Technology and businesses have for a long time been competing with each other. For those who learned to embrace technology have complemented their business in many ways. While those who have just been trying to preserve their traditional business methods are suffering a lot. Technology is a boon and a curse both for businesses in the market.
Technology and Business
Most of the organizations and enterprises existing out there have resisted technological intervention more than once. These have been mostly the small and medium enterprises that have restraint themselves due to the lack of resources and budget. On the other hand, big organizations in the market have thrived by capitalizing on emerging technologies. Take Amazon for an example. While most e-commerce businesses out there only have limited functionalities such as browsing products, selecting and shipping them, Amazon is a step ahead.
Not only does the e-commerce titan have products to keep the customer engaged but also saves their browsing history, takes a look into it along with other parameters and suggests products to the customers based on them. This is something that adds value to the customer’s shopping experience and makes them come back to the store again and again.
Similarly, Amazon has amazing chat support that helps the customer find the right resolution for the problem at any time of the day. The chat support can suggest solutions on its own along with forwarding the concern to the customer representative when the issue is complex or when the customer asks for it.
The underlying question lies in finding out the way Amazon does it all with ease. The answer lies in embracing technology. Be it machine learning, artificial intelligence, cloud or blockchain, the adoption of cutting edge technologies can bring all the difference to your business. It does require initial investment and efforts, but once you adopt them and transform your core business process into being an advanced one, there is no going back.
The reason why small and medium enterprises suffer is that there is a lot of pressure on them from the market. The tech titans embrace technology and try to launch these products as soon as they hit the market. Similarly, the new entrants in the market have unique business propositions and models, since they have studied the entire market with the latest technologies such as data analytics, etc. The only ones remaining to live up to the expectations of such an advanced technology are the small and medium enterprises.
But, with more and more technological adoption among various industries, the mindset of leaders is changing. More and more are becoming in favor of technology and finding new areas of implementation to take their business forward.
Talent and Data are Becoming Critical
From the beginning, companies have focused on technology as something they develop and utilize on their own. Organizations have looked upon it as something unique to their business that can be used as a competitive advantage in the market. However, modern trends suggest that technology is being developed as a shared resource and made available to anyone who wants to use it for their business.
When the core technology is freely available to anyone, companies can’t use it as a competitive advantage. However, at the pace of this what they can use is to use data as their core competitive advantage and try to harness it using the technical skills of their employees. Take data analytics as an example. The technology is available for everyone who wants to use it. However, the businesses that are able to put their data into it and derive meaningful insights can make all the difference in the market. Not only can they understand their customers better but also cater to their satisfaction more efficiently.
Algorithms are influencing the Pricing
The technological disruption is taking place in a way that businesses have no other option than to transform their core processes to sustain in the market. For example, no longer is pricing guided by one’s intuition or simply the way competitors are playing it. With AI and ML models in the picture, organizations are using pricing algorithms to set prices, especially in the online market.
Not only can these algorithms enable better-targeted prices but also change the way that a firm functions in the market. These algorithms have a huge potential that can impact the market forces and land the organizations utilizing it a competitive advantage. It can influence other parameters such as additional investments in IT, modified production decisions among others.
Organizations can Test Every Single Thing
With core processes driven by emerging technologies, firms can have the potential to test every single thing as part of their business. Without having to invest too much in research and Scala development, organizations can experiment with crucial decisions like pricing, product positioning, finding the right markets to serve, etc.
In light of all this knowledge, not only can organizations enhance their business intelligence but also take more precise and profitable decisions in the market.
Conclusion
With several technologies in the picture of the business world, organizations can do a lot in a limited amount of time. They can A/B experiment with different ideas and turn them to their advantage without the investment of a lot of resources. It is imperative to understand that technology is the future of sustainability in the market, and as soon as businesses understand it they will be at a competitive advantage.
Credit: BecomingHuman By: Divyesh Dharaiya
