Over the past two decades, the world has become increasingly digital. Remote work has become common and contactless payments are creating decreased dependency on cash and physical credit cards. However, these changes don’t just affect the individual.
As technology rapidly evolves, business continues to follow suit. Companies are looking for ways to use technology to their advantage, whether that be through management software or innovative, energy-efficient automation.
As we make our way through this unique digital renaissance, it’s important to examine some of the most prevalent technologies shaping the way we work and produce.
Below are just a few examples of how technology is fundamentally changing business practices.
Technology and Sustainable Business Practices
Maintaining a company with low environmental impact is at the top of every business owner’s to-do list nowadays.
Fuel prices have gone through a volatile period since 2020, and now more than ever it is important to find a way to reduce these costs and your business’s carbon footprint. When it comes to technology’s impact on energy consumption, autonomous delivery will likely be one solution to your financial woes and environmental worries.
As the technology becomes more accessible, businesses will experiment with autonomous vehicles to curb adverse environmental action. Since humans make routing mistakes when driving, fuel waste is common. Autonomous vehicles can reduce this consumption, thereby minimizing toxic emissions.
Quantum computing is another technological development that could shape sustainable business practices. Once fully actualized, this will have a particular influence on the agricultural industry.
Since quantum computers can process calculations much faster than traditional computers, they could potentially predict crop yield for the season, which would have a positive effect throughout the supply chain.
Significant amounts of crucial data, like weather patterns and soil conditions, can be examined against multiple variables at once.
These variables include things like temperature, sunlight exposure, and pesticides. Business owners will have faster access to this information, which creates less waste throughout the supply chain.
The Future of AI on the Business Landscape
AI is another development that has had a large impact on how we work. Chatbots provide users with quick answers in a conversational manner.
They’re also useful for creating schedules and budgets, making itineraries, and crafting entire bodies of written prose.
So, how does generative AI affect the future of business? Financial operations will use AI as a fundamental tool for risk management purposes.
As the AI model is fed present data, it weeds out patterns and risks, offering an assessment in a conversational manner that will help employees understand and relay information more quickly. AI will also lend a helping hand in analyzing and sorting market data
As anyone knows, there are some menial tasks at work that eat away at your productivity.
Chatbots and other AI sources will increasingly be implemented to easily complete these tasks for you while you handle client-facing responsibilities and other uniquely human workplace duties.
This has the potential to eliminate many data entry jobs, allowing employees to effectively trade their usual duties for data-feeding AI models instead.
For warehouse and factory workers, AI can be especially helpful. Production lines can be automated, leaving less room for potential injury and human error.
Intelligent software also allows warehouse workers to use a cloud-based management service to check inventory, preventing stockouts and other productivity issues. However, this tech leap may lead to fully automated factories in the future.
The more human-oriented tasks will focus on the design and engineering of items and devices rather than production.
In all, AI will soon shift the workforce away from manual labour, placing emphasis on the conceptualization and implementation of ideas rather than the construction of their fruits.
This has a massive effect on factory worker wages. Studies show that the addition of robots to the workforce has resulted in 400,000 lost jobs and wage decreases of 0.42% for every robot per 1,000 workers. This statistic will only grow as manufacturing automation evolves.
How Technology Is Influencing Remote Working
Remote work found increased relevancy in 2020 during the COVID-19 pandemic. It is currently just as popular, with 98% of employees looking to continue or start working remotely.
Projections from Upwork detail that, within the next two years, 22% of the American workforce will operate remotely. Tech developments continue to make remote working an accessible option for many people.
With video chat tools like Zoom and Google Meet and collaborative applications like Slack available, employees never have to travel far for meetings and exchanges of information. Screen sharing and cloud computing make sharing documents and presentations easier than ever, and with a significant decrease in commute, workers are experiencing less burnout and more productivity.
Technology enables a world where it makes more sense for you to spend less time in the office.
Some may say the only downside to this is the decrease in human interaction. This may be rectified in the future with the help of augmented reality.
AR will allow people to come together in a virtual boardroom to make decisions, enhancing the feeling of connection and giving folks the unique opportunity to read digital body language.
Specific departments, like HR, have also experienced increased ease at work thanks to remote working and new software. Human Capital Management software (HCM) is something that takes care of all the little things, such as payroll, and provides keen data insights for the most optimized daily performance. Technology is even changing the hiring process for candidates and HR reps.
As of 2023, according to a study by Indeed, 93% of surveyed employers will continue to conduct interviews virtually. In conjunction with AI, HR representatives are able to thoroughly vet new applicants from afar, making the process of hiring new staff members more efficient. In the future, interviews may not even be conducted by a person at all – they will likely consist of a candidate recording answers to given questions while a software application mulls them over. The software will analyze multiple factors and could even detect when a candidate is being nervous or dishonest. This may lead to HR departments across many companies experiencing significant downsizing due to reduced responsibilities.
Final Thoughts
Now that we’ve entered a digital world, there is no going back. It is important to make sure your business keeps up with the times. This means considering tech-based solutions in all areas of your business, from the warehouse to accounting to human resources.
Consider making certain departments entirely remote to keep staff relaxed, lower operating costs, and contribute to a cleaner environment. More than that, stay educated on new updates in the latest tech so you’re constantly aware of new ways to manage your time and staff.
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