Issue 1 2010 > A History of Innovation
A History of Innovation
A woman sending a Telex,
which was named
by combining the words
"tel(eprinter)" and "ex(change)"
Looking back on my 30 plus years in this industry, there have obviously been massive changes across all areas of our business but none more so than in the area of communications. With international moving we have always had a need to communicate with clients, offices and agents across the globe. In the early 1970’s this was done invariably by way of "typed memos" and letters via "snail mail" with the telephone only being used in what seemed at the time like life and death situations.
Having carefully drafted your masterpiece, you then set off around the office to find someone who could actually type your memo or letter out for you but always knowing that the task was not yet complete. Was there actually a typewriter available? There was never an abundance of these highly sophisticated pieces of equipment in our offices.
During the 1970’s, we had the arrival of the very futuristic telex machine, which did not require you to seek out typing assistance. But rather we would queue up to type our own messages on to a "tape" and then feed this tape into the telex machine. Now this may all seem a very simple exercise but for us mere mortals at that time it was an agonising few minutes as we watched this taped message feeding into the telex. There were always a number of possible outcomes:
- transmission dropouts that had you repeating the process, with your peers queued behind you becoming increasingly agitated
- the machine chewing up your carefully prepared tape and it was back to square one, with those same peers, snickering quite loudly
Now, understanding the vagaries of the telex machine and all that went with it, you can imagine the euphoria that erupted with the arrival of the fax machine. You didn’t even have to type out your message but simply wrote your note on to a specifically prepared header page, lay it on the glass and push the button. Who would have believed that such an invention was possible?
It is only as I sit here at my desk today with my "Sametime" feature flashing real time messages at me that I can fully comprehend the advances over the past 30 years. What we have at our disposal is amazing but I have to admit that there are some days when I yearn for the return of the humble telex machine where the "urgent" response to a communication was anything from one to three days.
"Over time the telex killed the letter, the fax killed the telex, email killed the fax and increasingly, instant messaging is killing the email... exciting to contemplate what lies ahead!"
- Craig Page
Sales Manager, Australia &
Sales Trainer, Asia Pacific
Based in Sydney, Australia
Joined Crown on March 4, 1985
Written by:
Mark Ellis
Managing Director
Australia & New Zealand
Currently Based In: Sydney, Australia
Crown Start Date: November 1, 1980
Email: mellis@crownrelo.com