(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 -According to a new report, 63 percent of millennials approve of automation in the workplace.
A new study released by Hyperscience found that 81 percent of participants felt that using automation in the workplace can have a positive impact. The same report also found that 75 percent of study participants felt that they had a good grasp on what automation entails, although 55 percent mentioned well-known misperceptions when asked to elaborate on automation. The survey found that 66 percent saw an added value for banking and financial services with automation, while 70 percent of participants believe that it could help the logistics and transportation field. Fields like government/public sector, insurance, and healthcare were seen as being less influenced by automation. (Source: Venture Beat)
Why this is important for your business:
This is good news because — as I’ve written here and here — automation is happening right now at many small and mid-sized firms. Yes, these robots and software will replace jobs. But smart people will get skills and look at this as an opportunity to do more value-added work.
2 — Grammarly raises $200 million to expand its AI-powered writing suggestion platform.
AI-powered writing tool Grammarly announced that it recently raised $200 million. With more and more companies utilizing digitization, the market for AI writing assistants is predicted to reach a 27.6 percent annual growth rate from 2018 to 2028. A new survey released found that 60 percent of leaders in the tech industry shared that their natural language processing budgets have grown by 10 percent or more as compared to last year, with one third shared that they’ve seen spending in the same category go up by 30 percent or more. (Source: VentureBeat)
Why this is important for your business:
If you read most of my stuff, you’ll realize that lots of what’s written doesn’t take that much brains and can be done by software. Grammarly is proving that and I’m sure that in future versions of your websites and marketing materials you’ll be employing robotic writers leveraging AI at a much lower cost to provide some of that content.
3 -Microsoft drastically increased request limits for Power Apps to help businesses.
Microsoft shared this past week that it is making a big adjustment when it comes to increasing request limits for Power Apps in order to help out businesses. The reason for the change is that Microsoft wanted to be able to aid with most scenarios involving customers. The update will increase the limits for Dynamics 365, Power Virtual Agents, Power Automate, and Power Apps users. (Source: Windows Central)
Why this is important for your business:
Want to get something done in your business or automate a small process? Want to integrate your CRM system and your accounting system? Want to create special applications that perform special tasks like onboarding, expense approval, service requests or crisis communications? All of this can be done using Power Apps and at a much lower cost than ever before because these apps have code built in that will need a lower-skilled developer and less testing.
4 — Only 21 percent of remote workers say they are aware of cyberthreats, according to a new report.
A recent report released by Unisys revealed that 61 percent of remote and hybrid employees believe they are responsible for being aware of and preventing cyberthreats. However, the report showed that a mere 21 percent of employees are actually aware of more advanced cyber threats. With 83 percent of companies sharing that they’ve had a successful transition to working remotely and 55 percent of employees want to stay remote, internet security has become a primary focus and concern despite the report finding many remote employees lack proper internet security awareness. (Source: Venture Beat)
Why this is important for your business:
The biggest cause of data breaches and malware attacks is employee error. And the biggest reason why so many employees are making errors is because they’re not satisfactorily trained. In 2022, so that your business isn’t victim to an attack that could disrupt or shut you down I strongly recommend you contract with an IT firm to provide training for your employees.
5-A Japanese robot café is showing how avatars can foster human connection.
Diverse Avatar Working Network (DAWN) — a café based in Tokyo- has a staff fully made up of robots which is still allowing humans to interact in a meaningful way. The robots operate using individuals who are physically disabled and work remotely. The people operating the robots are called “pilots” and have the ability to run the robots from a bed or wheelchair from home using a mouse, gaze-controlled remote, or tablet. (Source: QZ)
Why this is important for your business:
We’ll be seeing more examples of these kinds of digital/human connections as the “metaverse” grows over the next few years. Get ready!
