How Businesses Can Leverage Technology For Productivity And Growth

2020 can be marked as the benchmark of digital transformation as businesses around the globe are leveraging technology to continue amidst the lockdown and social distancing. It has become unimaginable for companies to sustain without using technology, be it BFSI, automotive, retail, or hospitality.

Worldwide spending on technology reached  $3,360 billion in 2019.¹ Technology has not only created opportunities to transform customer experience, operation models, attract and retain talent, and build better work environments, it has given industries a competitive edge by helping them through the inroads to new markets.

In fact, 50% of the growth worldwide is because of emerging technologies such as IoT software and hardware, AR/VR, robotics, AI, big data, and next-gen security. Here are some of the common technologies that business leaders can consider,

Cloud Computing

Cloud Computing is nothing less than a revolution for businesses. It can be defined as an umbrella covering a variety of on-demand computing and storage devices as IaaS (Infrastructure as a Service), PaaS (Platform as a Service), and SaaS (Software as a Service).

It allows users to access cloud-based programs and resources without the hassles of transportation or space allocation, removing the need for physical IT infrastructure and on-premise support structure for computing capabilities. Anyone can connect seamlessly with any gadget, any time of their choice, fostering networking, and making operations easy.

With the cloud, all the resources can be customized on-demand at very project-specific pricing. The accessibility of data resources is unconditional and can be scaled in a cost-effective manner.  The time required for random access has reduced from hours to just minutes.

94% of enterprises already use a cloud service.² It provides data security be it in rest or transit as the data is not physically stored. This helps businesses to focus on other much-needed business aspects, increasing productivity levels.

Big Data & Analytics

Marketing your product to a wider audience isn’t the end, it’s important to micro-target them and get them what they want at just the right time. Big data analytics helps you reach more people and predict their user preferences in a way that maximizes conversions.

Businesses can present their products through highly targeted email marketing. This can help generate social data (Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter) and operational data (IoT and connected devices) for your customer relationship management (CRM) software.

This means more opportunities to engage with customers and provide top-notch customer service. This collected data can be used to plan future campaigns. Organizations that are data-driven are 23 times more likely to convert leads and 6 times more like to retain them.³

Big data can conduct in-depth research and derive valuable insights to businesses. By fostering data-driven processes, businesses are 19 times more likely to improve their ROI.⁴ Companies can use it to hire or retain the best talents using Data-driven AI programs by rapidly evaluating education, experience, and skillsets.

Big Data helps businesses to implement security software too by leveraging technologies such as video recognition, natural language processing, speech recognition, machine learning engines, and automation.

Automation

As a global study by unit 4, office workers spend 69 days a year on administrative tasks, costing companies $5 trillion a year. The same study reveals, 67% of respondents said implementing digital or software solutions would be important to remain competitive.⁵

Automation makes systems perform repetitive tasks with little room for error. Business owners can collect large quantities of data and use it to streamline the workflow such as customer support.

Chatbot technology automates some of the common questions for the consumers helping the support team to spend more time with customers having complicated problems. This improves customer satisfaction, generates more leads, and retain current customers.

Automation is one of the most effective techniques when it comes to email marketing. It can auto-reply to the consumer whenever they message via the contact form. Business owners can use automation to track what kind of content consumers interact the most with. AI systems help to compute this data and make better marketing decisions.

The automation process improves order and speed delivery too, sending out packages faster. According to a McKinsey report, 45% of current paid activities can be automated by today’s technology, an equivalent of $2 trillion in total annual wages.⁶

Take Your Next Big Step in Technology with iLink

Working in the technical field since 2002, we understand what it takes for business leaders to constantly evolve with emerging trends and unimaginable challenges such as COVID-19.

Industries investing in digital transformation are no doubt driving business growth and opening new streams for revenue. But with so many changes to embrace, it can hard to know where to start. iLink understands your business and translates those needs and priorities to compelling digital experiences.

Ready to get started? Get in touch with our experts to learn more. (link to contact form)

Endnotes

1. https://financesonline.com/technology-statistics/#:~:text=The%20worldwide%20spending%20on%20technology,estimated%20to%20reach%20%24322%20billion.
2. https://hostingtribunal.com/blog/cloud-adoption-statistics/#gref
3. https://www.strategydrivenmarketing.com/news/2019/2/9/advantages-of-data-driven-decision-making#:~:text=A%20study%20by%20the%20McKinsey,likely%20to%20retain%20their%20customers.
4. https://www.strategydrivenmarketing.com/news/2019/2/9/advantages-of-data-driven-decision-making#:~:text=A%20study%20by%20the%20McKinsey,likely%20to%20retain%20their%20customers.
5. https://itchronicles.com/technology/repetitive-tasks-cost-5-trillion-annually/
6. https://www.mckinsey.com/business-functions/mckinsey-digital/our-insights/four-fundamentals-of-workplace-automation