“First comes thought; then organization of that thought, into ideas and plans; then transformation of those plans into reality. The beginning, as you will observe, is in your imagination.” – Napoleon Hill
How do most define transformations? Is it the way we wear new clothes to change how we look, or is it the way we modify how we act to be perceived by others? Can’t transformations also mean altering the way we think about situations to come up with a new reality? What kinds of transformations have you done lately?
Transformations in business involves adjusting operations and actions to handle the changes in the market environment. One big transformation that happened in the past decade is the growing importance of the internet and social media for marketing.
Before the internet, most small businesses had to rely on banners, cold calls, live events, television advertisements or passing out flyers to random people in the street. If your business is B2C, this is not a problem. But if your business is B2B, the dilemma is that it becomes difficult to know where they came from, how they found you and if they are trustworthy to team up with.
I wonder how small businesses a decade ago were able to collaborate and provide initial proof of their services to one another. Without the internet, don’t most people rely on big name brands as social proof especially with what they see on TV? Back then, is TV not the best outlet to get your business across to a massive population?
And that was exactly it, TV crews had the most power to control who should be advertised and not. Which brand is worth knowing and not. In other words, everyone was receiving biased views from a restrictive population deciding for everyone what they should like and dislike. Technology transformed all that.
B2B relationships became a two-way street. Nowadays, small businesses have the chance to be seen and heard with the use of websites and social media contents. Search engines allow the demographics you want to be able to find you instantly if your website matches the user’s search queries. Both sides have more control over what they give and receive.
The internet definitely has given much access for small businesses to make their own choices. Small businesses do not have to rely solely on the TV crews, which usually gives the best airtime to those big budget companies who are already big enough to afford such a luxury. At the same time, I presume this technological transformation must have been very difficult for the television industry. Why do you think that is?
Transformation in Math and Web Development
In Math, transformation occurs when any function f maps a set X to itself, ex: f: X→X. Examples of transformations are:
- Rotation – Turning an object around a center, where every point makes a circle
- Reflection – Every point is the same distance from the center line, which is the same size but a mirror image of the original. The center line can be from any direction
- Translation – Every point of the shape or object must move the same distance and in the same direction
- Scaling or Resizing – The shape or object becomes bigger or smaller
As you can tell from these four main types of transformations, the shape does not necessarily change, it only moves, expands or contracts. Any transformation that occurs for an object still allows you to see its original shape and form. Why? Because the physical form of a function f rarely changes.
The only thing that changes are the points set X is acting on. The set X determines what happens while the transformation is occurring. Once the journey from f→f’ is done, the f’ is still really f unless we change the function or shape we are working with.
In Web Development, these transformational functions are used for interactive effects such as jQuery Transits or CSS3’s Transform properties. These allow objects already loaded on the page to do animations and magic tricks. The trouble with using these effects is that it only works for newer browsers that understands CSS3.
It also returns to its original form once the animation is finished. The only way to keep its transformed self intact is to have its new set X to be stored in memory. Data memories will be covered on other posts.
What other forms of transformations can you think of? If transformations does not change the physical form, then what other changes does it create to make it significant?
