gadgets for too long," he says. With them, he can access his favorite apps, like Google Maps, Uber, and TripCase when traveling, and mobile money applications for a variety of needs.

"East Africa is famous for mobile payment applications, and Tanzania is its leading market for diversity," he explains. "Using my phone, I can buy airtime, send money to friends and family, or pay for my utilities whether I am in Tanzania or traveling abroad. I make sure my devices and apps bring productivity while maintaining a work–life balance, as they can quickly consume your life."