Thursday 23 May 2019

What Are the Top Enterprise Security Challenges Faced by Small Businesses?

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Source: corebt.com
Life in the 21st century has taught us that technology is irrevocably enmeshed with our lives. No matter what we do, chances are good that technology of some sort will be involved. If it’s not a smartphone, computer, or another ‘smart’ device that’s pretty much all tech, it’s something that makes use of it, even if it’s only minimal. That’s just life nowadays: an evolving society that relies more and more on technology as it improves and takes over an increasing amount of aspects in our lives.

Well, the same is true for businesses, both large and small. Actually, it’s even more true for businesses because staying afloat in our technology-driven society means leveraging the latest and greatest developments to stay ahead of the competition. As it happens to be, these developments are all centered around technology and how it can be used to propel business strategies and meet quotas.

The problem comes when you realize that this increased reliance on technology also means increased business security risks from people who are more than glad to use a business’ very own technology against them. As to the how, that is exactly what we’re going to cover today. From possible leaks with IoT connected devices, to vulnerable business data, here are the top enterprise security challenges faced by small businesses.

Internet of Things (IoT) Breaches

In case you’re unaware as to what the Internet of Things (IoT) is, here’s an online definition:

The Internet of things is the extension of Internet connectivity into physical devices and everyday objects. Embedded with electronics, Internet connectivity, and other forms of hardware, these devices can communicate and interact with others over the Internet, and they can be remotely monitored and controlled
In other words, the IoT is a collection of programs and devices that can connect to the Internet and to each other in a network of connectivity with machine-to-machine communication that includes humans in the mix. From both a business and consumer perspective, this is absolutely wonderful… to a certain extent. Yes, we may gain ‘smart houses’ and other gadgets that automate the home, and they gain troves of customer data and machines whose real-time communication with each other simplifies processes, but all of us also open ourselves to an increased risk of cybersecurity threats.

For example, think of a hallway doors that are locked to the outside world. As long as every single lock holds, every other door is safe. But, were one to break, every other door would be compromised. Now transfer this analogy to the IoT. With it, you could have dozens of devices in a single network with varying levels of security, and if someone with nefarious purposes were to gain access to one, they could gain access to all.

Increased Reliance on Algorithms

Like the IoT that has greatly improved many lives, the use of algorithms in business has also greatly improved how they function. After all, what is an algorithm but a set of rules that come together to solve a problem? Unfortunately, also like the IoT, just because something can improve our lives does not mean that it can’t hurt us as well. In the case of small businesses, this comes as an increased reliance on algorithms that overlooks what they do and how.

For instance, as a business becomes increasingly reliant on algorithms to operate properly, it may lose sight into the actual functioning and interactions of its systems that are all controlled by said algorithms. That is to say, as their confidence in the algorithms increase, ther vigilance starts slacking. For many businesses this may seem a negligent issue that can be overlooked, but considering what happened to the U.S. Treasury Bonds “flash crash” of October 2014 before the algorithms behind it corrected themselves, it most certainly should not.

Vulnerable Customer Data

Even though we mainly hear about customer data breaches as they pertain to large enterprises, small businesses are just as vulnerable to them, and perhaps even more. Sure, an enterprise that makes millions or billions in revenue, and has just as much information on its users may seem as the more likelier target, but would it be the easiest? No, it would not. That would be a small business that doesn’t expect to be breached and has a vastly inferior security system in place.

Final Thoughts

Regardless of its size and industry, being part of a business today means opening yourself up to security challenges you wouldn't have faced otherwise. If you’re part of a large business, you probably have teams making sure everything is working as it should and nothing untoward happens. If, on the other hand, you’re part of a small business, you need to be more vigilant and guard yourself against any possible risk coming your way.

Sunday 24 March 2019

How Are Enterprise Apps Revolutionizing the Corporate World?

