Technology firms play a key role in driving business growth and optimising operational efficiency. Companies wishing to compete globally and stay ahead of the curve should consider adopting enterprise technologies that boost performance.
Exciting digital technologies
Last year the world went digital forcing organisations across sectors and geographies to adopt various products and services. A survey conducted by Innovation Leader and KPMG details the kinds of technology companies are currently looking to invest in.
Advanced analytics
It’s no surprise that in the era of big data companies are putting a lot of focus on appropriate analytics tools. A cost-effective solution helping smaller organisations to compete with their larger counterparts, advanced analytics can be hugely beneficial to SMEs.
Some of the hottest advanced analytics start-ups include Funnel, an SaaS software bringing together and tidying up marketing data for clients. Funnel helps companies automate data collection and preparation, making it easier to create useful and actionable advertising materials.
While it’s not an advanced analytics software per se, start-up Cohesity aims at providing a solution for a given organisation’s ‘secondary data’, i.e. backups and analytics data.
Celonis, a German start-up that raised $290 million and provides analytical AI tools, prides itself on offering a solution that sifts through volumes of data and identifies opportunities for automation.
Confluent has also made a name for itself by making it easier to use open source software, valued by companies like LinkedIn and Netflix, to manage and analyse usage of various systems.
AI and machine learning
AI and machine learning continue to be on many organisations’ radar in terms of adoption and investment. The opportunities they present are vast, helping to solve issues surrounding customer service and employee development among others.
Some of the most exciting AI and machines learning start-ups at the moment include companies like Gremlin, that helps businesses adapt to system failures in order to become more resilient in the future.
Another interesting software that deserves a mention is Tession, that aims to help organisations avoid the risks associated with mis-sent emails. The platforms utilises machine learning to detect potentially sensitive information, prompting the sender to verify the recipient.
Illumio’s software specialises in micro-segmentation, providing enterprises the tools to develop security processes that keep their company safe in a cloud-based environment. Not so dissimilarly, Tanium takes a network-first approach to security and offers solutions for securing complex networks. The software uses smart analytics and ensures possible breaches are spotted as quickly as possible.
There is a huge need for companies like Graphcore too that is currently developing processers that are designed for AI solutions current processors often struggle to keep up with the heavy AI-usage most software options offer.
Collaboration tools and software
Collaboration tools and software solutions continue to grow in popularity. Much of this trend has been driven by the coronavirus outbreak which forced entire business to work remotely overnight. Among a long line of interesting startups is Front, a company promising to transform the email experience by allowing teams to share an email inbox.
US-based start-up Notion, has managed to raise $18.7 million in funding. Its software offers a workspace that combines documents, databases and other productivity tools together.
Like Notion, Asana also uses the SaaS model and has previously attracted funding. Founded by Facebook’s cofounder Dustin Moskovits and engineer Justin Rosenstein, Asana has become very popular with developers.
How to ensure success
While digital tools have the power to transform how companies operate and can lead to stronger growth long-term, once again, an adoption strategy based on need is of paramount importance. Businesses ought to:
- Identify a purpose for the technology and fully get to grips with why they want to adopt it and to what end
- Set out clear and measurable goals that the technology can help deliver on
- Implement a process for adoption, including training for employees to ensure a smooth transition
- Monitor performance on an ongoing basis to ensure it is providing the desired benefits
Given the number of options out there it is also crucial to do the required due diligence. Opting for technology platforms simply because competitors have chosen a given software or because it is considered ‘trending’ is a no-no particularly given that no organisation is truly the same as another. It might be for example, that you need the technology to work together with a whole host of other applications. Compatibility in this instance, would rank high.
