The tech industry has always been one of the most rapidly-changing industries. Every year births a multitude of technological innovations that heavily influence the trends that our industries undergo. While the trends in the tech industry are as fickle as the direction of the wind, the one constant fact here is that businesses will always need to adapt to rising trends.
While to some people it may seem tedious to have to adjust your business plan every year or so just to accommodate a trend, to others it is an opportunity to make a mark in an industry that is dominated by tech giants. Even though most trends are only temporary, they keep everyone in the industry on their toes, which encourages change and flexibility.
It’s important to be aware of upcoming trends because this allows businesses to take advantage of these opportunities. With this in mind, what are some business tech trends that we need to keep an eye on?
User Review Focus
While the sale of a product is determined by many factors, the single most important aspect comes in the form of buyer reviews. People are no longer as keen on specs as they used to be. Instead, they now place more emphasis on the product experience. Prospective buyers are much more difficult to persuade with a mere spec sheet and feature list list. In fact, the vast majority of online buyers are hesitant to buy a product that doesn’t have reviews.
Increased Emphasis On Remote Work
The COVID-19 pandemic still isn’t over, and we’re likely to feel the residual effects long after it ends. Whether it’s because the threat of the virus is still prevalent or because businesses and workers alike are going to be hesitant to return to work, remote work is still going to be on the rise. This means that productivity apps are going to be just as popular if not more so.
eCommerce Dominance
In response to the pandemic and the stay-at-home orders that accompanied it, the majority of businesses have opted to shift to eCommerce in order to serve their customer base as well as to survive. This trend is expected to continue even after the pandemic is over, as we are creatures of habit. In fact, a report from statista reveals that the eCommerce sector is likely to grow to about $5 trillion within the next four years. This means that digital marketing efforts are going to be your primary means to attract leads and sales.
Voice Recognition
Despite the customer base’s initial reluctance to purchase smart speakers, these voice-activated speakers have since become a common sight in most households. Couple this with the convenience of being able to control your devices through voice commands and you have a disruptive product in terms of how search queries are being performed by users.
Experts predict that up to a third of search queries are going to be done through voice commands. This is a significant portion of the market and in order to take advantage of this trend, businesses are going to have to shift their focus from keyword-based SEO and into voice search SEO by adjusting their strategy to suit a more conversational tone. The reason behind this is because of the manner in which voice searches are done. They are conversational, rather than keyword-based.
Social Media Stories
One unexpected trend was the increase in popularity of social media stories over posts. It may seem strange at first glance, but stories have become much more meaningful over regular posts because of the “in the moment” characteristic that they have. In fact, stories get about 15 times more growth than a news feed.
This “in the moment” feel provides viewers with a more genuine and authentic connection to the brand, which is strange considering the fact that stories are short in terms of length and they are only available for 24 hours.
Artificial Intelligence
We all know that artificial intelligence is one of the most important upcoming technologies. This isn’t going to be the year that artificial intelligence is going to take the industry by storm, but its eventuality is what makes it a good investment.
Even now, companies like AI Data Innovations are developing ways to implement artificial intelligence into their respective fields. The wisdom behind this is that when artificial intelligence becomes mainstream, it’s the companies that have invested in developing their ability to integrate artificial intelligence that are going to benefit the most.
5G
The argument that 5G is more of a gimmick than a useful feature during its infancy is no longer valid considering the fact that with the release of the iPhone 12, the technology is bound to get much a snowball of support from telecommunication giants.
Couple 5G technology with which we rely on the internet and we have a potent means to create a more instantaneous experience for users, team members, and many others. This also creates a much more stable means for the internet of things.
The Internet of Things
Much like 5G, the internet of things has yet to become mainstream. However, this is another example of a technology that will eventually become commonplace. Businesses will be able to leverage the internet of things not just in how it can drastically improve the way that your business functions, but it also creates a new platform through which brands can push their marketing campaign.
Imagine running out of eggs and being able to order a fresh tray through your refrigerator. The brand that is able to reach customers right at their smart appliances will greatly increase their sales.
Trends are not inherently bad. The beauty in staying up-to-date on trends is that this gives businesses the chance to make the necessary adjustments in order to take advantage of upcoming trends. The businesses that are able to adapt to trends are also the ones that are most likely to benefit from those trends. Remember always that information isn’t just power, it is also profit.
