4 Smart Technologies Changing The Face Of Small Businesses

Oct 10, 2016 Technology How These 3 Smart Technologies Are Changing The Face Of Small Business We've come a long way from the desktop. By Russ Fujioka, Founder, F4 Ventures @russfujioka. The workday for office workers is standard: a 9-to-5 schedule, sitting at a desk in a cubicle or an office, with slight variations on the time spent and physical space. However, technology is changing — or promising to change — the way users interact with their physical office space and how they go about their working hours. Jul 12, 2016 4 Smart Technologies Changing the Face of Small Businesses Jennifer Pollock. Jennifer Pollock is the editor in chief of Square's blog and business resource center, Town Square. She regularly writes on new payment technologies. Jun 26, 2014 On top of that, e-commerce will likely hit the small screen soon, making it vital for businesses of all sizes to start utilizing smart TVs as both a marketplace and an advertising medium. Much like how the focus in recent years was for marketers to embrace mobile as a medium, the same will happen for smart TVs in years to come.

Technology is evolving and is putting its mark on the manufacturing industry. Each year is bringing innovation, and new technologies are used to create smart products which meet customers' expectations.

Technology has gone beyond creating simple products. The last decade has brought a lot of changes coming from consumers' demand and the products' nature. Customers are becoming more interested in buying personalized products, customized according to their requirements. On the other hand, technology is also evolving and is putting its mark on the manufacturing industry. Each year is bringing innovation, and new technologies are used to create smart products which meet customers' expectations.

Benefits of Technology in Manufacturing

New smart technologies are changing the face of manufacturing. Nanotechnology, cloud computing, and the Internet of Things are all improving manufacturing processes and helping manufacturers save costs and increase their products' quality. Once manufacturers have experienced the game-changing benefits of technology, there is no way back. Their appetite for innovation and simplification grows every year, making them realign their businesses so that they take advantage of the latest disruptive technologies. Below you can find some of the most significant benefits that technology brings to the manufacturing industry:

1. Energy efficiency – one of the biggest costs a factory has are coming from energy consumption. Becoming more energy efficient is the dream of any manufacturer. Technology makes it possible by helping businesses determine where they are losing power and developing solutions to fix those problems.
2. Predictive maintenance – Internet of Things is the answer for manufacturers looking for solutions to complete maintenance proactively. The IoT sends real-time data and helps manufacturers schedule maintenance at the right time. Thus, waste coming from manufacturing is drastically reduced.
3. Improved product quality – each manufacturer is continuously looking for methods to enhance their products' quality. Technology can prevent any small errors which can then affect the quality of the products. Smart machines send immediate signals whenever something goes wrong and thus help manufacturing businesses keep their reputation and deliver products that meet the customers' demands.
4. Downtime to zero – thanks to technology and its capacity to prevent any malfunctions, downtime is reduced considerably. We all know that downtime has a lot of costs, among which the lost cost of opportunity is the greatest. Therefore, technology can help prevent any situation that may cause delays in production and lower product quality.
5. Informed decisions - when using technology, there will be no single moment when managers don't know what their machines and people are doing. Thus, based on the data received, they can switch from a reactive approach to a more proactive one. As a result, they are able to make more informed decisions and react immediately whenever an event happens.

Future of Manufacturing Technologies in 2019

'In 2019, manufacturers will have to deal with the increased customer demand for personalization, faster completion, and maximum transparency. Therefore, businesses will need to integrate their processes and choose more cost-effective solutions which will help them become more efficient and productive,' says Cory Neal, COO of The Word Point.

1. Smart machines

Manufacturers are concerned not only about creating personalized products to satisfy demand, but also having competitive prices. Therefore, each element from the production stream matters and influences their production costs. To survive in this competitive world and attract more customers, manufacturers are shifting to a product development approach centered more on software and technology. Thus, manufacturers will lower their production costs and can use the technology during various production shifts.

2. Real-time monitoring through smart technologies

Statistics show that 81 percent of manufacturers are switching or will switch to real-time monitoring as they consider that it helps their business. Real-time tracking is bringing a lot of benefits to the manufacturing of today. It improves scheduling accuracy as well as creating better levels of inventory control. Furthermore, real-time monitoring helps manufacturers improve their production plan performance. The future looks bright for real-time monitoring as it will help manufacturing businesses a lot in making inventory reconciliation more efficient. It will also improve the accuracy for tracking various measures and simplify reporting processes.

