(This post originally appeared on Forbes)
Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 — Here are the top apps for businesses for 2020.
Okta —a cloud identity company —recently released their yearly review of the top apps that businesses used in 2020. To determine the list, Okta’s customer data from the last year was analyzed and organized into what was most broadly used and the apps that had most quickly grown among businesses. When it came to apps that are most broadly used, the top four spots were taken up by Microsoft Office 365, Salesforce, Amazon Web Services, and G Suite. The fastest growing apps include cloud data platform Snowflake, Opsgenie, Google Cloud, and Splunk. (Source: Entrepreneur)
Why this is important for your business:
If you’re like so many other business owners that don’t have the time to do the research but want to know what are the hot or popular business techs around, Okta’s report is a must-read. Even just one or two of these apps may have a significant impact on your company’s productivity…and profits.
2 — Vimeo’s new app helps small businesses create professional social videos.
Video platform Vimeo revealed this past week its newest creation, called Vimeo Create. Vimeo Create contains several creative video tools that are geared toward helping marketers and small businesses more easily take advantage of the benefits of using video on social media or marketing platforms. Businesses are able to either utilize templates that are designed by professionals or choose to create a brand new video. (Source: Tech Crunch)
Why this is important for your business:
While YouTube may have a greater reach, Vimeo arguably offers more features, more storage and potentially more bang for the buck if you’re just looking for a platform to host videos that will be used for business purposes and your intention is not to become a YouTube celebrity. The idea of Vimeo Create is that it will provide more and better resources for businesses who may not have the funding or time to put into video production.
3 —This device may make the low-end laptop obsolete.
Yahoo reviewed The NexDock 2 this past week, sharing that the new device could serve as a replacement for laptops that are considered low-end. At first glance the NexDock 2 —which goes for $259 —looks like any other normal laptop. The device has a full-sized display, regular keyboard, and contains standard USB ports. What sets the device aside from a typical low-end laptop —however —is that it comes without a fan, internal memory, or CPU. The way NexDock 2 works is by hooking it up to LG, Huawei, or Samsung phones, turning it into a full-sized computer by mirroring phone displays. (Source: Yahoo)
Why this is important for your business:
A laptop/phone mashup? Hey, why not, particularly if it can replace more expensive laptops and keep costs low, while still delivering satisfactory performance. According to Yahoo’s tests, the device performed pretty darn good as any other laptop and comes at a much lower cost.
4 — This machine makes 700 pieces of sushi per hour.
California roll, anyone? The Suzomo machine is the newest player in the culinary robot field, with the ability to make perfect sushi rolls in mere seconds. While finding a talented sushi chef at a reasonable wage is proving to be difficult, the machine is able to make approximately 700 pieces of fresh sushi per hour, tasting just like handmade sushi rolls. The company says that the popularity of its machines has grown quickly, allowing restaurants to run efficiently with less staff. (Source: ABC 7)
Why this is important for your business:
Less staff are the two most important words here. As minimum wage and other benefits drive up compensation costs many smaller restaurants are looking for ways to keep overhead (and employment headaches) to a minimum – and so they’re investing in technology. An automatic sushi maker is only one example of how robotics are speeding up food preparation…with no bathroom breaks needed.
5— Walmart plans to bring together their e-commerce and store groups.
Walmart announced this past week that it will be merging its in-store and e-commerce product-buying teams. In the past, Walmart had two separate groups that manufacturers were required to pitch to if they wanted to sell in-store or online. Instead, Walmart will now have six category buying teams which include food, entertainment, and clothing. By combining the two teams, the company is hoping to streamline pricing and the overall consistency in products they sell both online and in store. (Source: Pymnts)
Why this is important for your business:
Today’s smartest retailers – big and small – are implementing convergence strategies. They’re combining ecommerce with their brick and mortar operations. They’re investing in technologies that bring the data into one place and combining staff – like Walmart – so that everyone is using these platforms in a consistent way.
