(This article originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 — Clubhouse is teaming up with Stripe so anybody can send creators money.
Clubhouse, the invitation-only audio-chat iPhone app launched in April 2020, recently announced its partnership with Stripe in order to roll out Clubhouse Payments. The new feature will provide a way for all users to give money to speakers directly. In order to do this, users will simply be able to go to the profile of a speaker, select the Send Money icon, and then detail the amount of money they are choosing to provide. Clubhouse added that 100% of the money will go to the chosen creator and that it will not get any money from the transaction. (Source: Engadget)
Why this is important for your business:
Clubhouse has been exploding in popularity this year and, with this additional feature, the people dominating this platform – consultants, coaches, influencers and other entrepreneurs – can potentially turn their time into money. Clubhouse is a hot property, but business owners thinking of leveraging this platform should also consider competing services from the likes of Twitter and Facebook.
2 —Yelp is making it easier for users to search for Asian-owned businesses.
Yelp is introducing a new feature that will provide businesses with the choice to highlight that they are an Asian-owned business. When logging into their Yelp for Business account, business owners who are on Yelp will now be permitted to make changes to their current listing on the platform and select that they are Asian-owned. Users on the platform will then be able to specifically filter by the attribute. Yelp shared that— according to a recent report— searches on the platform for businesses that specifically are Asian-owned has gone up by 130% in the last 2 months. (Source: The Verge)
Why this is important for your business:
The social media review service has been regularly providing search help for minority owned businesses and is stepping up its efforts to support the Asian community. If you’re an Asian-owned business I strongly suggest taking advantage of these features as they can result in better listings and more revenues. While you’re at it, check out some other advice on using Yelp here.
3 —This e-grocer is using predictive AI to lower prices and boost margins.
Grocery app Farmstead is turning to software using predictive AI in order to help its efficiency and effort to keep the cost of goods down while keeping free delivery. The software focuses on last-mile logistics, packing and picking, and inventory in order to help predict what will happen in an effort to stay a step ahead of and control cost of goods. According to Farmstead, food waste for the company is below 5%, which falls significantly below supermarket waste which falls between 30-35%. (Source: Pymnts)
Why this is important for your business:
The grocery store industry is undergoing a seriously disruptive period as giants like Amazon and other food chains are looking to automate services and make the experience faster and easier for customers. This is tough completion for smaller, independent grocery stores. But AI-driven software like Farmstead can help those same store owners operate their businesses much more efficiently.
4 — Microsoft Teams is finally taking this super useful Zoom feature.
Microsoft Teams recently shared that it will be introducing a popular feature from Zoom on its platform. (Source: Tech Radar)
Why this is important for your business:
Finally! I don’t know about you, but I’ve always found Teams to be more cumbersome than Zoom for meetings when outsiders are included. Within the last year, Zoom skyrocketed to popularity partly due to the fact that users were able to provide a code that would allow users to quickly join or start a video call. Thankfully, Teams will be adding this feature to its platform in order to make it simpler to join meetings. Although the feature is still in development, Microsoft anticipates that it will be introduced next month to mobile, desktop, and web users, allowing Teams users to enter meetings simply by punching in a code.
5—LogMeIn and Capital One are joining forces to deliver work-from-anywhere solutions to small business.
Capital One and LogMeIn are teaming up in order to help provide small businesses with solutions to work from anywhere. (Source: MarTechSeries)
Why this is important for your business:
Through Capital One’s Spring platform— which provides discounts for small and medium businesses— LogMeIn will offer a 30% discount for some of its popular features such as GoToWebinar, GoToMeeting, GotoMyPC, and LasatPass in order to help small business owners stay organized and secure both their professional and personal data.
