The world is digitizing and so are we. Technology has a great impact on our day-to-day life which is ever-expanding and increasing. Classrooms are replaced by smart classrooms and business meetings are now scheduled through emails and phones. Newspapers are replaced by news online and shopping experiences have really transformed with the inception of eCommerce and mobile commerce.  

Evolving technological innovations with the time that has passed by, have greatly taken business growth to the newest and unprecedented heights. Machines have replaced human labor. With every passing year, new technologies are implemented in businesses to expand the growth rate.

Let us discuss the technologies like AI & ML, Chatbots, IoT, Blockchain, and AR-VR through this article on what the future holds for businesses if they are strategically applied to develop a digital solution and implemented into the existing business ecosystem.

LATEST TECHNOLOGY TRENDS

ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE – THE BUSINESS STRATEGIC PRIORITY

Artificial Intelligence began as a philosophical conundrum in ancient times, developed into science fiction in the Modern Era, and is a practical reality today. AI has gradually taken over all other technologies and is currently ruling over all the business strategic priorities. It is a key growth factor for businesses across all industries helping them build strengths and improve current skill sets. AI helps to analyze a problem from various angles and has the potential to change an ordinary business to extraordinary. 

How AI can improve your business?

Account Management: AI helps businesses to target specific accounts after developing a plan.

Customer Service: AI can be leveraged to deploy solutions to improve customer service thereby improving brand loyalty and generating new revenue streams.

Decision Making: With the help of comprehensive business data and insights, AI empowers decision-makers to take faster informative decisions.  

Marketing: AI allows marketers to gain valuable customer insights, automate everyday tasks, and improve workflows.

Cost-cutting:

AI allows professionals to identify saving opportunities thereby reducing the expenditures and improving business proficiency.

Applications of AI in businesses

Logistics and Supply chain

AI empowers businesses to act on consumer data and gain improvements in the logistics area. Consumers request shorter conveyance hold up from retailers and retailers will expect the same from manufacturer and dispatch centers. Autonomous trucks and robotic picking systems allow supply chains to make fulfillment seven days a week. Within the next five years, the shipping term “business days” will become obsolete as consumers expect delivery on nights and weekends.

Cyber security

AI allows companies to detect vulnerabilities in business applications such as ERP and financial systems. AI is empowered to see if a user has any suspicious activity. So, even if attackers have visited into a victim’s system, they start taking actions that differ from the usual ones and as a result, their damage is prevented. 

Healthcare

AI in the healthcare industry enables machines to sense, comprehend, act and learn so they can perform administrative and clinical healthcare functions. AI in the health industry today can augment human activity. With immense power to reduce cost, improve quality and access, AI is exploding in popularity. Growth in the AI health market is expected to reach $6.6 billion by the end of this year, 2021—that’s a compound annual growth rate of 40 percent. 

Chatbots

Chatbots are the most powerful and valuable feature/application of Artificial Intelligence. The invention of Chatbots has led to the immense growth of businesses. They deliver smart and flexible analytics through conversation on mobile devices via textual and auditory methods.

eCommerce

AI provides a competitive edge to the eCommerce industry and is becoming easily available for industries of any size and budget. Many e-commerce retailers are already becoming more sophisticated with their AI capabilities and it is expected to grow in the future.

CHATBOT TECHNOLOGY CHANGING THE HU-TECH BOND

We are well aware of the bond that humans and technology(hu-tech) share today. Chatbots are a feature of AI that enables users to simulate a conversation and help them in finding hotels, buy products, or simply answering the user’s question amicably, thereby boosting customer services. There are over 21,000 developers building over 11,000 bots in the messenger app. Chatbots are no longer just for searching or entertaining the users but are also widely used nowadays to schedule a meeting or other business purposes. 

What Chatbot can do to increase business proficiency?

Bots speed up the operations:

Chatbots do not suffer from limitations as we humans do. Human beings can handle up to a very few conversations at a time whereas chatbots are multitaskers. So engaging Chatbot solutions can help businesses grow manifolds.

