When it comes to business, ever-evolving technology is constantly impacting day-to-day operations. From helping companies to accomplish more by changing the way employees do their jobs, innovations in technology contribute to productivity improvements. So what are some of the technologies that are changing the way business operates? Here are five I have selected.
Any discussion of technology’s positive impact on business has to include a mention of drones. Also commonly referred to as unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs), drones feature some amazing capabilities from onboard devices including:
As for how drones are being used in the business world, an excellent example can be found in the world of photography. Rather than spend money to rent a helicopter, pilot, and photographer to get aerial shots, drones can do it all on the cheap. Real estate agents, wanting to get overhead shots of a for-sale property as well as the surrounding neighborhood, are using drones to get the perfect picture. And videographers can capture gorgeous footage whether it is for an outdoor wedding or for capturing images of wildlife.
As businesses grow and customer demands increase, implementing a call center in the cloud offers an efficient way to enhance the customer experience. Whether a company is big or small, personalized customer service tools are available today in an easy-to-manage cloud platform. Inbound and outbound calls can be handled easily. Customers can get answers to all of their questions through self-service, live chat, phone, social media connections and more. Many industries are using this type of technology effectively including banks where virtual agents in a cloud call center typically answer questions about outstanding payments, provide account balance information, and assist with transfers.
In the fast-paced world of today, customers hate standing in lines to buy things. They would rather complete the transactions themselves. That’s where new self-service technology is giving consumers the ability to take matters into their own hands. Airlines come to mind when thinking about self-service kiosks. Whether you like it or not travelers today can:
The kiosks print their boarding passes and luggage tags. They never have to deal with an airline employee throughout the entire process..
Artificial Intelligence (AI) is already being used by business. AI helps manage warehouse operations. AI sorts out problems in production processes. AI recognizes patterns and learns from them. Today your bank and credit card providers use AI to detect fraud and outwit cybercriminals.
PayPal uses AI to boost its security by doing real-time analysis of transactions. When the AI detects a certain pattern it transforms it into a “rule” that can be used to halt any other suspicious transactions that fit the rule profile. AI comes in many shapes from machine learning engines to natural language processing and speech and facial recognition.
Chances are you’ve read about Bitcoin and whether this and other types of cryptocurrency are legitimate. The technology behind Bitcoin is called a blockchain. It is likely that the blockchain, a form of public ledger, may be the more important invention than the cryptocurrencies that use it in transactions. Business News Daily recently noted that the blockchain has the potential to have big impacts on all kinds of businesses. For example, no matter whether you run a startup or large company with hundreds of employees, if you take orders from clients who live overseas and receive payments from them, or if you pay international workers or vendors and have to make cross-border payments as a result, with the blockchain you no longer have to go the slow and expensive bank route. The blockchain securely handles payments and payroll quickly for a trivial cost.
Technology innovation refuses to stand still. In this posting, we have talked about call centers, drones, self-service options, AI, and blockchain. But there is surely another technology around the corner that will emerge to give companies new ways of doing business. And I might add that this blog site is probably a good place to find about them first.
In today’s posting she writes about advances in security and surveillance technology that have moved from the world of spying and the military to the home environment giving parents greater awareness and peace of mind about what their children are up to.
As always readers comments are welcome. Let me know if you would like to see more articles like this posted at Techso Mogro blog.
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As parents, we want what is best for our children. From making sure they eat healthy meals and get enough sleep to knowing who their friends are and what they are up to — at least most of the time. Keeping aware of what’s going on with our kids is an important part of parenting.
Once they are old enough to start walking or driving to school and other places on their own, it can be a bit more challenging to keep tabs on what they are doing. While we might not feel right picking up their smartphones and reading their personal texts, we should definitely take steps to prevent teens from texting while driving, and make sure they are walking home after school instead of heading to a friend’s house without permission.
Interestingly, some of the technology we can use to help monitor from afar got its start in some pretty impressive environs. GPS technology, first developed in the 1960s for both military and intelligence use, can be used in more places than your automobile or to locate where you are and where you are going on your smartphone. The camera in that smartphone, originally invented for NASA spacecraft in the 1960s, now lets users see with whom they are talking, let alone lets your children take endless selfies. We use this technology today without thinking about its origin and it can help us keep tabs on our children without being seen as “spying.”
And if the features on the smartphone aren’t enough consider these additional gadgets and apps:
There are plenty of ways to keep a virtual eye on our children without seeming too overprotective. Trax24 is a device that can easily be carried in a backpack. It features GPS technology that can see where a child is at all times. The device also features an SOS call for help button that when activated opens a one-way microphone. It can also alert parents if a teenage driver exceeds the speed limit when driving. For children who walk home from school on their own, a Trax24 can give parents peace of mind.
LifeLock provides identity protection. Children are as vulnerable to identity theft as adults. Providing a LifeLock account for your child in an age where online banking and credit card transactions have become the norm, can ensure that a child’s financial future will not be subject to hacking and theft. LifeLock plans start at $9.99 U.S. and go as high as $29.99 monthly. Each plan offers a $1 million U.S. service guarantee ensuring your child is protected against a lost wallet, stolen credit cards, and online breaches from hackers and phishers.
Canary, originally developed by the military for logistics and personnel tracking, now can be used to alert parents when their teenager is texting or calling using a smartphone while driving. The application can be downloaded to a smartphone. It uses GPS to track vehicle position. It can tell how fast the vehicle is moving when the phone is engaged. It tracks where your child is at all times. And it sends alerts to a parent’s smartphone when a child is exhibiting dangerous driving habits or heading to an area that is considered unsafe or off limits. Canary isn’t designed to switch off the child’s smartphone or stop the vehicle. Instead it assembles a report card that parents can then discuss with their teenager to modify and ensure responsible behavior behind the wheel.
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