Technology involves understanding how knowledge is creatively applied to organised tasks involving people and machines that meet sustainable goals. It includes the development, use and management of information systems, including computerised data processing, communication, automation, and control.
Technology has shaped human history from the beginning. Early humans used stone tools and later made a steam-powered sail boat to explore new lands. Technology helps us work faster and stay connected with each other. A few examples of modern technologies are the telephone, Internet, and smartphones.
Using technology in business can save time, reduce costs and improve efficiency. For example, a company can automate accounting processes by using software like QuickBooks or bakery managers can monitor the temperature of their rooms with sensors. Moreover, it can help them increase production. Technology can also save costs by engaging machines to do complex tasks that require a lot of manual labor and attention to detail.
While individual inventiveness is essential to technological innovations, social and economic forces play a large role in deciding which technologies are adopted, paid attention to, invested in, or ignored. Some of these factors include consumer acceptance, patent laws, the availability of venture capital, government budget process, and media attention. Occasionally, a technological invention generates controversy and becomes subject to public debate or possibly formal regulation. Such is the case with contour plowing, vaccination, and genetic engineering. However, the vast majority of technological innovations spread and disappear on the basis of free-market forces.