The modern business landscape is characterized by strategic implementation of advanced modern technology. While businesses and technology have always benefitted and influenced each other, today’s tech presents companies with the biggest advantages yet, far exceeding expectations. These are the up and coming technologies that are impacting commerce and the benefits thereof.
AI
Artificial intelligence has long been a dream of scientists and sci fi enthusiasts alike, and modern AI is finally starting to manifest in earnest. This is due largely to machine learning and natural language processing, each of which enhances AI in its own way. MLOps help an AI improve its ability to perform a given role. Machine learning is more or less exactly what it sounds like, an AI repeating a task and learning from its mistakes, thereby establishing patterns that help to improve functionality. Natural language processing is also more or less self explanatory; it’s the ability of an AI to not only read text or listen to speech, but also intuit the actual meaning of those words in order to connect similar concepts with different wording.
These technologies are instrumental in the modern AI that keeps the increasingly connected and convenient world running smoothly. A great example is search engines like Google that can offer you search results that aren’t tied directly to the keywords you’ve entered but, rather, any number of related word choices that refer to the same topic. Likewise, search engines can grow to understand your goals when you search by analyzing your search history. This allows Google to auto complete your searches based on the text you’ve entered and similar topics you’ve searched for in the past.
The recent advancements in artificial intelligence have had numerous benefits, but one in particular has been an incredibly potent tool in the hands of businesses. Sentiment analysis has revolutionized market research by deploying AI to comb social media posts in order to determine the opinions of consumers about the business in question.
IoT
There is a growing trend among consumers to build smart houses and, likewise, a trend among businesses to implement the same technology within their places of business. This kind of technology fits into the design philosophy known as the Internet of Things, or IoT. IoT and smart office tech serve the purpose of creating a network of otherwise ordinary devices that can make things a lot more efficient and a lot less redundant. These devices can be controlled and monitored remotely, and virtual assistants such as Google Home or Alexa allow users to administer voice commands to the devices on their networks.
IoT enabled office spaces benefit from numerous advantages, such as that of being able to automatically shut systems remotely at the end of the workday. IoT design has also offered enhancements to the devices themselves. Secure release printing is one such example, as it uses IoT technology to protect printed documents from falling into the wrong hands and to make the printing queue much more orderly and efficient.
Cloud Computing
Cloud computing is the logical next step in networking, and it suitably improves upon traditional networking capabilities using cloud technology. Similar to IoT, cloud computing serves to create more seamless connections between devices in order to boost workflow, but it does so by focusing primarily on computers, as the name implies. Cloud connected devices are limited by their proximity to one another like networks of the past, and that opens the door to networking that accommodates an increasingly remote and mobile workforce. Cloud storage in particular has been a major blessing for collaborative projects of all kinds, because it allows a group such as a business to not only store files, but also quickly and easily share them amongst each other. The true benefit of cloud computing, however, is its ability to create a sort of supercomputer in which every device on the network can pool their collective resources in order to make quick work of complex calculations. This saves businesses time on resource intensive tasks such as data processing, and cloud storage gives companies a much more expansive storage solution for the massive influx of data in the modern era. As data becomes more important and more available, cloud computing likewise becomes a necessity for businesses.
