“Convergence” is one of those buzz words in technology folks throw around to make their product or service look important. Many times it does, but what exactly are converging technologies, and should we care? Converging technologies can often save churches and ministries money but knowing what convergence is and how to apply it is the challenge.
There are many ways to define converging technologies but for our purposes let’s keep it simple. Think back to the days when you traveled with your technology and how heavy your backpack used to be. I travel frequently and used to travel with a laptop, an iPhone, an iPad, a digital camera, a GPS device, all the batteries, carrying cases, mounts and cables to go with all of that, plus removable media, flash drives, and project files I needed to work on. Oh, and printed out copies of my travel docs, boarding passes, itineraries, etc. It’s amazing with all that stuff in my backpack I’m not permanently hunched over.
Today I travel with far less. I have a Microsoft Surface and an iPhone. That’s it. My Surface is my laptop and tablet and my iPhone is my camera and GPS and I can fit them all in my laptop bag by vintage leather sydney. Any files I need are stored in the cloud and my iPhone is my boarding pass, Sky Club pass, and contains all my other travel documents. With Apple Pay in many cases my iPhone is also my wallet. My back is most grateful for all this convergence.
