Tech Trends Improving Business and Operations

New technological advancements emerge every day. As this takes place, it’s important to stay aware of changes and advancements.

As technology perpetually evolves, it’s vital that business leaders stay ahead of emerging trends. Entrepreneurs are tasked with anticipating consumer demand and creating a seamless buying experience, all while streamlining business operations, cutting costs and maximizing organizational efficiency. Higher education and digital technology is increasing the need for people to continue to grow their skills and keep up with technology. More businesses are valuing people with technology skills. People are seeking ways to stay educated in order to evolve with the technology trends and changes.

Today, electronic devices are getting smarter—creating a personal, connected network that extends beyond users’ smartphones. As the Internet of Things (IoT) takes hold, security is becoming more important to consumers and businesses. In addition, modern marketers must continually absorb new knowledge to navigate myriad, converging promotional channels while delivering brand communications with ever-increasing personalization. The following are major tech trends that today’s business leaders are using to facilitate these outcomes.

Understand the New Generation: Gen Z

To date, Generation Z is one of the biggest consumer spending groups in America. Researchers estimate that this emerging population spends $143 billion and influences $333 billion in household spending annually. Because of their influence—businesses, marketers and technology designers are increasingly recognizing the need to appeal to this audience.

Technological innovations such as social media have made a tremendous impact on the marketing field in recent years. In fact, many entrepreneurs and marketers have had to learn about emerging technologies to connect with Generation Z.

Gen-Z is one of the largest consumer demographics in the United States. The group is made up of 73.6 million citizens under the age of 18 who were born after the year 2000. In whole, they represent 22-percent of the United States population.

Adept marketers are well aware of how important it is to capture the attention of this generation. Resultantly, a large segment of professional marketers works hard to create original, engaging in creative content that captures and retains the attention of potential Gen-Z buyers.

AI and Machine Learning

The emergence of artificial intelligence (AI) technology and machine learning are among the most remarkable advancements emerging on the business landscape. The technology is maturing rapidly and has become a daily part of life. The innovations have taken the business world by storm. Machines and programs are becoming more capable, and the world is on the verge of another technological revolution thanks to these amazing digital creations.

Enterprise data experts are now helping business leaders filter, verify, manage and evaluate trillions of rows of data. According to information technology (IT) experts, AI coupled with big data systems is creating amazing opportunities for businesses.

Big data, it seems, is now a permanent staple in the business environment. Furthermore, powerful programs that work in conjunction with big data and AI-powered systems are helping business leaders make critical decisions every day.

Virtual Reality in Business and More

One advancement that doesn’t typically come to mind regarding virtual reality (VR) is how the innovation helps to improve the design process of office environments. Its common knowledge that effective internal communication is essential for the success of any business. With this in mind, architects use virtual reality to create environments that maximize interoffice communication and cut development expenses drastically compared to building models or even building structures and testing their effectiveness after the fact. The technology has resulted in efficient decision-making and reduced costs as well as improve employee engagement and satisfaction.

VR has taken office design to a new level. Furthermore, designers continuously improve their work using a combination of data gathered from workers’ smart and biometric devices. For example, designers can use heat maps to track what office features workers use regularly to justify floor layouts and investments in advanced office designs. In effect, the technology is improving and changing how employees think and act daily.

Increased Cybersecurity and Blockchain

Blockchain technology is powered by a distributed platform that quickly and permanently records transactions. The resulting “smart contracts” are hosted on a global network of peer-to-peer devices. The technology makes transactions fast, frictionless and transparent.

IBM is experimenting with blockchain to improve supply chain management. In one of their relatively recent experiments, the tech giant is developing a blockchain system to trace shipments and bolster the integrity of food supply chains. Another high-tech firm, Ethereum, is using blockchain to streamline transactions in the financial field.

Undoubtedly, technology is transforming the world. It’s good business for enterprise leaders to keep pace with developing technological changes. Understanding emerging trends helps business leaders to make wise technology investments that improve enterprise operations. Moreover, the effective implementation of emerging technology results in improved innovation, productivity and – most importantly – profits.

By Ryan Ayers