Bots drive up institutional efficiency:

We often burn a lot of resources on backend support in our businesses. Chatbots have come to our rescue in this dilemma. Instead of employing human agents to perform these mundane and repetitive tasks, simply installing a chatbot would automate everything.

Bots help in dealing with millennials:

There are people who enquire and compare products before they buy since they are not impulsive buyers. They prefer live chats over phone calls. So if you want to target millennials, investing in chatbots would bring prudent results.

Bots act as personal assistance:

We all prefer taking help just by texting rather than going through a lot of applications to book tickets or scheduling an appointment and also in managing projects and tasks. In that case, chatbots are the best.

Applications of Chatbot in various Business Industries

Chatbot for Healthcare 

Chatbot integration with IoT solutions for the healthcare industry drives better results for patients. Integration of chatbot with IoT improvises the quality of care and attention rendered to the patients in healthcare centers. Chatbots have gradually been implemented into the healthcare industry and it is estimated that the chatbot market will reach $1.23 billion by 2025. 

Bots not only help in cutting down the cost but also reduces the waiting time, improves patient care, and enhance customer loyalty and retention. We are an open-source IoT platform for providing IoT solutions for the healthcare industry leveraging custom healthcare solutions.

Chatbot for Banking and Finance

Chatbots have proved to be of great help in the banking and finance sector. They help to automate and interact with customers with the help of a user interface. Chatbot has the potential to automate all the repetitive questions which are time-consuming and has a huge impact on the department’s performance. Customers can enquire about their account balance and also ask for a transaction with the help of a simple interface. 

It is believed that the average time saved per chatbot inquiry as compared to the traditional inquiry is 4 minutes and the success rate of using a bot for banking and financial purpose stands as high as 93%.

Chatbot for Customer Support

With the help of Chatbots, organizations can effectively manage customer inquiries thereby providing a smooth customer experience. Bots can answer customer inquiries faster. The implementation of Chatbot reduces the chances of misinterpretation and hence provides accurate results with minimal error rates.

Chatbots are perfect for dealing with frequently asked questions as they require less groundwork and hence reduces time. It is believed that Chatbots reduce customer service costs by 30% and 15% of the customers engaged with a business via a chatbot in the last 12 months.

Chatbot for Online Food Ordering

With the advancement in mobile platforms and the improvement in chatbot intelligence, people have started breaking the ancient norms and are using online food ordering apps to enjoy their scrumptious food. Not just the customers, but also the restaurant owners are benefited hugely by the chatbot service. 

Chatbots will display the menu, collect and show the delivery preferences with time and location, and these details are remembered by the bots for future usage. And if you are a restaurant owner, a chatbot that handles customer interaction can prove to be an ace for your business. That can help you to keep multiple orders at a time and customer feedback to access performance. 

Chatbot for Educational Sector/Institution

Chatbots have been of great use in the educational sector as well. By answering a wide variety of questions about academic, administrative, and financial matters, and giving out important reminders and notifications directly through the chat window, chatbots create a friendly interface between a university’s website and its users. Bots are helpful in simplifying administrative formalities and provide technical support and troubleshooting assistance.

INTERNET OF THINGS – TRANSFORMING THE BUSINESS NEEDS

From transportation to manufacturing to healthcare, IoT has proven itself in every industry thereby playing a huge role in transforming the global economy. IoT refers to the interconnection of devices and gadgets to collect, transmit and store data.  With the cost-reducing every time, businesses can leverage IoT at a very affordable price. 

How businesses can be benefitted from leveraging IoT?

• Enhance productivity and efficiency
• A better understanding of consumer behaviour
• Cost-effective operations
• Improves customer experiences

Applications of IoT in various Industries

Smart Automobile

Today’s cars are already connected and have been connected for some time since they can link to smartphones, offer emergency roadside assistance, register real-time traffic alerts, etc., but this evolution is about to change. Researchers have always wondered about how self-driven cars would function in the future and the force behind this is the Internet of Things. IoT will transform the automobile industry and IoT will provide a big boost to IoT. 

