The rapid evolution of technology in recent years has created several unprecedented opportunities for businesses to increase both their productivity and performance but also meet organisational targets and attain growth. Technological innovations like automation, artificial intelligence, Internet of Things as well as development of several platforms for various functions are some of the recent trends that can be harnessed by businesses to exponentially increase their productivity. Here are some of the ways technology can be used and aligned with business strategy to improve chances of success:
1. Save Labour
With the introduction of automation and automatic processing, more and more jobs which previously required massive amounts of manpower and was considered to be time-consuming can now be done through the use of robot and artificial intelligence operated machinery. This not only saves cost in terms of labour but also increases both efficiency and productivity. For example, many of Tesla’s production plants involved in the manufacture of their electric cars have very less human labourers. Instead, the majority of the work is done by machines which have a way of communicating with each other to complete various tasks independently.
2. Resource Management
Manual management of the various resources required in an organisation, be it human resource, tangible resources or financial resources, can be quite a challenging task for the top management. Technology can help in automating the management of such processes by developing very user-friendly solutions. Technology can be leveraged to outsource ancillary operations to third party companies, which will again boost productivity.
3. Marketing and Growth
Essentially, the success of a business depends on effective marketing strategies to identify the needs of their customer base as well as keep up with recent trends. Technological innovations and the reach of the Internet of Things, which basically amounts to the interconnectedness of the world through use of smart devices over the internet has led to the widespread use of digital marketing. Digital marketing can include everything from blogging, email shot, search engine optimisation (SEO), social media marketing, Smartphone app management and more.
4. Faster Decision Making
Success at a particular business venture can depend on the speed and accuracy of making the right decisions. Such decisions are arrived at through conducting market research. Technology today has revolutionised how such research is done – through online forums, group discussions, surveys, blogs and more. Use of online tools like Google Analytics and other resources like Microsoft CRM Dynamics can help extract real-time responses from the target audience as well as ensuring that the data acquired is accurate as it eliminates, or at least reduces the human error associated risk.
A business can achieve long-term success only by keeping up with current trends and utilising the power of technology available to them in this digital age. Even though there is a reasonable cost associated with using technology driven strategies, this initial investment can prove to be immensely beneficial for the organisation in terms of increasing efficiency, productivity as well as effectiveness of a business.
