Today, companies of all sizes and industries increasingly prioritize technological development in their business strategies. Businesses are actively seeking ways to gain a competitive edge in today's highly innovative economy where such emerging technologies as artificial intelligence (AI), blockchain, and the Internet of Things (IoT) are changing the way businesses work and bringing great benefits to those who are able to utilize them efficiently. In this article, I will go over these technologies in more detail in order to illustrate their benefits and challenges for different industries.
The concept of Artificial Intelligence is essentially about machines being able to learn and make decisions as humans do. In today's AI-powered systems, a wide range of subsets of AI are available, including Machine Learning, Deep Learning, Natural Language Processing, Speech Recognition, and many more. They can analyze large amounts of data and provide insights much faster and more efficiently than humans could on their own.
Therefore, AI tools are considered one of the key emerging technologies that companies can use to gain a solid competitive advantage, particularly for improving decision-making processes.
AI's main attraction is its universal capability to facilitate better decisions across a broad spectrum of industries, from the digital sphere (marketing, product development, UX/UI) to supply chain management and even finance.
Marketing. Companies that are seeking to enhance their advertising efforts can use AI-powered tools to determine which customer groups are more likely to respond to which marketing offers. With AI tools, they can collect real-time reactions and provide analysis to improve customer experience. In the best-case scenario, using AI recommendations could lead to a higher return on marketing investment.
Supply Chain. Similarly, companies that use AI to optimise their supply chains can reduce costs and increase efficiency since AI gives them a competitive edge over rivals who still rely on traditional supply chain management methods in today's complex supply chain environment. One of the most vivid examples is Uptake, a company that uses AI and machine learning technologies to analyse data for telematics in order to forecast failure and avoid delays for a variety of vehicles and machinery. Uptake's most illustrative cases include increased fleet uptime with four-fold ROI growth or 34% longer time between unscheduled maintenance for its clients. [1]
Finance. Companies in the financial industry, for their part, can use AI to design new investment products and investment or trading strategies by identifying trends, data patterns, and trading signals. As such, Artificial intelligence can benefit both large corporations and startups that build their products around this technology. For example, one of such startups, Underwrite.ai, a company that analyses thousands of data points to assess credit risk for loan applicants, helped one of its clients maintain a default rate of 8.5% for the first three payments, compared to the industry average of 35%. [2]
Automation in Banking. Companies have already begun to use artificial intelligence to automate repetitive tasks and make better, data-driven decisions. In this way, they can free up resources and focus those resources on growing their businesses by streamlining operations and increasing efficiency. JP Morgan, for example, used an ML-powered programme for automated compliance agreement processing that takes several seconds to review over a thousand agreements, compared to previously spending 360,000 hours on this process by employees. [3]
Fashion. Similarly, businesses are already using natural language processing on Internet text to gain insights into customer sentiment and preferences. Leading fashion brands are competing to be the first to identify emerging trends on social media in order to forecast what will be popular in the coming season and gain a better understanding of their customers' preferences. Based on this data, they make more informed decisions about what type of garments to produce and how much to produce, raising their chances of success in a given season. This assists them not only in identifying trends, but also in operational optimization by reducing markdowns, excess inventory, and associated logistics costs, while ensuring faster inventory turnover.
By now everyone in tech and beyond is aware that blockchain is a decentralized, digital ledger that allows transactions to be recorded and verified securely and transparently. The technology can also be used to facilitate a wide range of business activities, including creating decentralized, peer-to-peer networks without centralized control. For businesses, this is one more opportunity to leverage high-tech for obtaining strategic benefits by generating new revenue streams and business models.
Healthcare. Companies in the healthcare industry can use blockchain technology to securely store and share patient data, which can improve patient outcomes and lower costs.