3. Evolving workforce

4 Smart Technologies Changing The Face Of Small Businesses Tend

2019 is bringing a new and diverse generation which is enthusiastically entering the workforce. Their expectations are high, and so are their demands. In addition, working for a manufacturing business is not on their priorities list. Therefore, manufacturers will have to deal with a skills gap in 2019. It will become difficult for them to convince the new generation to accept a position in their company and fill their 'thirst' of innovation and growth. Manufacturers will have to find exciting ways to attract young and tech-savvy workers for a career in manufacturing. On the other hand, as recruiting new employees is challenging, business owners should also switch their attention to the existing employees as well. For example, they can retrain old employees and keep them informed about the latest technology updates introduced in the production flow. This is how you show recognition to experienced employees and make them loyal to the business many years from now. Furthermore, foreign labor can also be a solution. International teams can be an excellent catalyzer for existing employees as they can share their experiences and boost the confidence for the older workers.

4. Industrial robots

Technology evolution is becoming too evident for small and medium manufacturing businesses to ignore it. Robots were created with incredible skills like increasing dexterity or machine vision. The ways a robot can be used are limitless. However, even though artificial intelligence is evolving a lot, humans are still relevant. Therefore, one of the challenges manufacturers will have to face in 2019 is to find the right balance between robots and humans. In comparison to industrial robots, 2019 is going to be the year which brings collaborative robots in the manufacturing world. They should be seen as an extra pair of hands, increasing the capabilities of existing workers and reaching zero errors in the manufacturing process. We are experiencing the robot revolution, and we should take maximum advantage of it. Collaborative robots can be programmed via hardware and software to do an amazingly high and diverse number of jobs. Manufacturing can finally rely on a mix of human and robotic labor which will increase productivity and ROI.

5. Analytics and business intelligence

There's no surprise that analytics and business intelligence will continue to penetrate the manufacturing industry. 2019 is going to be the year that is going to cement their importance for manufacturing, helping businesses increase their production capacity and create a better resource planning. Thanks to business intelligence, manufacturing businesses can easily anticipate problem areas and collect relevant data for business growth. Moreover, analytics and business intelligence provide more accurate financial visibility into shop floor production.

Manufacturing business owners are constantly seeking for methods of staying ahead of the competition and expanding the list of clients. Technology plays a very important role, as it helps them remain efficient and meet their customers' demands. What is more, thanks to technology breakthroughs they are able to reduce costs and improve their profitability. As we already showed above, 2019 is going to be an interesting year, coming with various trends which will help manufacturers keep their clients happy and excited.

Professor Frank Piller writes on behalf of The Leadership Network.

A major asset to growing a successful business is the ability to harness the full potential of modern technology. However, utilizing modern technology to the advantage of your business doesn't mean blindly following the status quo. Instead, it requires building a better understanding of how to test the benefits of implementing newer and rapidly evolving technologies in your business with relatively limited resources. Although there's perhaps far too much talk these days of 'out with the old and in the new', there are undoubtedly some trends in the world of corporate technology that have gone from being just ‘trends' to becoming essential.

#1. Remote Workforce

According to a study by enterprise software company Intuit, more than 40% of the workforce in the US will be freelancers by 2020. Already, nearly half of employees in the US now work from home either part or full-time, according to a recent study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The rapid and unprecedented rise of cloud computing technologies and services has largely been responsible for the increasingly liquid workforce in the US and beyond. In fact, the trend to work from home or as a freelancer is rapidly following suit in the UK and across much of the rest of the developed world.

Although modern technology greatly helps to facilitate the remote workforce, there are some clear benefits of allowing your staff to work from home, at least on occasion. No longer do job roles have to involve being fixed in one place, thus allowing your employees the freedom to work from home and on the move. This, in turn, means that you don't need to have as much office space or hardware resources. At the same time, the greater flexibility affords employees the luxury of being able to work where they feel more comfortable and, most importantly, where they are most productive.

#2. Automated Marketing

As technology gets smarter, there are fewer jobs that actual people need to take care of, thus significantly reducing the costs of running a modern business. According to a study by Gartner Research in 2014, businesses were spending just over ten percent of their annual revenue on marketing, with well over half of this amount being spent on digital marketing specifically. Overall marketing budgets continue to increase substantially, largely in line with the ever-increasing amount of opportunities afforded by digital technologies. As such, automation promises to make digital marketing more cost-effective and wider-reaching.

For many years, reputable businesses have been hesitant to adopt automated marketing for fear of losing their voices to robots. However, newer technologies have given rise to more intelligent automation which, in turn, reduces the complexity of operations and allows for constant experimentation and improvement. However, the human element will continue to remain essential in any marketing strategy, particularly in the case of growing businesses still trying to discover the most suitable marketing tactics for themselves. However, marketing automation can become an enormously effective extension of the human element of your business.

