Technology is evolving at a breakneck speed, and keeping up with a deluge of new emerging trends can be challenging for enterprises. However, businesses not only need to keep up with the trends and developments within their respective industries but also identify which technologies to adopt in order to evolve in a rapidly changing enterprise landscape.
Information, or data, is an integral element of business success today, and the creation of data is almost an endless process, given the ubiquity of digital technologies and devices being used at both the organizational as well as consumer/individual level. And businesses that know how to leverage data in the right way, are best positioned to come out on top among their competitors who are slower in achieving digital transformation.
With the year coming to an end, here are some of the significant trends pertaining to data and data-driven technologies we can anticipate in 2019:
Virtual agents to optimize customer interactions
Acquiring customers is always a challenge for businesses, no matter how big or small they may be while retaining them can be an even bigger one. A brand can only be built through strong and long-term relationships with customers, and doing this is imperative in the present environment where the competition is getting increasingly intense each day. That is precisely why brands need to effectively engage their customers by providing them a seamless and value-driven experience when interacting with them on any channel. That's the one thing that can turn a user into a loyal customer.
As more and more consumers get online, businesses will look to deploy virtual agents or chatbots on their digital, customer-facing platforms to interact with visitors and address their product or customer service queries. This is where data analytics and artificial intelligence come in to make these interactions more seamless by tapping into various data sources and gathering relevant insights to deliver more satisfying customer experience. In 2019, then, the use of chatbots is only expected to increase across industries such as banking, finance, healthcare, retail, e-commerce, as well as in the hiring and recruitment space.
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AI tools to gain traction
Artificial intelligence and machine learning have been integrated into nearly every business process in the recent past, and the adoption of these intuitive technologies will only continue to rise in 2019 as well. AI has been widely acknowledged for its ability to empower decision-makers such as managers, business leaders, and C-suite executives with high-quality data using powerful analytical models. This allows decision-makers to consider all aspects, including past performance and predictions on future developments to create suitable business strategies or optimize existing plans to achieve desired outcomes. The use of such AI-powered decision-making engines are gaining considerable traction, particularly in the sales and marketing domain. In the coming year and beyond, the use of such tools could see a higher uptake on the top management level, not only among larger enterprises but also by small- and mid-sized businesses.
Reimagining traditional enterprise IT systems with AI and cloud platforms
Data is generated across enterprises from all directions and departments, almost on a minute-by-minute basis. This data is also not only generated at varying speeds, but also in various formats, with most businesses storing them in different silos, and often not knowing how to use it. Even with the adoption of cloud platforms or servers to store all this data, there isn't much difference in the efficiency levels, as businesses still lose out on the vast trove of insights they can derive from such a huge supply of data.
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That's where AI-driven enterprise platforms can deliver superior levels of efficiency to businesses by streamlining workflows, managing data inflow, and collating insights from processes conducted across departments. Such AI platforms are more intelligent, scalable, and efficient than traditional enterprise IT frameworks as they allow businesses to automate workflows, including time-consuming and repetitive activities, thus freeing up important resources and human employees for more important functions. AI-enabled platforms can also help businesses eliminate their data silos and bring all enterprise data into a single cloud application, enabling real-time visibility of data and allowing various departments to manage it efficiently.
AI and data analytics platforms enable businesses to not only optimize their back-end infrastructures and processes but also front-end customer-facing functions such as sales and marketing. The computing and intuitive capabilities of such platforms make for the perfect solution for businesses looking to enhance audience engagement and customer retention.
At the same time, they drive higher enterprise value by unlocking unparalleled data-driven capabilities for the business. Such integrated enterprise mobility systems represent the next generation of organizational efficiency and are expected to influence the tech and business landscape in the very near future.
The writer Richa Kapoor is Marketing Manager at Absolutdata.