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Image Source: business2community.com
Applications, whether they’re consumer or enterprise apps, are revolutionizing the world with the utility they provide. Whereas a consumer app  focuses on serving the needs of consumers, i.e. people like you and me, enterprise apps instead focus on the enterprise. For instance, while both types of apps can fall into a variety of categories and are meant to improve the life of the user, those for consumer apps will usually be more targeted toward entertainment, and those for the enterprise toward meeting business objectives in a more efficient manner. Because of this, you’ll most likely encounter consumer apps in stores like the Apple App Store, Google Play store and Amazon Apps, and enterprise apps in more specialized stores that are often custom made for each enterprise. 

Enterprise app benefits are also wide-ranging and can do a lot, such as increase a worker’s productivity and that of the business as a whole, leverage big data and make sense of it, and optimize business processes so they’re accomplished as seamless as possible. In doing so, they’re shaking up business and revolutionizing the corporate world.

How Enterprise Apps for Business are Revolutionizing the Corporate World

Because of their wide-ranging capabilities, enterprise apps are useful for businesses of all sizes and industries. For example, some common enterprise app categories are for:

  ● Automated billing                                                      ● Business intelligence (BI)
  ● Payment processing                                                  ● Enterprise application integration (EAI)
  ● Email marketing                                                        ● Enterprise content management
  ● Customer relationship management (CRM)       ● Enterprise search  
  ● Enterprise resource planning (ERP)                     ● Enterprise messaging systems (EMS) 
  ● Business continuity planning (BCP)                     ● Call center and customer support
                                                                                            ● HR management 

Whatever its use, you can bet that an enterprise application can help improve your business. As such, they’re absolutely crucial if you’re seeing that there are pain points in your sales funnel, your business processes are taking too long, information is not as readily available as it should be, or a host of other issues that need to be rectified. 

Delving deeper, consider your sales department. As a business, you need to make sales to stay afloat and prosper, but complications sometimes arise that make that more of a challenge than it already is. For instance, maybe you’re receiving too many prospects and can’t handle tracking all of them. In this case, you can use a CRM app to deliver support when it’s needed, segment audiences for better targeting, and engage with them at the best possible moment. If you have salespeople on the field, this CMR application can also run on the cloud and be accessible on mobile so they can always have the information they need, when they need it.

Enterprise applications are also excellent if you see that certain processes are taking too long, such as when you have a team sifting through data in an effort to make sense of it. To alleviate this, you can employ an AI-based enterprise app that can go through all the data while your human workers take care of higher-level tasks that go beyond analyzation. Likewise, you can also use an ERP tool to unify multiple operations and provide a single data source, and an HR tool to automate and streamline HR tasks like managing employee information, both of which will save even more time.

Final Thoughts

Enterprise apps for business provide enterprises with much-needed support in a variety of areas. For example, apart from what we touched on earlier, take a look at some of the top 50 enterprise apps for 2019:

Tableau Desktop lets you drag & drop to analyze data. You can connect to data in a few clicks, visualize and create interactive dashboards with a few more.
Jira is an issue and project tracker for teams building great software. Track bugs and tasks, link issues to related code, agile planning, and monitor activity.
Canvas is the LMS that makes teaching and learning (and implementation and adoption and customer support and student success and bragging to your non-Canvas-using peers) easier.
Salesforce CPQ automates quoting, contracting, and ordering processes. Improve sales productivity and close more deals without ever leaving the Salesforce Cloud.
Domo Business Intelligence (BI) combines a powerful backend that sits on top of and connects into any existing system where data lives, including those for customer relationship management, enterprise resource planning, human resources and financials, as well as any data repository or current reporting system.


Like these applications, there are literally hundreds and even thousands of other enterprise apps for business you can use. Best of luck!

Thursday 14 March 2019

5 of the Biggest Factors Affecting Your Mobile App Development Costs

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Developing a mobile app used to be reserved for those who could afford to do so. It was an indulgence that not many took, and those who did spent a lot of money doing so. Then technology improved and the cost to develop a mobile app dropped. This meant that mobile apps were no longer a bonus that looked and sounded cool; they turned into a business advantage that can give you the boost you need to surpass your competition. 

Even though you won’t break the bank developing a mobile app today, it can still be a costly endeavor. That’s why today, we’re going to be discussing five of the biggest factors affecting your mobile app development costs and how to reduce them.