Manufacturers are concerned not only about creating personalized products to satisfy demand, but also having competitive prices. Therefore, each element from the production stream matters and influences their production costs. To survive in this competitive world and attract more customers, manufacturers are shifting to a product development approach centered more on software and technology. Thus, manufacturers will lower their production costs and can use the technology during various production shifts.

2. Real-time monitoring through smart technologies

Statistics show that 81 percent of manufacturers are switching or will switch to real-time monitoring as they consider that it helps their business. Real-time tracking is bringing a lot of benefits to the manufacturing of today. It improves scheduling accuracy as well as creating better levels of inventory control. Furthermore, real-time monitoring helps manufacturers improve their production plan performance. The future looks bright for real-time monitoring as it will help manufacturing businesses a lot in making inventory reconciliation more efficient. It will also improve the accuracy for tracking various measures and simplify reporting processes.

3. Evolving workforce

4 Smart Technologies Changing The Face Of Small Businesses Tend

2019 is bringing a new and diverse generation which is enthusiastically entering the workforce. Their expectations are high, and so are their demands. In addition, working for a manufacturing business is not on their priorities list. Therefore, manufacturers will have to deal with a skills gap in 2019. It will become difficult for them to convince the new generation to accept a position in their company and fill their 'thirst' of innovation and growth. Manufacturers will have to find exciting ways to attract young and tech-savvy workers for a career in manufacturing. On the other hand, as recruiting new employees is challenging, business owners should also switch their attention to the existing employees as well. For example, they can retrain old employees and keep them informed about the latest technology updates introduced in the production flow. This is how you show recognition to experienced employees and make them loyal to the business many years from now. Furthermore, foreign labor can also be a solution. International teams can be an excellent catalyzer for existing employees as they can share their experiences and boost the confidence for the older workers.

4. Industrial robots

Technology evolution is becoming too evident for small and medium manufacturing businesses to ignore it. Robots were created with incredible skills like increasing dexterity or machine vision. The ways a robot can be used are limitless. However, even though artificial intelligence is evolving a lot, humans are still relevant. Therefore, one of the challenges manufacturers will have to face in 2019 is to find the right balance between robots and humans. In comparison to industrial robots, 2019 is going to be the year which brings collaborative robots in the manufacturing world. They should be seen as an extra pair of hands, increasing the capabilities of existing workers and reaching zero errors in the manufacturing process. We are experiencing the robot revolution, and we should take maximum advantage of it. Collaborative robots can be programmed via hardware and software to do an amazingly high and diverse number of jobs. Manufacturing can finally rely on a mix of human and robotic labor which will increase productivity and ROI.

5. Analytics and business intelligence

There's no surprise that analytics and business intelligence will continue to penetrate the manufacturing industry. 2019 is going to be the year that is going to cement their importance for manufacturing, helping businesses increase their production capacity and create a better resource planning. Thanks to business intelligence, manufacturing businesses can easily anticipate problem areas and collect relevant data for business growth. Moreover, analytics and business intelligence provide more accurate financial visibility into shop floor production.

Manufacturing business owners are constantly seeking for methods of staying ahead of the competition and expanding the list of clients. Technology plays a very important role, as it helps them remain efficient and meet their customers' demands. What is more, thanks to technology breakthroughs they are able to reduce costs and improve their profitability. As we already showed above, 2019 is going to be an interesting year, coming with various trends which will help manufacturers keep their clients happy and excited.

Professor Frank Piller writes on behalf of The Leadership Network.

A major asset to growing a successful business is the ability to harness the full potential of modern technology. However, utilizing modern technology to the advantage of your business doesn't mean blindly following the status quo. Instead, it requires building a better understanding of how to test the benefits of implementing newer and rapidly evolving technologies in your business with relatively limited resources. Although there's perhaps far too much talk these days of 'out with the old and in the new', there are undoubtedly some trends in the world of corporate technology that have gone from being just ‘trends' to becoming essential.

#1. Remote Workforce

According to a study by enterprise software company Intuit, more than 40% of the workforce in the US will be freelancers by 2020. Already, nearly half of employees in the US now work from home either part or full-time, according to a recent study by the New Jersey Institute of Technology. The rapid and unprecedented rise of cloud computing technologies and services has largely been responsible for the increasingly liquid workforce in the US and beyond. In fact, the trend to work from home or as a freelancer is rapidly following suit in the UK and across much of the rest of the developed world.

