Experts on leading technology website ITProPortal have been discussing upcoming technology and what software and hardware will be important to businesses in 2017.
Small Business Apps
Nick Black, CEO of Apadmi, believes that small businesses will begin to follow where big companies have gone already by considering developing their own apps – and not before time, he points out, judging by Apadmi’s recent research, which revealed that a quarter of millennials prefer to shop via a retail app. The study also found that a third of consumers downloaded more retail apps in the last 12 months than the previous year.
“It has become a feature that consumers expect from their favourite brands, and a way that businesses can increase interest, engagement, or more importantly, revenue,” said Nick in his roundup of mobile technology. “This considered, it’s only a matter of time before smaller businesses begin to follow suit, especially if they want to capture the interest of the modern, more promiscuous consumer.”
Research conducted last year by Clutch seems to indicate many small businesses are aware that this is where they need to go next, technology-wise, with 47% of small businesses either already having a mobile app or planning to create one soon.
Nick also predicts that more retail businesses will be including augmented reality into their apps “to allow for a real shopping experience without leaving your home.”
“Businesses Can Really Start Being Clever”
Ryan Gallagher, Director, CEO and Founder of IOVOX, thinks that technology will be a big help in marketing, predicting that specialised analytics solutions that monitor phone calls in the same detail as web traffic will become popular.
“There is interesting innovation being done in this space, and an intuitive interface that anyone could use to see who is calling them, when, and why, will undoubtedly be a game changer in the market.”
He also sees the integration of different systems, data and communication methods as key.
“Different data sets from sales and marketing activity such as phone call stats, online analytics and inbound email data, can be integrated to allow businesses to take a smarter, data-driven approach. While each set has its own value, it is when the full customer journey can be drawn from beginning to end that businesses can really start being clever.”
Cybercrime: A Growing Threat
However, while extolling the virtues and bright future of technology in business, Mark Barrenechea, President and Chief Technology of Canadian software giant OpenText also warns about the threats posed by technology’s darker side in 2017.
“While digital transformation presents enormous opportunity for business growth, it also presents great risk for cybercrime. In 2016 alone, cybercrime was the second-most reported economic crime. As the number and sophistication of cyberattacks increases, an effective enterprise security becomes more critical than ever. The traditional, reactive approach that relies on antivirus software and firewalls to protect the perimeter and responds to incidents as they occur is just not good enough.”
For small businesses only just getting to grips with, and finding finance for, the most basic of cyber-security measures, this doesn’t sound like good news.