1. External Mobile App Development Resources

As you might expect, one of the most obvious factors affecting your mobile app development cost relates to external resources, i.e. whether or not you turn to an outside source for help. To simplify things, let’s break down mobile app development factors into two areas: strategy and development. Whereas strategy relates to everything pertaining to the app’s function and features, development has to do with the actual engineering work that gets the app built. With this in mind, your company may have a well-defined strategy and design in place, but lacks the expertise to follow through with the development. Then again, the opposite may be true and you have a team of developers, but no real solution to implement. In both of these instances, you would need to go to someone else for help, which equates to a higher development cost.

Low cost mobile app development solution: If you have the capability, keep everything in-house. Keep in mind that outside resources often have the experience and expertise to deliver a beautiful app, so weigh this against your own resources. You could also opt for an app template that simplifies everything and reduces your overall costs.

2. Mobile App Platform(s)

Another factor that affects your mobile app development cost is your app’s platform(s). In other words, whether you choose a cross-platform approach or design it for a specific operating system like iOS or Android. Because each mobile platform is different and requires its own app-building approach, you can’t simply copy and paste the code for one platform and use it for another. If you want your app to work on all operating systems, you’ll have to invest more money and use a cross-platform approach that ensures this happens. 

Low cost mobile app development solution: Stick to the platform your users use the most in the beginning, and once your app has gained traction, venture out into different operating systems.

3. Integrations

You want your mobile app to be the best, so you get the best, right? Unfortunately, the more you add to your app, the more you end up paying for it. For example, consider features that can be integrated from the phone itself, such as GPS, camera, flashlight, etc. Each additional integration to your app equates to an additional fee. 

Low cost mobile app development solution: Keep integrations to a minimum, especially in the beginning. If you build too many into the first release, you can end up paying more for something that you’re not even sure you truly want later on, and may also face additional costs in the beginning if there are bugs that need to be fixed.

4. Bonus Features

Similar to integrations, you may want to include bonus features on your app to make it even more attractive for your users. For example, to convince your users to stick with the app even though it takes a while to load, you may choose to include an animated splash screen to keep them entertained. You may also want to include virtual assistant functionality to make it more appealing to tech-savvy users (e.g. allowing them to interact with Siri, Alexa, or another crowd-favorite assistant). No matter what additional features you choose to include, all of them will inevitably increase your costs.
Low cost mobile app development solution: Also similar to the point above, keep bonus features to a minimum.

5. Localization

Localization is the process whereby you make something unique for a particular place, and the final factor affecting your mobile app development costs we’ll cover today. For example, a basic consideration here is your app’s main language. You may want to expand its borders and include other languages, which will lead to more costs. Likewise, you have to think about customer support. Will you be able to handle requests coming from people who don’t speak the main language, but rather one of the additional ones? If you can’t, you’ll have to hire someone who can, which, again, means more money spent. And then there’s your market. Each region your app is available in may have different requirements to appear in an app store, meaning more boxes to check and more money to spend.

Low cost mobile app development solution: At least in the beginning (and if you can), keep things simple and stick with one language and one market. Like we talked about with platforms, once your app has gained traction, expand both your app and its user base.

Let’s Take a Second Look

No matter your industry, chances are good that a mobile app can be an excellent tool you can use to propel your business forward. Unfortunately, development is not cheap; thankfully, there are some things you can do to alleviate your concerns and mitigate costs. For instance, the five solutions we covered today relating to the five biggest factors affecting your development costs:

1. External Mobile App Development Resources
2. Mobile App Platform(s)
3. Integrations
4. Bonus Features
5. Localization

Best of luck!

Sunday 24 February 2019

Here Are the Enterprise Tech Trends to Expect in 2019

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Source: computerworld.com
Just like peanut butter and jelly, technology and the enterprise go hand-in-hand. It doesn’t even matter how big or small an enterprise is either; as long as it’s an enterprise working in the 21st century, it uses some sort of technology day in and day out. It all boils down to a simple fact: if they’re not making use of the latest technology to uphold their strategy and propel their business forward, not only will their competition do just that, but will also leave them far behind in doing so.

