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The Future Is Now: The Technologies Dominating Change In Modern Business

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There is no force that can change the ways we do business as much as technology can. That’s been a proven since the industrial revolution. If you need more recent proof, then you only need look as far back as the sudden swell of importance in getting your business online and active in digital marketing. The businesses that crest the waves of technology first are the ones that will benefit the most from them. That’s why you might want to keep your eyes on some of these still fledgling technologies.

A new world of creation

One of the most exciting prospects over the past year has been the rise of 3D printing. Now, it’s possible to create anything you can imagine so long as you have the right size of a printer. With the right materials, it’s even possible to print metallic objects. So far, one of the most prevalent uses of 3D printing has been in quickly creating prototypes. It allows product designers to get their hands on their designs, to properly understand their dimensions and begin planning how they’ll begin production in earnest. However, the medical fields and others are using 3D printing to create intricate products with more precision than even manufacturing equipment can provide.

Reaching the Clouds

Diving back into the digital world for a bit, the Cloud has already made a rather large impact. There is no shortage of providers of Cloud data services. The ability to store data away from your own physical servers just offers that extra bit of security for a business’s documents and resources. But the Cloud can offer more than storage. Cloud computing also lends the processing power of other systems using only an internet connection. Business owners could potentially have the power of a whole network of devices accessible through just a single laptop, for instance.

A whole new reality

We can’t talk about the future without talking about one of 2016’s most famous technological debuts. We’re talking about the real advent of virtual reality technology, primarily in the headsets. VR has been only a concept with a few stuttering starts until now, but the wave of recent headsets is starting to show what the reality will look like it. Yet for the moment, they have mostly been marketed as toys. In the future, we expect businesses will start to find a lot more use for VR than you might expect. It can be used to create experiences like virtual tours to give marketing a whole new dimension. There are experiments in looking at applying CAD work into VR, too, making it easier and a lot more connected to architect, design, and create.

Bridging the gap

Augmented reality might have been forgotten as some as little more than the compromised cousin of virtual reality. It doesn’t quite take you into a new world but instead imprints the existing world with a virtual overlay that you can interact with. Devices like Google glasses are looking into the applications of AR, but many business owners already see it as more useful than VR. It could allow you to sort out all your admin, from emails to workflow, as you move from place to place. Some cool proposed applications even include giving a virtual keyboard you can access directly from your arm. If AR gets the support it deserves, it could drastically cut the amount of time you have to spend sitting at a computer.

Taking to the skies with ease

Back out from the digital world, we can’t ignore that there are some parts of the business that have to be done outside of a screen. The fulfillment and delivery of your goods is one of them. The growing implementation of GPS is making it easier to manage and monitor your delivery options, but now there’s a whole new method of delivery that doesn’t need any wheels on the ground at all. Businesses using drone parcel delivery are able to cut down a lot of the inefficient pathfinding that increases costs in driving, for one. Instead, parcels go directly from you and on the fastest route to the recipient. This is only one of applications that drones have for business, of course, but it’s one that’s already seeing a lot of benefit for retailers.

Automation keeps rolling on and on

Regardless of whether it’s in the real world or the virtual, the growing role of automation only looks to increase as we go into the future. Automation initially found its place mostly in manufacturing, requiring less manual labor and boasting more efficient results. However, automating software is also making office life a lot easier for business owners. Automated software is being used to take care of aspects like HR, accounting, and even workflow management. The right use of automated software means that a lot of business owners have a lot less distracting busywork getting in the way of their profits.

Wearable management

As well as getting more able to handle its own weight, technology is also getting more and more lightweight. Portable tech is an essential business tool, but it might not necessarily have to spend all its time in your pocket anymore. Instead of phones and tablets, we might be looking at teams that make a lot more use of wearable tech. Immediately, the benefits of accessible, wearable interfaces for business is being recognized. The business mogul Salesforce is already launching a host of 20 apps for the Apple Watch, from taking a look at key performance indicators to keeping an eye on your finances wherever you are.

The big world of Big Data

As we shift further and further to a reliance on digital devices, we also collect more and more data. Recently, business innovators have started to realize that we collect so much data that it’s self-destructive to ignore it. So now, analysts have started poring through what is called Big Data. It can offer insights into the processes of the business, the behavior of customers, and traffic of online resources. With some investigative and problem-solving efforts, the data can be used to come up with solutions that result in a better business. Often, the data lends perspective to more reliable answers than trying to fix the business without it. Big Data isn’t only for big business, either. There are a lot of tools making it even more accessible for small businesses, too.

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