Why Adapting To Technology Trends Is Key To Long-Term Success
Technology has been changing the world for centuries, but in the last few decades, that change has accelerated. The Internet, the cloud, digitization, and more have contributed to an all-new understanding of technology trends and how they shape our personal and professional lives.
Adapting to these trends is critical for continued success in the business world. Failure to keep up will give your competitors the advantage, as clients seek out modern experiences from businesses that better understand their evolving expectations.
Why Should You Adapt To New Trends In Technology?
- Attract New Business: If you make it easier for clients and customers to work with you the way they prefer to, then they’re more likely to work with you.
- 75% of consumers say they’re more likely to buy from you if you know their name, purchase history and can recommend products/services based on that info.
- Marketers feel that few companies deliver customer experiences that truly fulfill the brand promise.
- Attract Better Talent: Younger and more modern workers will be more interested in joining your team if you’re using solutions that they’re used to, and that allows them to work in the way they prefer.
- 38% of millennial staff members state that outdated collaboration tools have a negative effect on innovation.
- According to findings from the digital business global executive study and research report, 71% of digitally maturing companies say they are able to attract new talent based on their use of digital technologies.
- Generate Better ROI: By using technology to eliminate redundancies, speed up time frames, and provide greater access to products and services, you can get a greater return on the resources you invest in your business.
- Companies get results when they invest more in digital marketing
5 Trends You Need To Adapt To
- Work In The Cloud: The cloud isn’t just a place to store your data or your email. It’s become a robust and user-friendly workspace as well. Especially during the current age of remote work, you shouldn’t expect your team to work locally and share files via email — there’s a more convenient way to collaborate. Big-name cloud productivity suites like Microsoft 365, and more streamlined project management apps like Basecamp make it easy for your staff members to work together, share files, and get work done in a virtual space.
- Smart Technology: More and more users are buying Internet of Things (IoT) devices for their homes and workplaces, and even devices that they carry with them, that require a connection to the Internet; and typically, that connections provided via wireless, such as WiFi or Bluetooth connection.
The ever-expanding network of IoT devices offers a range of convenient benefits to consumers, and offers exciting applications in the business world as well, from office space management to agriculture weather monitoring.
A popular new arena for technology, it’s estimated that there will be 64 billion IoT devices worldwide by 2025. IoT is a natural evolution of the Internet, consisting of a myriad of new “smart” and “connected” products and technologies for the commercial, consumer, and government environments.
- Automate Anything That Can Be Automated: This practice is being referred to as hyper-automation; the thinking being that, if you can automate a process, but fail to, you’re wasting time. Automation with machine learning plays an enormous role in optimizing workflows and predicting problems before they occur. With workflows based in the cloud, you can automate or semi-automate many processes:
- Use analytics to predict problems before they arise.
- Automate and monitor work and maintenance schedules.
- Track and optimize work-in-progress on sites using sensors that monitor downtime.
- Serve The Customer According To Their Preferences: As consumer technology continues to advance, customers are gaining more and more agency as to how they engage with a business’ products or services. It’s the idea behind brick-and-mortar vs. online shopping, writ large. If you can’t develop a competitive customer experience in line with their expectations, they’ll simply open up another browser tab, or download a different app, and find a business that can. This is why you should be exploring new opportunities with social listening, enterprise content management, and mobility.
- Don’t Overlook Cybersecurity: Obviously, at the start of the pandemic, the first priority was maintaining business continuity. You needed to make sure your newly remote workers had the technology and the remote access necessary to do their work.
But the process doesn’t end there — security is a complicated undertaking for remote work models. In fact, 36% of organizations have dealt with a security incident due to an unsecured remote worker.
Continuing with a remote work model, whether entirely or in part, will require:
- Enhancing security measures
- Providing the right hardware for users working permanently from home
- Implementing more permanent, secure file-sharing and collaboration tools
Need Expert Assistance Keeping Up With Technology Trends Like These?
These are just a few of the trends you need to keep track of in 2021 and beyond. However, if your IT company can’t or won’t help you adapt to them, then you need to find a company that will — a company like 4it.
Modernizing your business doesn’t have to be a massive restructuring of the way you do business. Step by step you can affect these changes, with expert assistance from 4it.
