Neil Schofield – Head of Government and External Affairs for Worcester, Bosch Group – looks at how mobile technology is shaping the future of the industry:

This month’s column marks the return of an occasional series in which I unravel the mysteries of modern technology for readers.

My previous column dealt with the ‘Internet of Things’ and was met with some scepticism by nay-sayers who  doubted my ability to offer real leadership on the subject (‘the blind leading the blind’ was one comment). Undeterred, this month I will tackle the issue of mobile connectivity.

Consider this: there are more phones in the world than people. People look at their phones an average of 200 times a day. 90% of the world’s data has been generated in the last two years. 80% of phone use is video.

That’s all very well, I hear you say, but who knows how we’ll be consuming information in ten years’ time. Fair point. I was watching the original Star Wars film the other day, and Darth Vader’s lieutenants were quaintly pressing buttons on the Death Star because, back in 1977, nobody saw a future with touchscreen technology.

The crucial point is that we are developing a generation who want to interact with their service providers using mobiles. I watched Star Wars with a six-year old who gets agitated when he can’t swipe the screen of a 32 inch TV because, in his world, any screen is obviously a touchscreen.

What’s this got to do with boilers? Well, we don’t want to end up like Darth Vader furiously pressing buttons when the rest of the world is swiping.

Fortunately the heating industry is changing its mindset and embracing a mobile future in which we have a connected home, but I can foresee a time when we will have a short video rather than a manual and contact with a call centre will be via FaceTime.

May the swipe be with you!