Whether you’re considering dipping your toe into the world of business this year or are a long-seasoned pro, keeping abreast of the latest tech offerings and how they can enhance your experience is key for everyone from entrepreneurs to tycoons. Not only do they have the power to make your life significantly easier, but they can also boost productivity and in turn, your business’ bottom line – so regularly assessing your set-up and ensuring it’s still working as hard for you as it can be is crucial when it comes to staying ahead.
Over recent years, we’ve seen some truly transformative innovations that have changed the business game, and as they continue to gather momentum and advance further and further, exciting times are ahead. Here, we take a look at the top business tech innovations to take advantage of in 2024 that promise to give you the edge.
VPNs for secure remote access
With remote work now the norm for many business owners and their employees, virtual private networks (VPNs) have come into their own, quickly becoming indispensable tools for ensuring secure connectivity anywhere, anytime. Public WiFi networks are notorious for their vulnerabilities and can leave those logging on open to cyber attacks, so investing in a VPN for yourself and for anyone else who may need one within your company is essential for protecting sensitive data and communications from unauthorised individuals who may be attempting to access them. You can head to surfshark.com for more info on how to set your VPN up.
VPNs work by creating encrypted tunnels that link your remote devices – like laptops, tablets and smartphones – to one another and are impenetrable to outsiders, which means data transmission remains safe and that you and your staff can continue to work as normal from anywhere in the world, accessing internal resources and applications securely.
Artificial intelligence (AI) integration
Artificial intelligence continues to revolutionise the business sphere in myriad ways, and will continue to prove instrumental in remaining competitive and delivering the best possible products or services, as well as an elevated customer experience. In 2024, it is more deeply enmeshed into business operations than ever, improving everything from supply chain management and decision making to marketing and customer service. By using automation to handle repetitive tasks, you can free up staff to focus on more strategic and impactful ones, and ensure that your staffing investments get you the maximum return on investment.
Using machine learning, AI-powered analytics tools are able to extract valuable insights from vast swathes of data in seconds, which in turn, can help you to get to know your customers inside out and gain a thorough understanding of what their wants and needs really are so that you can cater to and communicate with them more effectively. In the luxury sector in particular, providing a personalised experience is key to maintaining a high-net-worth customer base, so if you’re not leveraging AI to help you do so, then now is the time to embrace it.
Blockchain for supply chain management
If you thought blockchain technology was limited to facilitating cryptocurrency transactions, then think again. This innovative tech, which does underpin digital currencies like Bitcoin, is increasingly being more widely adopted for other forward-thinking purposes, one of which is to revolutionise supply chain management, which it is doing by boosting transparency, traceability and security.
Blockchain-powered platforms are becoming ever-more sought-after by businesses for the tracking of products throughout their journeys, from the sourcing of materials through to the fulfillment of orders and finally, delivery to the end user. By recording and encrypting transactions in a decentralised ledger, the risk of fraud is kept to a minimum and product authenticity can be guaranteed. Not only that, but blockchain also facilitates the execution of so-called smart contracts, automating contractual agreements and streamlining administrative processes.
Extended reality (XR) applications
Virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) have been topping tech trends lists for several years now, and it’s clear that they are here to stay. Collectively, and along with mixed reality (MR), they’re known as extended reality (XR), and they’re continuing to gain traction in 2024 as they advance and offer new capabilities and applications for users.
Positively impacting upon everything from training and customer experiences to remote collaboration, if you’ve yet to embrace XR then now is the time to do so, as businesses and entrepreneurs that don’t will risk falling far behind the competition as it continues to gather momentum. If you or some of your team work remotely, then it will become instrumental in allowing you to collaborate effectively – and immersively – from afar, and connect with both employees and customers in new and exciting ways that resonate with them in our modern world.