The thing is, as an enterprise, being left behind by your competition is the last thing you want because it signals that you’re becoming obsolete. To prevent this from happening, you have to do a lot of things that, unfortunately, we can’t cover today, BUT, what we can do is cover one of those things that, as it happens to be, is one of the most important things you can and should already be doing: taking stock of the incoming enterprise trends 2019 has in store, particularly those relating to enterprise technology.

Enterprise Technology Trends for 2019

With the new year comes a whole trove of enterprise technology trends that either already existed and are being carried over from the past year and possibly even those before it, or are brand new and are just now making an impact. Likewise, while some are ground in facts and figures, others are solely based on speculation and what the “experts” believe will come. With that in mind, let’s get started covering the enterprise technology trends for 2019 that you need to keep an eye on.

The Cloud

A couple of years ago practically no one really knew what the cloud was. Despite the fact that most people with smartphones use the cloud today, things haven’t changed that much from those days. Well, for the general population, that is. For the enterprise, it’s been game of chicken in which they debate whether to join the cloud or keep things on-premise…until recently, that is. Today, the many benefits and advantages of the cloud, especially for growing businesses that may need to scale up in the near future, have pushed many to make the change, and many others to strongly take it into consideration.

Source: nextgov.com

Software-Defined Wide Area Networking

In layman’s terms that are still a bit technical, software-defined wide area networking (SD-WAN) can be thought of as the combination of software-defined networking (SDN) and wide area networking (WAN) to do a variety of things, such as provide better bandwidth and performance, and allow access to internal networks for those in remote locations. With the incoming rollout of 5G networks expected this year, and the growing importance of IoT technology, 2019 seems an excellent year for enterprises to invest in SD-WAN technology.

Machine Learning

In one form or another, artificial intelligence (AI) has been in practically every list of tech trends we’ve had in the past couple of years. More often than not, it’s because of machine learning and its ability to “learn” without being explicitly programed to do so. Because of this, it’s used in practically every industry you can think of for more uses than you can imagine, and this will continue to be true in 2019. For example, digital marketers can use it when they place an ad and use “Smart Bidding” features, businesses when they introduce a chatbot to their social channels or applications, eCommerce brands when they recommend products based on browsing and purchasing behaviors, and so on.

Final Thoughts on Digital Transformations

As we leave 2018 behind and venture into 2019, the point we touched on earlier about technology being expected in an enterprise has never been truer. After all, look back on all the technology trends we touched on today. Can a company that’s not making use of any of these actually compete with another one that is? No, no it cannot. Even if only one of them is being utilized, that single advantage is worth even more in the tech-based world we live in.

Because of this, digital transformations in the enterprise have never been as important as they are today; if they haven’t already, any laggards that have opted out of following past trends will start to feel the heat very soon. The choice, then, is whether to follow the lead of those who have already done what was necessary, or stay behind yet another year and hope that things somehow get better without actually taking the initiative and making it so.

With that in mind, best of luck adopting these enterprise technology trends for 2019 into your strategy!

Wednesday 14 November 2018

Why You Need to Adopt Workflow Automation Tools for Your Enterprise

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source: technologyadvice.com
No matter the industry or size, you’ll be hard pressed to find a business that doesn’t use some sort of technology in their daily processes.

That’s a fact of life when you live and work in the 21st century.

What many don’t realize is just how much they can get out of technology; they stick with the bare minimum, thinking that’s more than enough.

Wrong—why not make the most of what you have?

For example, if you can this and that in half the time that it normally would, why wouldn’t you?

That’s the basis of what we’re going to be discussing today: adopting workflow automation tools for your enterprise so your employees can work smarter, not harder.

Before we get to that, what exactly is workflow automation?

What Is Workflow Automation?

A definition for “workflow” is the sequence of industrial, administrative, or other processes through which a piece of work passes from initiation to completion.

Specific to the enterprise, a workflow can be seen as a system—a workflow management system—that exemplifies how tasks, documents or any other sort of information is passed from person to person, group to group.

In other words, from beginning to end, it’s how things get done.

