Everyone who has a chessboard can play chess. However, not everyone is equally good at it. The mere fact that you have access to technology like AI or IoT doesn’t mean that you’re using it the right way. These complex technologies have so much to offer, which means that even if getting into it may be simple, reaching mastery can be quite complex.
With that in mind, here are the top four technologies that you’re either not using or just not using as well as you could. Hopefully, this will help you change your approach and become more efficient.
Artificial Intelligence (AI)
The first item on this list goes to the term on everyone’s lips in 2023 – artificial intelligence. Even if you’re already using it, you could probably do a better job at it. Here are a few things you might not have tried out.
- Content creation: One of the biggest advantages of platforms like ChatGPT is how they can be used to help you create better content. They save time by giving you outlines, providing you with ideas, and rephrasing your sentences so that they sound better. You can also use it to rephrase your text using more specific or simpler terminology to bring your writing closer to the knowledge level and expectations of your audience.
- Research: You can always use AI to conduct your small surveys. The fact that these tools have such immense computing power means that they can analyze a huge data sample in a matter of minutes. Even more importantly, if you’re reading a piece that you don’t understand, you can just copy it into ChatGPT and ask it to break it down like you were five. The next time you go through it, you’ll have an easier job figuring it out.
- Virtual assistant: An AI-powered chatbot can be an incredible virtual assistant. It’s reliable, capable, and available 24/7. It never goes on sick leave, doesn’t charge for overtime, and it will never leave your organization. Moreover, you can implement it to give your customer service a substantive boost.
Ultimately, AI is just a tool. It’s an advanced one but still just a tool. It’s how you use it (and what you use it for) that makes the difference.
Voice over Internet (VoIP)
For decades, business was conducted via phone lines. Today, you have a far better alternative in the form of services that help with VoIP. Why is this so advantageous?
- Saving money: Traditional calls, especially international calls, were so expensive that they were either used in moments of necessity or represented a massive expense. Today, with VoIP, these calls are not nearly as expensive.
- Scalability: The number of calls is no longer an issue, nor are the number of phone lines you have at the office. This alone ensures far greater scalability of your VoIP capabilities and gives you the cost-efficiency businesses could only dream of a few decades back.
- Mobility: In the past, one of the reasons why office presence was mandatory was that you couldn’t access an office phone from home. This is no longer the case with VoIP, and gives much greater consistency. In an era of remote work and hybrid work, this is incredibly important.
- Analytics and reporting: The use of VoIP gives you a far greater insight into the resources that you use than traditional phone use. This way, you can optimize the efficiency of your enterprise with ease.
The key thing to understanding how effective VoIP is would be to try and compare it to the traditional method of doing business over the phone. This way, you’ll see what it’s all about.
Internet of Things (IoT)
The IoT is one of the most widely discussed topics in the tech world. The thing is that there are a lot of people who know little about the IoT and let their imagination go wild. Most of these fantasies are plausible, yet the majority of brands aren’t using the technology that way. Here are some such ideas:
- Inventory management: Imagine an inventory management where every item in your inventory has a tracker. Like in a video game, you see every single item and consumable in real time, and as soon as something is removed, the status changes. It’s an incredible concept that can make inventory planning the simplest thing in the world (instead of the huge bottleneck it is today).
- Predictive maintenance: Imagine driving a car and knowing that the “health/durability” of your engine is 64% and that, when that number dips below 50%, you’re at a huge risk. Just imagine being able to track every machine and device that you own with such precision and reliability. This would mean much more efficient resource management and less downtime.
- Supply chain visibility: Tracking the shipment was a huge boost to overall customer support. Not only did it make most customers more comfortable waiting for a longer delivery, it also alleviated a lot of pressure that was previously on your customer support. With the IoT, this is as simple as it gets.
There were two bottlenecks of the IoT in the past – bad broadband and the lack of smart items. Both of these problems seem like less of a hassle nowadays.
Video Marketing
While you’re probably already using video marketing, the question is, are you using it the most efficiently that you possibly can? With so many of your competitors doing video marketing, learning how to do it better directly translates into staying ahead. Here’s what you should do to get there.
- Optimize for different platforms: Different videos work well on different platforms. When making Instagram stories, you have 15 seconds to send a message. The podcast audience might not have a problem listening to a four-hour-long narration. The level of animation and captioning that goes into these formats is also quite different. Do your research and adjust.
- Exercise consistency: You need to ensure that your video marketing campaign shows signs of consistency. First, your content needs to be recognizable in style and quality. Second, you need to be consistent with the frequency of posting. Some YouTubers (even successful ones) are known for publishing content every few months (albeit of higher quality). Just develop a plan and stick to it.
- Become better at storytelling: Previously, we’ve discussed the importance of sending a message. This is something that you need to become very good at. Find what works best for your audience, but to get there, you need to conduct extensive audience research. This is not a simple task, but it has to be done.
- Analyze performance (and improve): Track and record how each piece of content performs. What content is known to work better than others, and what shows worse results? Then, try to learn and improve through these insights.
Video marketing is something that you can’t go around. So, try to make the best out of it.
These four technologies have the potential to transform your business, but only if used right
The biggest problem with learning how to use any tool is the fact that there’s a difference between knowing how to use it and knowing how to use it effectively. Many people just figure out the basic mechanics – like learning how ChatGPT works without ever bothering to learn how to make better prompts. When the results are underwhelming, they blame the tech instead of themselves. Don’t make the same mistake.
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