The year 2023 was marked with significant technology milestones, such as the mainstream use of AI that came with the growing popularity of AI chatbots like ChatGPT, image generators such as Midjourney and Stable Diffusion, and many others.
Since the dawn of time, the growing use of technology will inevitably influence how businesses operate and develop their products. Taking into terms the technological growth of 2023, here are some of the most cutting-edge business principles for 2024 that business owners need to take note of.
Bitcoin is Still Trendy
For the past 14 years since the creation of Bitcoin, cryptocurrency has had its fair share of moments of popularity and decline. While it was originally mainly used for investment and is still not as widely used in transactions compared to physical currencies, the number of merchants that have started to accept crypto transactions is growing.
The use of cryptocurrency such as Bitcoin as a payment option has helped businesses, such as Bitcoin casino platforms, to reinvent how they operate and reach out to customers. Before the adoption of cryptocurrency, traditional brick-and-mortar casino venues had limited market potential. It’s hard to reach potential customers that are not within the reach of where they’re located.
Since transactions are a substantial part of a casino business, users have questioned the security of online platforms and are not willing to spend much if they deem the platform unsafe. By offering crypto as a payment option, Bitcoin casino platforms have improved the safety of transactions that go on within the platform, since every transaction is coded with cryptography to secure and verify them. Its peer-to-peer nature also ensures the privacy of the transactions.
Using the case of casino businesses, the security and swiftness of Bitcoin transactions have the potential to help all businesses attract more customers by providing it as a payment option.
Looking ahead to 2024, Bitcoin’s integration in business is going to be crucial for success. Businesses can implement Bitcoin to improve the speed and security of customer transactions. More people are realizing the advantages of Bitcoin and businesses can stay ahead of the curve and start implementing it now, rather than getting left behind.
Preview Products with Augmented Reality (AR)
Before the use of Augmented Reality or AR became mainstream, if you wanted to figure out if a sofa’s color and shape matched your current living room, the most you could’ve done was to take a trip to the furniture store, take a picture of the furniture and its color options, go home, and compare.
In 2017, the IKEA Team sought to make the process much simpler for customers. They developed the IKEA Place app, which utilized AR to help customers preview how their new furniture will look in their place.
A case study from 2021 described the app as capable of displaying the virtual furniture sample as closely as possible to the real thing, in shape, size, and even down to the fabric texture of the furniture. This technology is well-received by customers, not only because it greatly simplifies the process of furniture shopping but also because it makes the process a lot more exciting and interactive. Aside from IKEA, other businesses have followed suit in using AR to help customers try on the products virtually.
Human-like Chatbots
Since chatbots became mainstream, most businesses have switched from traditional FAQ pages to a chatbot on the company website’s front page. Compared to a FAQ page, chatbots are more interactive, provide more options for customers to look for information, and allow customers to ask questions.
However, customer’s opinions about chatbots are still varied. While many like the interactivity and the possibility to ask multiple questions, customers still find chatbots rigid and the answers chatbots provide aren’t always helpful.
As a solution, there has been a development of chatbots that utilize AI through Natural Language Processing (NLP) to provide a smoother and more human interaction with customers. A journal article explained how by predicting human personality through data, engineers can develop chatbots that match how the customers talk, therefore improving the way they engage with chatbots and leaving a more positive impression on the business.
Highly Curated and Personalized Promotions
The multinational firm Deloitte described the future of marketing as “hyper-personalized”. As consumers, we may have already noticed it too with product recommendations on social media ads and marketing e-mails that seem to be able to read our minds and know exactly what products we need.
Businesses can collect customer’s ad-relevant data both from their platform and through third-party services to determine which marketing material will be most relevant to them.
For example, Amazon uses customer demographics data, how much time they spend browsing the app, which category they like to browse the most, their past viewing history, and past purchasing history to determine which recommendations to send to them via email. As a result, all recommendations received by customers are unique and tailored exactly to fit their wants and needs. Customers are also more likely to check out the marketing email they send because it’s relevant to what they’re looking for.
Wrapping Up
Technology has made it easier for businesses to provide products and services that are more relevant to the customer’s needs, in a much faster and easier way than ever before.
