Today, a difficult economic situation has arisen in a world in which business experiences volatility and declining incomes. Companies are reviewing their strategies and looking for ways to keep the business «afloat». The situation is saved by information technology, which helps companies to retain customers and stabilise their position in the market. IT technologies also solve many tasks by automating them, which makes work easier for employees.
Strengths of information technology for business
IT developments allow firms to reach a new level. Their advantages for enterprises are as follows:
- increase of productivity — with the help of the latest developments it is possible to achieve the necessary business productivity;
- reducing costs — in IT, new technologies are very expensive, but they will fully recover their cost over time. For example, cloud services help businesses and their employees reduce the cost of purchasing data storage equipment;
- improving service quality — specialists can attract many new customers who will be interested in safe and convenient purchases;
- increase in profits — according to recent research, 80% of companies that have implemented information technology in the field of business have reported an increase in profits. Many of them said that they have increased market share and expect increased revenue in the near future;
- work security — thanks to IT innovations, now professionals can ensure the integrity of personal data, avoid phishing and cyber risks;
- crisis resistance — information technology in business helps analyse consumer behaviour, and this leads to sales growth.
The most popular IT developments in business
Today, there are a lot of innovations in IT technologies that allow businesses to maintain their position in times of crisis. We would like to describe the most popular of them:
- contactless shopping, with the help of which you can do shopping without the need to leave the house and go to the store. Also, you will not have to communicate with a lot of people. This development became very popular after the coronavirus pandemic in 2020;
- switching shops to the online format, in the process of which enterprises have become work not in shopping centres, but in social networks, online stores and other online channels;
- self-service cashiers, which has become a very popular development in recent years. Originally, the developers created them to reduce the costs of the company, but under the pandemic, self-service cash began to be used to reduce contact with cash and other people;
- digital payment systems that help different businesses too. The fact is that due to this development, organisations should not buy expensive equipment as they can accept digital payments anymore;
- virtual fittings, in which clients became comfortable trying on the product without visiting the shopping centre. A function called «smart mirror» responds to the gestures and voice of a person and allows you to try on clothes and shoes in the store without leaving home;
- chatbots help organisations to serve customers at any time of the day. They provide users with information on any verbal user request. This innovation helps firms maintain their audiences, increase their loyalty, and serve large numbers of people simultaneously without queues or delays.
Information technology and business are inextricably linked. New developments in IT help companies to improve their professional activities, as well as help them to achieve higher performance in their work. In turn, IT developers need business because they create most of their products. Today, business and innovative technologies demonstrate good results of joint work. Perhaps in the near future new developments will be created that will change our lives and make business processes even faster and more highly functional.