Food. The food industry can benefit from using blockchain to predict and prevent food safety issues. For example, the United States Food and Drug Administration used the aforementioned technologies, including blockchain, to receive critical tracking events and key data elements from partners in order to prevent food illness outbreaks and alert clients in real time before they consume contaminated foods. [4]
Education. A variety of educational record-keeping documents, such as diplomas, transcripts, and certificates, often require validation from a third party. In turn, blockchain can automatically verify them through instant document approval, greatly easing the application process for a job or a university programme. [5]
Retail. Due to its ability to quickly bring together all retail chain members and provide them with real-time information without giving prevailing control to one of the parties, blockchain provides a unique opportunity for retail. In this regard, Walmart applied blockchain technology as a foundation for an automated network system for managing invoices from and payments to its 70 third-party freight carriers. Before that, Walmart had 70% of disrupted invoices with more than 200 tracking data points factored in invoices and large quantities of transported goods. This number dropped to 1% after the system was set up. [6]
Another highly advantageous emerging technology is the Internet of Things (IoT), which refers to a network of physical objects, such as devices and machines, that are connected to the internet and can communicate with one another. Its application is also incredibly versatile, not only for various industries but also for a wide range of business purposes.
Customer insights. IoT enables businesses to collect and analyse data on how their products and services are used in the real world, which can aid in cost reduction and workflow optimization. For example, a company that uses IoT to create a connected product can gain valuable insights into how customers use the product. Think of Amazon’s Alexa today communicating with home’s thermostats, lightning systems, TV, speaker systems, etc.
Consumption analysis. Besides, IoT can assist the company in identifying areas where the product can be improved and meeting customer expectations in terms of new features. Consider a company that uses Bluetooth beacons to analyse customer movements in a store once they are connected to WiFi. This information allows them to predict new trends and identify the most popular items by identifying the most visited store departments and products.
New revenue streams. Additionally, the company can use the data collected from the IoT-enabled product to generate new revenue streams, such as selling the data to third parties or creating new products and services.
Monitoring and connection. As another example, companies can use the Internet of Things operationally to connect and monitor various devices and systems within an organisation, allowing for greater efficiency and cost savings. IoT is widely used in the logistics industry for this purpose, such as connecting deliverymen and customers, storing product-related information in a digital product memory or a smart label, and overseeing various business processes with this information - topics researched or even implemented by DHL and its partners. [7]
Adoption of emerging technologies is not without difficulties though. No doubt, AI, blockchain, and IoT provide benefits to businesses that decide to implement them. They do, however, pose some risks and challenges.
Cost. One of the most significant is the cost of implementing these. Many of these emerging technologies necessitate significant investments in new hardware, software, and talent, which can be a significant challenge for businesses, particularly small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs).
Expertise. Another challenge is ensuring that the company's existing talent pool can manage and implement these new technologies. Companies may need to invest in formal training programmes and other ways to support their existing employees to ensure this.
Regulation. Finally, when adopting emerging technologies, businesses may face legal and regulatory challenges. Depending on the industry, the use of personal data may be subject to strict regulations, and businesses may need to invest in compliance measures to ensure they are meeting these requirements.
First and foremost, the company needs to determine whether it is ready to take risks in order to keep up with the latest technologies. If the answer is yes, it should properly estimate those risks and devise a strategy to mitigate them since it is stepping on the highly volatile path.
The company should then establish a clear vision and strategy for how the technologies will be utilised. This entails identifying the specific technologies that will be most beneficial to the company and developing a strategy for implementing and integrating them into existing systems and processes. It also entails being adaptable and agile in order for the company to respond quickly to new developments and opportunities in the field.
Furthermore, in order to effectively use these technologies, businesses must foster an innovation culture. It entails not only creating an environment in which employees are encouraged to think creatively and take risks, as well as embracing and testing new ideas, but also hiring managers who have specific expertise in the field of innovations and are capable of running them.
Companies should be open to collaborating with other companies and organisations in addition to creating an innovative culture and having a clear vision and strategy. This can include forming partnerships, investing in startups, and taking part in industry consortiums and forums. By collaborating with others and exchanging their expertise, companies can ensure access to shared knowledge and resources.
Finally, businesses can gain a competitive advantage by staying current on emerging technology developments. This encompasses various industry trends, attending conferences and events, and staying up to date on the latest research and publications in their fields.
Leveraging emerging technologies such as AI, blockchain, and IoT may provide businesses with a substantial competitive advantage in today's fast-paced economy, where trailblazers take it all.
These technologies, when used responsibly and competently, can dramatically improve decision-making, create new profitable business models, and collect valuable data on their products and services. All of this paves the way for businesses to gain a competitive advantage over their competitors. However, potential challenges must not be overlooked: implementing technologies requires considering costs, recruiting competent talent, and avoiding any legal and regulatory risks that may arise, not to mention balancing all the benefits, costs, and risks within a chosen strategy for technology application.