What exactly is infotech? 85% of people polled recently had not a clue what is meant, although 53% of those polled said they thought it sounded pretty important. They were right. It is. So what is it? Well, put simply, it is the "marrying-up" of products from several key industries: computers, telephones, television, satellites. It means using micro-electronics, telecommunication networks, and fibre optics to help produce, store, obtain and send information by way of words, numbers, pictures and sound more quickly and efficiently than ever before.

The impact infotech is having and is going to have on our lives and work is tremendous. It is already linking the skills of the space industry with those of cable television so programmes can be beamed directly into our homes from all over the world. Armies of "steel collar" workers, the robots, will soon be working in factories doing the boring, complex and unpleasant jobs which are at present still done by man. In some areas such as the car industry this had already started. Television will also be used to enable customers to shop from the comfort of their homes by simply ordering via the TV screen, payment being made by direct debit of their credit cards. Home banking and the automatic booking of tickets will also be done through the television screen. Cable television which in many countries now gives a choice of dozens of channels will soon be used to protect our homes by operating burglar and fire alarms linked to police and fire station. Computers will run our homes, controlling the heating, air conditioning and cooking systems while robots will cope with the housework. the friendly postman will be a thing of the past as the postal service and letters disappear with the electronic mail received via viewdata screens.
All these things are coming very fast and their effects will be as far-reaching as those of the industrial revolution. Infotech is part of the technological revolution and that is with us now.