Although modern technology greatly helps to facilitate the remote workforce, there are some clear benefits of allowing your staff to work from home, at least on occasion. No longer do job roles have to involve being fixed in one place, thus allowing your employees the freedom to work from home and on the move. This, in turn, means that you don't need to have as much office space or hardware resources. At the same time, the greater flexibility affords employees the luxury of being able to work where they feel more comfortable and, most importantly, where they are most productive.

#2. Automated Marketing

As technology gets smarter, there are fewer jobs that actual people need to take care of, thus significantly reducing the costs of running a modern business. According to a study by Gartner Research in 2014, businesses were spending just over ten percent of their annual revenue on marketing, with well over half of this amount being spent on digital marketing specifically. Overall marketing budgets continue to increase substantially, largely in line with the ever-increasing amount of opportunities afforded by digital technologies. As such, automation promises to make digital marketing more cost-effective and wider-reaching.

For many years, reputable businesses have been hesitant to adopt automated marketing for fear of losing their voices to robots. However, newer technologies have given rise to more intelligent automation which, in turn, reduces the complexity of operations and allows for constant experimentation and improvement. However, the human element will continue to remain essential in any marketing strategy, particularly in the case of growing businesses still trying to discover the most suitable marketing tactics for themselves. However, marketing automation can become an enormously effective extension of the human element of your business.

#3. App Development

According to the State of Mobile Web – US 2015 report, 56% of traffic to the world's most popular websites now takes place on the small screen. Additionally, Smart Insights recently revealed that 89% of time spent on mobile media was spent using mobile apps, as opposed to only 11% being spent using the mobile web itself. The unprecedented increase in app usage over recent years has made it clearer than ever that businesses need to include mobile as an integral part of their sales and marketing strategy. These days, it's often not enough to simply have a mobile-friendly website.

4 Smart Technologies Changing The Face Of Small Businesses Fail

Statista revealed in June, 2016 that were already 2.2 million apps available in the Google Play store, followed by 2 million in the Apple App Store. Businesses are increasingly leveraging the potential of apps to provide better customer service and tap into a potentially powerful marketing channel. Small businesses can take advantage of things like mobile-specific customer loyalty programs, geo-targeting, mobile payments, sales reminders and, of course, quick and simple communication. In fact, it's not always necessary to have your own app developed either, since there are many increasingly popular industry-specific apps that you can take advantage of.

#4. New Payment Methods

Virtually every serious business these days accepts credit cards, and even the most technologically clueless among us generally know how to send and receive payments on PayPal. However, the coming years will no doubt see electronic payments becoming even easier, likely to the point where cash will become almost obsolete in everyday life. The ubiquity of smartphones has largely been responsible for the rise of mobile payment systems, such as Apple Pay, Samsung Pay, and Google Pay, which allow consumers to make payments using their smartphones rather than with a credit card or cash.

Mobile payments have taken a while to catch on, with only 17 percent of consumers using them regularly, according to a study conducted by Creditcard.com. Nonetheless, consumers are steadily becoming more familiar with the technology, and it's now possible to pay with a smartphone almost anywhere where you can swipe a contactless credit or debit card. At the same time, e-commerce stores are under constantly increasing pressure to offer more payment systems, particularly as consumers become more concerned about issues pertaining to online security. Many shoppers are now abandoning their shopping cart if you don't accept the payment method they prefer, and are turning to retailers that do.

#5. Big Data Analytics

Big data has become one of the biggest buzzwords of recent years. As companies of all sizes rely more and more on the internet for sales, marketing, customer service and a whole raft of other core operations, big data becomes more relevant to the extent that it's now completely changed the way people do business. The reason behind the importance of big data is simple – every online activity creates data that businesses can use to learn more about their existing and potential customers, and garner invaluable insights into their markets. The amount of raw informational material gathered is often vast, hence the necessity for big data analytics platforms.

Making sense of the colossal amount of data generated by information technology-related activities is where analytics tools come into play. To convert all of the data into meaningful statistics that businesses can use to help grow and improve their marketing strategies, big data analytics platforms, such as Cloudera, Pivotal, SAP, and Oracle have become vital solutions for many businesses. In the case of small businesses, which generally cannot afford and do not need to maintain large data centers of their own, big data analytics is usually taken care of by way of a cloud-based platform such as those mentioned above.

Final Thoughts

Information technology has had a profound effect on business throughout its existence but, today, we see a very different corporate IT environment even compared to that of just a few years ago. Today, the cloud envelops almost everything that small businesses do when it comes to computing and the internet, and it is more important than ever to stay one step ahead to remain competitive.