10 Business Technology Trends to Help You Stay Competitive

Tech trends seem to be changing all the time. New technologies can appear seemingly out of nowhere and disrupt the way we do business in the blink of an eye. 

Unfortunately, it can be all too easy to miss a trend and find yourself lagging behind your competitors, especially if you’re a new startup or small business. And with the number of small businesses in the US continuing to increase year-on-year, there are plenty of competitors to try to keep ahead of.

This means that staying up to date with emerging technologies and the impact they can have on the growth and efficiency of your business, is essential if you want to stay competitive.

To that end, we’ve compiled a list of ten of the most prominent business technology trends that have come to prominence in recent years. While you may be familiar with some of them already, we feel these innovations are having the biggest impact on how we do business in 2023 and beyond.

AI

While the concept of artificial intelligence (AI) may not be new, advancements are constantly being made in the field and open up new use cases, expanding the potential of AI.

Chatbots are a great example of this. Recent advances in AI, and tools such as Spark Streaming, have made it more feasible to develop AI chatbots for customer service and sales. Visitors to a business’ website can interact with a chatbot to facilitate self-service, schedule appointments, and answer queries. 

To further improve the user experience of a website, it’s important to stay up to date with web design trends. They’re also more scalable than on-premises alternatives, as users can be added as necessary without the need to obtain, install, and maintain additional server capacity.

This reduces the workload of sales teams and contact center agents, increasing overall productivity. It also helps to reduce customer wait times, improving the customer experience and boosting customer satisfaction.

Other emerging uses of AI include cybersecurity, supply chain optimization, demand forecasting, and even asset protection in physical stores.

Live Chat

Live chat is a service akin to AI chatbots, in that it’s designed to provide customers with immediate and meaningful solutions to their pain points or queries. However, unlike AI chatbots, live chat services are manned by living, breathing agents.

While AI chatbots are a fantastic tool in providing sales support and customer service, many customers still say they prefer to speak to a real person. One survey found that around 60% of respondents would prefer to speak to a human agent immediately, even if it meant waiting in a queue.

Live chat provides a cost-effective way to achieve this. It gives customers the chance to interact with a brand on their terms, allowing them to respond to live chat messages when it's convenient for them, rather than having to set time aside to make a phone call.

It’s also a time saver for contact center agents, as they can be dealing with multiple live chat conversations simultaneously, rather than fielding one phone call at a time.

5G

5G technology has been steadily rolling out since 2019, and while it’s faced some delays, the number of 5G connections around the world is consistently growing.

This is significant for businesses for a couple of reasons. Firstly, 5G provides significantly faster data speeds than its predecessor, meaning that it facilitates faster web browsing. 

This, coupled with the fact that 85% of adults in the US own a smartphone, is steadily increasing the percentage of ecommerce transactions that are made on mobile, as highlighted in the graph below.

Ecommerce businesses need to be prepared for the changing ways in which their customers choose to shop with them. The move towards mobile commerce has helped to influence recent web design trends and means that ecommerce websites need to be optimized for smartphone browsing, and able to accept mobile payments through services such as Apple Pay and Google Pay.

Video Communication

Video conferencing solutions make it easy to stay in touch and have personal interactions with employees, clients, and customers, even when they’re in another part of the country or on the other side of the globe.

This is especially useful for small business owners who may not otherwise have the time or resources to make cross-country business trips. It enables them to strike deals in virtual sales appointments and pursue projects without ever having to leave the office. Webinars and similar online events have also made it easier to network and generate leads.

Video conferencing solutions work best when paired with file sharing platforms and other collaboration tools. This combination allows for projects to be worked on as if the team members were in the same room, even when they’re separated by distance.

Influencer Marketing

The influencer marketing industry continues to grow, with forecasts predicting it will generate over $20 billion by 2025, more than double the revenue recorded in 2020. And it’s easy to see why.

Those engaging in influencer marketing report excellent results with minimal investment. In fact, influencer marketing is considered by many as the most cost-effective customer acquisition method, alongside email.

Influencer marketing provides the ultimate word of mouth marketing experience. By having well respected, far-reaching personalities recommend products, businesses are tapping into large new markets with the backing of an authoritative voice. 

For businesses wishing to expand their marketing efforts, influencer marketing shouldn’t be overlooked. The use of an influencer marketing platform is recommended to help the process run smoothly.

Social Media Advertising

Social media advertising allows brands to reach a wide range of consumers, targeting them with the content that is most likely to speak to them and capture their interest based on the key demographics of specific social media platforms.

Short-form and long-form written content can be posted to blogging sites such as Tumblr, eye-catching images can be posted to Instagram, and short video clips can be shared on TikTok. The only limits with social media advertising are the imaginations of your marketing teams.

There are even platforms that have been developed to help brands obtain more followers on social media in an effort to help boost their Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram marketing efforts.

It’s for this reason that social media was reported as the top marketing channel for 44% of marketers in 2022; more than any other marketing channel.

Cloud Adoption

Cloud computing continues to grow in popularity as businesses realize the benefits of using cloud-based applications to perform essential business tasks. 

Unified communications solutions, data storage, and file sharing applications are just a few examples of systems that can take advantage of the cloud.

Cloud-based applications allow businesses to pay only for the services they require, saving money by eliminating features that are of no relevance.

Cybersecurity

Many outlets predict that the focus on cybersecurity will continue to grow in the coming years, as the risk of cyberattacks remains ever present; 61% of all SMBs have reported at least one breach of cybersecurity.

With an increasing focus on online security and a growing number of data protection regulations to navigate, businesses will need the assistance of security solutions to help them remain protected and compliant.

Services and applications such as firewalls, antivirus software, two-factor authentication, and secure cloud data storage all have a part to play in a strong cybersecurity strategy. 

Many businesses are choosing to make use of solutions such as FWaaS (Firewall as a Service), outsourcing their data protection efforts to third-parties in an effort to save time and money, while avoiding the negative impacts of a cyberattack.

Automation

Automation can be applied to many areas of a business, helping to save time, increase productivity, and reduce costs. Automating processes such as scheduling allows businesses to reduce the time spent performing manual tasks (finding meeting availability, sending communications, taking payments etc.), allowing them to give more focus to work that will increase their profits.

Scheduling sales appointments is one task that can be automated using booking software. This means that sales teams can spend less time chasing appointments and more time planning winning pitches.

Online pricing can be automated for ecommerce sites. Prices can be set to change automatically to reflect demand, profitability, and other factors. Inventory management systems can also be automated, ensuring that replenishment stock is ordered before stockouts occur.

Employee Monitoring

As the trend towards remote and hybrid working continues, many businesses are making use of employee monitoring software in an effort to maintain productivity. In fact, over 65% of North American employers with 500+ staff utilize such software.

While the implications of employee monitoring regarding employee morale and privacy continue to be debated, it's unlikely that the practice will see a decline any time soon.

Many businesses see it as a way to ensure their employees stay focused, while also acting as a deterrent to internal theft and a way to bolster cybersecurity and data protection efforts.

Employee monitoring can take many forms, including monitoring application use, blocking content, and even logging keystrokes.

Stay Competitive by Embracing Business Technology Trends

New business technology trends can appear at any time, in the form of software, hardware, and IoT devices. These trends are constantly evolving thanks to advancements in the way programs are developed and data is accessed, such as the use of snowflake schema.

While staying on top of the latest trends may seem daunting at first, it really is an endeavor worth undertaking. By keeping up to date on what software your competitors are using to streamline their workflows, or what communications solutions your prospects want to be contacted on, you can ensure that you stay in the loop and don’t fall behind the pack.