Expanding on this, at each stage in the workflow, someone or something is responsible for specific tasks that, when completed, signal to the next one(s) in the chain that it’s their turn.

At first glance, this seems normal and efficient, but when you narrow down on what’s happening, you’ll see that each stage presents an opportunity for improvement.

That’s workflow automation. It’s when you automate and streamline existing business activities and processes, thereby reducing human error so the enterprise can complete tasks more efficiently, accurately and consistently.

Do I Need to Automate My Workflow?

More often than not, the answer to “do I need to automate my workflow?” will be a resounding yes.
Even if you’re part of a small operation, chances are very good that you’ll gain some workflow automation tool benefits in doing so, such as minimizing inefficiencies and better managing resources, which both lead to an improved bottom line.

This is because, with an automated workflow in place, you have a system that automatically handles processes for your employees and, apart from saving time by doing things automatically as opposed to manually, essentially allows them to focus on more important tasks.

For instance, if you have any sort of repetitive tasks, you have an opportunity for automation that will optimize your resources for future processes, allowing you to meet new demands.

With that in mind, what are other workflow benefits of automation?

What Are the Automation Benefits and Limitations of a Workflow Management System?

Making use of workflow automation tools in your enterprise comes with a lot of benefits that can all help it grow.

For example, on a smaller scale, if your employees no longer need to manual notify others when something is complete, downtime between tasks is essentially eliminated, creating a smoother workflow.

On a larger scale, automating workflows for the entire enterprise can save time and reduce errors and costs, all of which give it the competitive edge it needs in our current business landscape that’s saturated by competitors.

As for limitations, the only real limitation of automating workflow would be if there is no workflow to automate.

Even if you’re automating the minimum, such as an automated email reply for orders, you’ll save time each time an email is sent automatically.

Workflow Benefit 1: Automation Saves You Time


The very fact that some business processes will be automated means that you can complete (more) tasks faster, allowing your business to save time and speed up the workflow as a whole.

This, in turn, will give your employees more time to focus on other tasks like those that can be categorized as revenue-generating activities.

For example, think of an inventory management system in a warehouse.

By tracking inventory on-hand as well as all sales and transactions, the system not only knows when inventory needs to purchase but by tracking past sales and trends, will also know exactly how much will be needed.

Workflow Benefit 2: Automation Reduces Errors

A very big part of being human is to err—we just can’t escape it.

But, in business, a place where a single error can cost upward of millions of dollars, being human doesn’t seem like a good excuse for the occasional error.

Thankfully, with an automated system handling your workflow, errors can be greatly reduced or even completely eliminated as machines take over what was previously left up to a human to complete.

Additionally, with the right software backing you up, you’ll be able to ensure quality work at the first go, which saves you the hassle of going back a second or third time to get things right.

In other words, by eliminating manual and human errors, time and resources can both be saved and re-integrated into the enterprise.

Workflow Benefit 3: Automation Reduces Costs

Like we just touched on, automated workflows can save time and reduce errors.

When combined, both of these things lead to reduced costs for the enterprise because we all know that time is money, and fewer errors mean less time and money spent correcting them.

That is to say, overall, automation can streamline pretty much every process it touches so time and resources can be saved and diverted to where they’re needed most, not where they’re simply needed.

As for the errors, that’s pretty much self-explanatory; errors take valuable time away from the company because they need to be corrected if fewer errors down the line are to be expected.

Final Thoughts

If it can be considered a mandate of owning a business, one would be to grow.

Thankfully, incorporating automation tools into your workflow can do just that.

For example, consider Aprimo, a leader in global marketing operations that offers performance-driven software for workflow automation.

By offering intelligent workflow capabilities that automatically assign and route tasks, all the manual labor of project management is eliminated.

And by quickly assigning and managing resources for each project, you’ll be able to increase your speed to market so you can focus more on optimizing and tailoring everything to perfection.

Good luck!

Friday 5 October 2018

Here are 3 Ways to Drive Quality Traffic to Your Website

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source: https://www.elegantthemes.com
So, you want to know how to get quality traffic to your website fast?

