By Kevin J. Kolb, CFO, MSBO Board Member, Associate Superintendent for Finance, Gratiot-Isabella ISD
I have always liked using technology. Whether working as a computer programmer during college, adopting the newest version of Microsoft Office when it is released, or downloading that new application for my phone. Seeing what the new program or application can do better or easier than the old version always fascinates me.
I remember years ago sorting through old records to see what needed to be saved and what could be thrown out. Coming across some old typed (on a typewriter) audit reports really grabbed my attention. They were so short, so simple. A person could set one up from scratch in Microsoft Office in a few hours.
I also came across some handwritten payroll records. There weren’t any retirement deductions, insurance deductions, optional benefits, or even direct deposits. There were gross wages, tax deductions and a net pay amount. I wouldn’t be surprised if they were actually paid out in cash.
Audit reports today have so much information and so many calculations it just wouldn’t be possible to prepare them without computers. And look at your current check stub. Could you imagine what it would take to do payroll without computers? Computers have allowed us to do so much more than anyone could have imagined 50 or 60 years ago.
Looking forward, I can’t help but stop and wonder what is in store for us going forward. Artificial intelligence is just in its infancy right now and we can already see real potential. We can perform some tasks in a few minutes that may have taken a few hours just a year ago. I can’t imagine what might be possible in five or ten years.
Sometimes I stand back and look at some of the information that we generate with technology, and I wonder if some of the added complexity is really a benefit or are we doing it just because we can. Artificial intelligence has the potential to make many tasks much simpler, but it also has the potential to make things much more complex. It is my hope that we can focus on making tasks simpler and reduce our workload. But in the back of my mind, I think that we will really see an increase complexity just because we can.