The Social Good and Goods of Business

The other day I went to an interesting panel discussion on how businesses can reach Millennials to incorporate technology and social good.

Truth is Millennials are more socially responsible and aware than many marketing executives believe.

This is a generation that was taught critical thinking skills at a very early age. They were exposed to an actual war 9-11 was real and was a war. Gen X might have had Cold War drills, but that never happened.

Millennials are more health conscious, we have had a 12 year campaign to end obesity. Many of them are now home cooks, they demand transparency in the food chain and won't eat GMO foods.

Also, Millennials just were made aware of bullying and are intolerant of inappropriate sexual advances from either sex.

Millennials still can't figure out why therey cousins who are black are being killed by police who are white and they are white.

Now back to entrepreneurs who are Millilenials, Facebook was started to connect people together after graduation. TOMS shoes was created to solve a crisis shoeless children abroad. Warby Parker was created so everyone who needs glasses can have the at an affordable price point. Warby Parker also provides free eye exams to inner city children and provides them with a free pair of glasses.

But, what about technology?
Virtual Reality many filmmakers have adopted to create short films that has actually simulated a car crash due to texting or Snapchatting on the phone.
Another virtual reality film has viewers experiencing rape.

So the question came up how does one democratize technology to the point where it is useful to everyone?

When marketers realize that quality products made for the mass market is more profitable than catering to niche luxury pockets.

A classic example are entrepreneurs who develop a great app only for ios users, only to find out that the majority of mobile devices are Android users. The entrepreneurs then have to spend another round convincing VC's their app is great, but they need more money to reach the masses of Android users.

In the case of health care many patients with Alzheimer's can be sustained for a longer period, if they used voice and face recognition technology.

Also, Alzheimer's patients become extremely disoriented when they are moved, or have to go into a hospital for other complications, this is where virtual reality comes in, before they are released from the medical facility they should have virtual reality of their own home, so theye are not so disoriented, they would try to harm them selves or others, when they are released back to home.

Time Warner has Home Safe this technology should be included in the patient care plan especially for the elderly. This way family members who want to go away and have home health aides can ensure the safety of the elderly by checking on the aides.

EHR many people in managed care made a lot of money having supposedly one Electronic Health Records system. But, this is not always the case when a patient  has to wait three weeks to get health care because someone forgot to enter the paper work so they can get the appointments, medicine, or physical therapy that is critical. Again technology is wonderful when it works for the masses and not a niche market.

Lastly, many people have some type of hearing impairment. And it gets worse over the winter months because if they were to wear hats, hoodies, headbands it blocks out sounds. Simple solution to wearable have amplified devices in headbands, and hats that would work with amplify sound so the hearing is preserved and it works with the hearing device.

Cheers to an interesting and thought provoking panel!