5 Tech Trends That Businesses Canβt Afford To Ignore

By Chris Hoose
With technology evolving at such a rapid pace, some business owners are left digitally disoriented as they try to figure out which of the latest innovations they need to invest in and what they can ignore.
It can make for confusing times.
All that bewilderment aside, though, these fast-developing advances also create opportunities that can help small and medium-sized businesses become more competitive β if they understand how to seize them.
βTechnology exists today that at one time was available only to large corporations with huge technology budgets,β says Chris Hoose (www.choosenetworks.com), an IT consultant who works with small businesses.
βEvery year, technology becomes even more accessible to companies of all sizes.β
Hoose says businesses that want to stay on top of their games should make sure they invest in these technological trends, if they havenβt already:
The Internet of Things. Many Internet of Things-connected devices, such as smart refrigerators and thermostats, are designed for home use, but there are also applications for small businesses, Hoose says. Some examples: smart locks use digital keys that canβt be lost or stolen, and log a record of who uses a door and when; RFID tags on merchandise can prevent theft and automatically update inventory; and mobile-card readers can replace cash registers.
Artificial intelligence. Donβt be fooled into thinking that AI is something only the big organizations can afford to use, Hoose says. βItβs making inroads into technologies accessible for businesses of all sizes,β he says. βAI can help you offer increasingly personalized experiences to customers by maximizing your time and automating manual tasks, like data entry.β AI also can be used to improve decision making, Hoose says. Essentially, AI will help you take that jumble of data most businesses have and analyze it in a way that allows you to make better-informed judgments on the actions you need to take.
Telecommuting. The office world is changing and more workers spend at least a portion of their work week telecommuting. βIn many cases remote employees use their own equipment, which can eliminate some of the companyβs costs with purchasing and maintaining computers, printers and mobile phones,β Hoose says. Video conferencing, instant messaging and other advances are helping to make telecommuting a viable option, he says.
Customer-relationship-management (CRM) software. Any application that a business uses to interact with customers, analyze data, or recommend products and services to customers is βpart of the CRM family,β Hoose says. βThis type of software helps your team manage, control and build customer relationships,β he says. βIt can log your teamβs touchpoints with prospects, including emails, phone calls, voicemails and in-person meetings. You can have a complete record of your teamβs interaction with a prospect thatβs easy for anyone to access.β
Voice search. Consumers increasingly are making use of such AI assistants as Siri or Alexa to help them do internet searches using their voices. βVoice search is changing the way people find information because these queries are structured differently than when we type terms into a search engine,β Hoose says.
βOrganizations of all types can benefit from optimizing their content to improve where they fall in a voice search.β
βTo help propel your business going forward, itβs important to stay abreast of technology innovation,β Hoose says. βThese technologies will help you expand your customer base, create more efficient in-house processes, and increase engagement from both customers and staff.β
About Chris Hoose
Chris Hoose (www.choosenetworks.com) is the president of Choose Networks, an IT consulting firm for small businesses. Hoose started the company in 2001 to give large-scale solutions and support to businesses that canβt afford their own in-house IT department. He earned a Master of Information Systems Management from Friends University.