Smart Healthcare 

IoT in the healthcare industry is a big boon to society. It has turned data into action, promotes preventive measures, improves patient’s health by providing accurate details, and enhances patient satisfaction and engagement. In healthcare, IoT will solve the problems by helping to optimize the way things are done. Connected technology will see fewer missed appointments, improved ways to care plans, and improved consequences such as reduced inpatient admissions.

Home Automation

With a smart home, all your worries will shoo away with a quick glance at your smartphone or tablet. The devices and appliances in your home can be connected so they can communicate with each other and with you. Any electric device can be put on the home network at your own command. That command can be managed by voice, remote control, tablet, or smartphone, the home reacts. Most applications relate to lighting, home security, home theater and entertainment, and thermostat regulation.

KEEPING DATA SECURE WITH BLOCKCHAIN TECHNOLOGY

The blockchain is a digital registry of economic transactions that can be used to record not just financial transactions but virtually everything of value and it is incorruptible.

This is the technology underlying Bitcoin, Ethereum, and other cryptocurrencies. Blockchain technology will substantially change how we pay for everyday items, privacy, and data, as well as how we verify who owns what and who has the right to buy and sell it.

How blockchain is affecting businesses?

• Transparency
• Reduced transaction cost
• Decentralized
• Faster transaction settlement
• User-controlled network

Applications of Blockchain in various Industries

Banking and Finance

Blockchain is a computerized model for processing, securing, and finalizing transactions as we know banks generate tons of transactions every day. Blockchain will revolutionize the banking sector as it is comparatively less expensive and transactions are significantly faster.

Retail and consumer goods

 Blockchain can provide an accessible, trustworthy record of an item. Blockchain also provides product transparency, warranty management, supply chain visibility, and enabling the sharing economy.

THE YEAR OF AUGMENTED REALITY AND VIRTUAL REALITY

Augmented Reality is the blend of the real-world and digital world and gives people the possibility of getting vividly and intensely involved. It blends out the real world with a digital layer over it. On the other hand, Virtual Reality detaches people completely from the current and real-world and puts them in a whole new digital world through technology. It is believed that AR and VR will become very important tools for businesses soon. 

More and more future-oriented enterprises are looking for new and efficient ways to innovate and make their products and services outshine their competitors. Being an early adopter of upcoming technology can surely facilitate this process.  

How AR can improve your business?

Transparency:

By leveraging AR into businesses, the entrepreneurs can present their products in a more enhanced way by delivering impactful visual sessions.

Training Tool:

AR applications and devices act as a training tool for the employees by ensuring high-tech training which eventually increases productivity and enhances growth.

Data delivery:

More relevant data can be presented by companies with the help of AR in real-time to the people.

Applications of AR-VR in various Industries

AR in Transportation Industry

Implementing Augmented Reality in the transportation industry would be of great help indeed. A driver needs to keep increased concentration and good multi-tasking skills while following GPS system and this would bring negative results at times leading to accidents due to divided attention. In this case, smart glasses would do wonders. The AR-based smart glasses have sensors that allow the person behind the wheel to keep track of the route he or she wants to take without having to look elsewhere but in front of them.

AR-VR in healthcare

Just like IoT, AR and VR are finding their way to the healthcare industry. Surgeries require precision and AR can improve the way surgeries are done whereas VR can help in overcoming various phobias.

AR-VR in Staffing

AR is used nowadays to bridge the workforce, rather than paying a team of experts at their full potential, junior staff members would be used to blend the resources. AR and VR serve different purposes in a corporate setting. AR can give visual examples of good work done, while VR creates an immersive experience. This stimulates empathy between employer, employee, and staff, leading to a more consolidated workforce.

Wondering where can you avail these services?

If you wish to have an expert’s help to build a pragmatic feasible solution using any of these cutting-edge technologies, then you need to find the right software development company that provides offshore development services too. 

But before that, you’ve to do some homework to in coming up with what you exactly need from a possible list of solutions. Explain business goals, objectives, and needs or existing problems of the target users and business.