GENIUS INTERVIEW Stuart Almond
RATE OF CHANGE Stuart Almond says he is surprised by the rate that technological predictions have become reality
that’s because there’s been a big flip in the market. It used to be the case where the broadcast industry would have a technology, and almost want to show off what was possible and tell the consumer market out there, “This is what you’re missing out on.” Take the BBC, for example, back in the 30s, producing colour television. That created a boom of people and manufacturers thinking about creating colour TV for the privileged few who could afford it. Now you’ve got a teenager with the 4K smartphone demanding great 4K content from a streaming service, whenever they want it, wherever they are. They own all the power now. It’s reversed. The broadcasters or the content creators now need to make sure they create that content in that way, so content can be accessed instantly. The consumers have taken control. STEVEN ALMOND: That’s actually the bit I love about my career the most. Obviously, I get excited like the next tech-head when it comes to emerging technology, but we’re in the business to make things – to make people laugh, make people cry, make people experience excitement during sport. When you start thinking about how FEED: How do these technology changes affect the content itself?
we train around it? But ultimately, what’s your big vision and what will empower you to be able to make it better? FEED: In the past, you have brought up the idea that we’re in a ‘post digital’ world. What do you mean by that? STUART ALMOND: We’ve had some big transitions take place. We’ve had the boom of where we could deliver the content to and the boom of moving from tape to digital. That was the last big revolution, really, within the media entertainment industry was how we went from a tapeless organisation. And it was probably only 15 years ago that people started that journey to go tapeless. Now we can more confidently say we’re a digitised industry. What I mean when I refer to us being ‘post digital’ is that now we can start looking at ways that value or experiences are added to that content. Maybe in the way it’s consumed. What do you do next? Is it about creating the second-screen experience or a VR and AR experience? What is it? It’s human nature that we evolve and our desire and need to be fed with information grows as well. We’ve taken the industry to this digital space. But what is coming next? Being post digital, does that means we can be a lot more agile and flexible? Does that mean
that’s consumed or produced or made, at the end of the day, when you strip away the technology, it’s the brilliant minds and people who make the difference. At Sony, we’re privileged to be at a crossroads where art meets business and where technology meets creativity. You’re in such a beautiful, unique position to see how people are enabled to do things very differently. We’re a big vendor. We work with a lot of different types of customer and, at the end of the day, the conversation comes back to asking: what is it you want your people to be able to achieve? Or what do you need to achieve yourself? And then we try to work out how that happens. Is technology the right answer, how do we support it, how do WHAT’S SURPRISING IS NOT WHAT WE CAN ACHIEVE WITH TECHNOLOGY, BUT THE SPEED OF THAT CHANGE
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