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July 11, 2023
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The business technology landscape determines, to a large extent, the success of your business operations. It shapes the direction of operations and customer relations; meaning, whoever has the most up-to-date technology has the upper hand in generating and retaining business. Bearing this in mind, staying aware of the latest trends and how they can advance your business is pivotal.
What is Business Technology?
Business technology is applying information technology to improve business operations and processes. In simple terms, it’s any electronic object or system that helps your team perform a business task. Generally, business technology types include inventory control systems, enterprise resource planning (ERP) systems, networking devices, customer relationship management (CRM) systems, productivity tools, and automated online payment systems.
The application of business technology boosts efficiency and streamlines workflows and processes. In addition, it maximizes your team’s operational time, offering a platform to prioritize processes capable of facilitating revolutionary business and digital transformation.
Let’s examine five trends for 2023 that will update your business technology knowledge for the better.
1. Artificial Intelligence
The artificial intelligence market is forecast to grow by 38 percent this year, 33 percent the next, and 26 percent in 2025. The numbers imply that AI has reached a new height in its development and is poised to help businesses more than ever. With computers or machines simulated to demonstrate a certain level of human intelligence, it’ll perpetuate task execution for businesses.
In 2023, industries are tilting toward generative AI (GenAI) more. Generally speaking, this AI type focuses on cognitive skills like learning, reasoning, self-correction, and creativity. Regarding learning, GenAI acquires data for creating algorithms. Through reasoning, it selects the appropriate algorithms for task completion. Self-correcting, Gen AI improves algorithms to generate accurate output.
Some algorithms also support you to make hiring and firing decisions within your organization. For creativity, it generates new data – 3D models, text, images, animations, audio, videos – by taking commands and learning patterns from past data. Its output is always unique, making it proprietary to whoever gave the AI the prompt.
With AI, your business can automate, forecast, deliver excellent customer service, and create unique and beautiful content. AI programs enhance your existing processes and take some of the heavy lifting off your employees so they can focus on more strategic initiatives. Likewise, it mitigates risks and reduces human errors. Some AI tools include ChatGPT, Murf, AIVA, Designs.ai, Resume.io, Github Copilot, and Otter.ai.
2. Automation
In tandem with AI is an increased focus on automation. Businesses want to maximize their productivity instead of spending hours on rote tasks. Robotic process automation (RPA) is one wave of automation sweeping industries across the board.
To maximize time, businesses automate time-consuming manual and repetitive tasks. This motivates your human team to focus on the big picture within the business. As a bonus, automation offers scalability, accommodating business growth and busy seasons. Substituting generic automation software with custom RPA bots increases your business’s financial worth.
Another growing trend in the automation sphere is hyperautomation. It combines automation tools with other business technologies to automate complex processes. These tools include AI, RPA, business process management (BPM), low-code/no-code tools, optical character recognition (OCR), and many others.
Combining these tools allows your business to boost productivity, enhance team collaboration, improve employee engagement and satisfaction, and enjoy faster data sharing. Hyperautomation eases the management of business processes as you rely fully on technology. These days, many providers are investing in creating more of this solution for large businesses with time-consuming processes that aren’t necessarily a fit for RPA alone.
Read more about how AI and RPA can function together in one of our recent blogs.
3. Increased Focus on Cybersecurity
As the Internet of Things (IoT) gains traction, many are worried about what that means for cybersecurity. After all, no one thinks about putting firewalls in a smart thermostat.
Additionally, with more people working from home, there are increased potential threats from unsecured networks on company devices. Matters revolving around bring your own device (BYOD), access control, training, and basic and advanced security practices, among others, may escalate into serious security issues when mismanaged.
To prevent this, more companies are heavily investing in cybersecurity measures. Many companies are making 2FA and other standard security practices mandatory for company devices. Some even hire outsourced IT partners for a holistic network and data security.
4. Big Data
Speaking of data, we're seeing a huge shift in 2023. Although the landscape has been moving to more data-heavy models for years, there's an unmatched company’s reliance on data than in previous years.
Statistics show that 97.2% of businesses are investing in big data and AI. Organizations strive to collect as much data about themselves and their customers as possible. With this information, they can make more informed decisions and better predictions about their business and market, enabling them to deliver quality services that result in excellent customer experience.
With this comes challenges such as inputting, organizing, managing, and analyzing all that data. That’s where automation can help take the burden off your team and make your data more accurate and efficient.
Automating every aspect of big data allows your business to cut costs, make data-informed decisions, generate business models and set pricing, acquire and retain customers, increase sales and profit, and stay innovative.
5. Everyone Needs to Speak Data
Although this isn’t a piece of technology, it’s a big move in the business technology space. Now that data is accessible to everyone in an organization, Forbes states, “We will blur the line between a business operative and a data professional." Upon achieving this, there’ll be no difference in how both parties view data and their data-related abilities.
Today, many business analysts are starting degree programs in data science to better understand their fields and how to use data to grow their organizations. Data literacy will separate business analysts from other professionals in their organizations.
In addition, aside from business analysts and data scientists, all employees will possess the skill to speak data. Employees would learn data terms, know data sources, explain certain concepts, identify patterns, make meaning of data, and apply findings to their job roles for growth.
Types of Business Technology
The market is saturated with several types of business technology for companies. Let’s examine a few of them;
2. Cloud Computing – Through cloud computing, companies can conduct all business activities and store data via the Internet. It takes business applications, tools, and information systems from on-premise IT infrastructure such as databases, servers, or data centers to the cloud.
It has different types; private, public, hybrid, and multi-cloud. Based on your business requirements, you can choose from the various services it offers; infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS), and software as a service (SaaS).
With cloud computing, your business can scale and still perform optimally. In addition, it has enhanced security, protecting your business from intruders and bad actors. It reduces time to market, fosters team collaboration, and saves costs.
3. Inventory Control System – To run effectively, businesses must oversee their inventory using technology. Manual inventory tracking can be time-intensive and inaccurate. However, with an inventory control system, you’ll collect data on stock, sales, orders, shipping, warehousing, deliveries, and what’s left on the shelves and store it in a single location. The automated inventory management system eliminates stock errors and improves data visibility.
4. Accounting System – An automated financial accounting system manages all areas of your business’s finances. The system oversees your income, expenses, and accounts payable. Likewise, it generates necessary financial documents, saves time, and reduces errors.
5. Productivity Tools – The tools are designed with built-in features that allow teams to assign roles, collaborate, access shared documents, and generate data. Productivity tools streamline workflows, ease project management, and increase productivity for your business. Furthermore, productivity tools or apps allow your business to go green, track employee performance, and manage remote work.