Unfortunately, while you can definitely increase website traffic fast, the same can’t be said for quality traffic.

In other words, while you can definitely do the following things, which all serve the same purpose of increasing traffic to your website:

Start a blog that constantly churns content
Post and engage with your audience on social media on a regular basis
Develop an SEO strategy to increase your organic rankings
Invest in PPC to capture more leads

The traffic you receive from these endeavors may not be the traffic you really want.

It comes down to the fact that not all traffic is created equal.

For example, imagine two different online fashion stores with unimaginative names, Fashion A and Fashion B.

In the past month, Fashion A received twice as much traffic as Fashion B, but received half the conversions.

Do you know what differentiates them?

Even though Fashion A received more traffic, it’s clear that the traffic it did receive was not interested in their offerings, i.e. it was not quality traffic.

Fashion B, on the other hand, may have received less traffic, but the traffic it did receive was quality traffic that was more receptive of their messages.

That's right there is the difference between normal and quality traffic.

With that in mind, let’s go over three ways to drive quality traffic to your website, some of which even teach you how to increase website traffic for free!

1. Guest Post on Relevant Websites

Regularly posting content is imperative to increase traffic to your website, there’s no doubt about it.

But, as we just covered, just because you’re receiving a lot of traffic does not mean that it’s going to do you any good.

After all, what’s the point of receiving tons of site visits if they’re just that, site visits?

There is none.

For this reason, you have to start being pickier about where to post your content.

That is to say, instead of asking all sites that accept content if you can write for them, take a more strategic approach and look for websites that actually pertain to your business and what it offers.

For example, consider blog hosting sites. You definitely want to post content on these sites, but doing so won’t necessarily lead to any sales.

When you boil it down, it’s the difference between link building and engagement. While the former leads to higher online rankings and more traffic, it doesn’t equate to conversions. The latter, on the other hand, does.

To get more engagement, which happens to be intertwined with quality traffic, you’re going to have to find relevant websites within your industry with audiences who are actually interested in your offerings.

2. Advertise in Appropriate Channels

source: https://www.adweek.com
Like guest posting on relevant websites, you have to advertise in channels pertinent to your brand if you plan on receiving quality traffic.

For example, let’s use Fashion A again to illustrate this point.

As most fashion brands, Fashion A has an SEM strategy involving advertising on social media to drive traffic to its website.

Will advertising on, let’s say, LinkedIn garner traffic? Sure. Is it quality traffic? Maybe some, but considering that LinkedIn is more business oriented, I’d wager not.

What about advertising on Instagram — will advertising here lead to more quality traffic than LinkedIn? Seeing as how Instagram happens to be a very visual social platform with a large fashion component, chances are good that it will.

This is what advertising on appropriate channels means; it means advertising where you’ll not only find the majority of your audience, but also the audience most receptive to your messages.

3. Develop an Email Marketing Strategy

Finally, you’ve no doubt heard that email marketing is a must for running a business, but did you know that it’s also vital in your quest for quality traffic?

Think about it, unlike the early 2000s, a time when receiving an email was a near-momentous occasion, emails today are a nuisance. You see a notification, get a little excited about what it could be, only to find that it’s nothing but spam.

No, thank you.

Now think about how you build an email list. Yes, you can take the less ethical route and buy email addresses or get them through a non-organic way, but hopefully, you’re building it with an opt-in or subscribe CTA somewhere on your site.

Do you know what this means?

It means that knowing how annoying it is to receive unsolicited emails, your subscribers still hit the “subscribe” button.

In other words, if they’re willing to subscribe, they’re already interested.

Let’s Take a Second Look

Like we covered in the introduction, driving traffic to your website is definitely important, but only if it’s quality traffic that leads to actual results.
After all, what’s the point of having a million people visit your site per day if only one is converting?
Again, there is none.

What you want is quality traffic, and here’s how you get it:
1. Guest post on relevant websites because engagement is more important than link generation in the long-run.
2. Advertise in appropriate channels because their audiences will be more receptive to your messages.
3. Develop an email marketing strategy because hitting “subscribe” means they’re already interested.

