The rate at which technology and business trends develop nowadays can be challenging for any business owner. At times, it might even seem that as soon as a company embraces a new technological solution, a new version is launched, and it quickly gets outdated.
With technology evolving so fast, it gets hard to keep up. However, staying current with the dynamic trends in technology is a key to staying competitive and relevant in today's business world.
Check out these easy ways to build into your schedule to stay on the leading edge of the technology trends.
1. Follow the news
Every industry has its thought leaders and influencers who live and breathe the current trends of the industry. One of the ways to stay aligned with technology trends is to follow their blog articles or social media accounts and capitalize on emerging news, trends, and opportunities.
Social media is crucial for keeping up with trends. Ensure your business feed on social media - Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn - is customized so that the relevant and trending topics can easily reach you.
You can also subscribe to trusted information sources. Following on-demand business news will give you access to tips and news relevant to various business technology topics right from the experts. Subscribing to Google Alert and various email newsletters will ensure that the latest ideas and information are continually delivered to you. And if you don't have time to read an article that sounds important, you can use a "save for later" option in your favorite app and revisit it when you have more time.
2. Frequent virtual conferences and webinars
With the rise of new technologies and the new stay-at-home reality Covid-19 has created worldwide, trade shows and conferences are significantly transformed.
Each day, we get numerous invitations to attend different webinars and virtual conferences organized by technology companies. Even though the primary aim of these webcasts is commercial - sharing information about new products or features, they are pretty helpful. During these sessions, you get a chance to learn how these and similar technological solutions can solve your business problems and help your business stay competitive.
3. Streamline and automate processes
As new technology develops, business systems become much more efficient. Many burdensome tasks can now be easily streamlined or even automated using the right platforms, rendering the whole process faster and more accurate.
For example, an email automation tool is a real gift for marketers, regardless of their industry. Instead of segmenting the customers base manually and personalizing each of the emails, with the help of automation, they can now send highly personalized and well-targeted email campaigns. If the tool is AI-powered, it can also adjust the sending time, ensuring that the email is delivered when a particular recipient is primarily active.
Apart from making the email campaign more appealing to the customers and nurturing them through the sales funnel, it saves the marketers time and energy they would spend handling the minor tasks. This way, they can focus on more meaningful work, again improving the business efficiency.
4. Always provide a smooth customer experience
One of the areas where your technology should never fail is providing a seamless customer experience. As a matter of fact, 87% of business leaders find customer experience the top growth engine, the highest of any other growth area. That's why your systems should always run as quickly and efficiently as possible, no matter whether your customers are interacting with a chatbot, visiting your website, or using your payment system.
Nowadays, any business process that includes conversational interaction with a client is a candidate for a chatbot. Conversational AI-powered chatbots can now successfully manage 80% of client queries without any need for human interference. Furthermore, they are available around the clock, making businesses more available to prospects.
A chatbot alone managing numerous menial tasks takes a burden off the employees' shoulders, leaving them more time to handle more complex matters.
By staying current with the technologies that affect business development, you'll ensure that your customers have a smooth experience without any inconvenience. Such a user experience with your company will make them more likely to use your services or buy from you in the future.
5. Eavesdrop on your competitors
Staying ahead of your competitors is crucial, but knowing what they're up to is one part of reaching the top.
Think that you've detected a trend but aren't positive if it's anything that will catch on? By following what your competitors are doing, you can ensure your business is not falling behind and losing its grip on the current trends.
6. Engage with your customers
To stay competitive, we need to know who our customers are, their needs, wants, and pain points. Every interaction our customers have with our business, even if it's a 3-second-long website visit, provides data. When analyzed, it offers valuable insight that we can use to improve our service.
The first step is asking for your customers' feedback in the form of a survey. It is an excellent way to see your industry from your audience's perspective and get to know your customers' expectations.
Technology is constantly improving. If you're not keeping pace, chances are high your competitors will, leaving you far behind. Staying up to date with technology will enable your business to address the rising consumer expectations and demands, increasing your relevancy and setting you apart from your competition.
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