4 New Technologies that Can Revolutionize Your Business

New technology paves the way for businesses to leverage their resources in exciting ways. Of course, it’s impossible to take advantage of these benefits if you don’t even know these new technologies exist. Therefore, to help you achieve an edge over your competition, consider how these four new technologies can enhance your business model.

Smart Virtual Personal Assistants (SVPAs)
Think of SVPAs as virtual executive assistants. These "predictive intelligence" apps use voice recognition to sort through personal data from email messages, address books, calendars, and task lists in order to anticipate the next logical step and drastically boost daily efficiency. Apple, Google, and Yahoo all recently acquired SVPA apps to integrate into predictive products, from mobile apps to smart speakers, helping users get tasks done even before they would remember to do it otherwise.

Security and Privacy Solutions
A perennial on Webbmedia's list, privacy concerns remain top-of-mind for wired Americans. According to a Pew Internet and Society poll, 91 percent agree that consumers have lost control of their personal data. Adobe, Dropbox, and Snapchat have experienced major password breaches, and Target and Home Depot had credit card data from millions of customers stolen by hackers. To address these system breaches and reduce the widespread public mistrust, companies are looking to spend more resources on password security and encryption management. To assist with this, Twitter released Digits, a two-way authentication service that sends one-time confirmation codes via texts, which will be offered to mobile apps.

Internet of Things
Thanks to the Internet of Things, the world we live in is now surrounded by an unprecedented number of devices with the ability to communicate directly with one another, similar to how the Nike FuelBand connects to the coffee maker. These devices will become a vital part of our day-to-day home, work, travel, and shopping experience. The implications on how IoT devices can enhance the productivity and connectivity of businesses as only limited by imagination and the ways that these vast networks can be secured.

Collaborative Software
Looking to make the workday more efficient, a new slew of services combine the best of email, instant messaging, social media, and cloud storage into one platform for collaborating with co-workers. Salesforce's Chatter and Microsoft's Yammer are currently two top players in this space, and with the launch of apps like Facebook for Work, the race to further socialize the office is far from over.

If you can see ways that any of these four technologies can enhance the operations of your business, then Preferred can walk you through what it takes to implement these solutions. Or, there may be additional new technologies available that you don’t yet know about, simply because you’ve not been introduced to them. To get your business caught up with the latest and greatest technologies, have a conversation with Preferred today by calling us at 708-781-7110.