Best of luck driving quality traffic to your website!

Monday 10 September 2018

The Top Enterprise Technology Trends You Need to Know

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Living in a digital era means that technology is always changing; it’s constantly advancing and, if organizations want to succeed where their competition faltered, they need to make the most of the innovation these changes bring.

For example, if something comes along that defuncts previous processes or even makes them obsolete, it’s not only suggested to adopt and adapt as soon as possible but vital as well.
The alternative, falling behind, is simply not viable in a world where competitive threats pop up every day, all vying to take someone else’s spot.

Because of this, the importance of following the latest technology trends is paramount and cannot be overstated.
It boils down to the simple fact that enterprises today are intertwined with technology, and to succeed means making the most of it.
With that in mind, today we’ll be discussing three enterprise technology trends 2018 strategies need: artificial intelligence (AI), big data and analytics, and blockchain.

Artificial Intelligence


Artificial intelligence is nothing new, but rapid advancements in the field are making it a force to be reckoned with; so much so that it almost seems like AI capabilities are a prerequisite for success in the enterprise.

This is because, with AI backing them and their decision-making, enterprises can enhance their strategies and streamline processes more so than ever before.

For example, consider automation. Tasks that can be automated usually fall under the umbrella of tasks that are repetitive and time-consuming, and don’t require higher-level processes.

Thanks to AI and machine learning’s ability to learn from use, not only can they handle these sort of tasks with the mastery of a seasoned veteran, but over time they’ll get even better and better at them. So much so that they can be left alone while human workers focus on tasks that require a human touch.

Apart from automation, AI also allows for greater personalization through learned behaviors and patterns, and when combined with chatbots that reside in a website and support all site visitors coming its way, it’s easy to see how handy they can come in within retail and eCommerce.

Looking at 2019 and the coming years, it’s not a stretch to see a greater AI presence in fields across the board. For example, as Gartner points out:
In banking and financial services, chatbots help customers access their bank balance
In healthcare, virtual nursing assistants follow up with patients post-discharge
In retail, machine learning and natural language processing learn from customer data to generate behavioral insights
In education, AI “tutor-bots” provide personalized learning

Big Data and Analytics


Like AI, big data is another buzzword you frequently hear about enterprises.
After all, part of being an enterprise is handling a lot of data, whether internal or external and if it’s not being analyzed and extrapolated for information, it’s being wasted.

For example, data can come from a lot of sources, such as how effective certain strategies are (internal), and browsing and purchasing behaviors, device usage and social interactions (external).
Whatever the source, analytics tools can be used to learn valuable insights from that data, which lead to better strategies and improved decision making, both of which help the enterprise grow.

Blockchain


And then there’s blockchain, one of the top technology trends to keep an eye on (and make use of if you can), and one you’ve most likely heard of in recent times.

In essence, blockchain is a type of ledger comprised of a list or records—called blocks—that are linked together with a cryptographic hash of the previous block, forming a sort of decentralized database.

In other words, it’s a peer-to-peer (P2P) network with a time-stamping server that stores data on thousands and thousands of servers around the world.

It is, therefore, a public ledger that’s extremely secure, despite the fact that it’s openly shared among users everywhere. This is because each time a transaction takes place, an unchangeable record of it—a block— is created with a timestamp, which is then linked to the previous block.

As such, changes and updates can only take place with every participants’ consensus.
Because of this high level of security, blockchain is extremely useful for enterprises that house a lot of sensitive information they would like to keep extra secure.

For example, there are currently phones running on blockchain that are MUCH more secure than their normal counterparts, which is extremely important when we consider how many applications the typical smartphone houses, which can all be compromised.

Additionally, these blockchain-enabled smartphones can lead to cryptocurrency wallets with an added layer of security.

Final Thoughts

Enterprises and technology go hand-in-hand. If you’re part of an enterprise, you not only want the latest technology on your side, you need it.
For that reason, we covered three such technologies today, technologies that you definitely need to know and use if you want your enterprise to succeed:
Artificial intelligence
Big data and analytics
Blockchain

Best of luck!