(This column 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 — How ChatGPT in Microsoft Office could change the workplace.
According to recent reports, Microsoft is making plans to add the chatbot technology from OpenAI — known as ChatGPT — to PowerPoint, Outlook, Word, and its entire productivity suite. While the integration is expected to contribute to productivity when powering tasks such as emails, reports, and presentations, many experts point out concerns such as ChatGPT’s lack of accuracy, privacy issues, and more. (Source: Venture Beat)
Why this is important for your business:
Microsoft has made a significant financial investment in OpenAI and clearly thinks that the technology backing ChatGPT is the future. If you haven’t tried it out, you should. ChatGPT is open-source and free to the public. I’ll be researching and writing in this space on some of the potential Office 365 integrations that we’ll be enjoying in the coming weeks.
2 — Cloudflare unveils a suite to maximize remote work collaboration and productivity.
Web security company Cloudflare recently announced plans to launch its new Digital Experience Monitoring suite. The new suite will be made up of an all-in-one dashboard that gives leaders in the IT space real-time, historical, and predictive intelligence regarding performance, network problems, and outages across apps, enabling workers to keep up their productivity. (Source: Computer Weekly)
Why this is important for your business:
Designed for IT departments and firms that monitor their clients’ activities, this is yet another powerful tool to ensure that networks are running secure and at an optimal level. I include this news not only because Cloudflare is a well-respected tool, but also so that you can be aware that there are other good tools like it that can provide these functions, and every business should be using them.
3 — Shoppers expect seamless BNPL both online and in-store.
A recent survey revealed that over three-quarters of those shopping both online and in-person have higher expectations when it comes to Buy Now Pay Later options — known as BNPL — and checkout overall. The data also showed that one-quarter of consumers are combining eCommerce and in-store shopping, and are more likely to shop at retailers that provide the option for BNPL both in their brick-and-mortar locations and online. Consumers also expect a seamless checkout experience. (Source: Pymnts)
Why this is important for your business:
Speed and convenience are among the top priorities of any shopper so if you’re in a consumer facing business and offering BNPL you need to make sure the transaction is quick and easy.
4 — Jobber says embedded finance builds cash flow confidence for home service businesses.
Jobber — the home services management platform and app — is rolling out new digital features to help build confidence and build cash flow for service providers. (Source: Pymnts)
Why this is important for your business:
Some of the new capabilities include digital invoicing, establishing recurring payments, offering service providers consumer financing, and improvements to the scheduling side of the platform. If your business provides home services, Jobber is a great app to consider as it combines many of the features you’ll need under one roof.
5 — This is how AI is revolutionizing recruitment.
I enjoyed this piece by the editorial team at HR News because it summarized all the ways artificial intelligence will be changing how we find (and retain) employees in the not-so-distant feature. (Source: HR News)
Why this is important for your business:
In the article, the writers state their case why AI technology is making the recruitment process more efficient and cost-effective while providing results that are higher quality. Some of their points include how many recruiting platforms are leveraging AI and automation into each step of the recruiting process from onboarding to evaluating resumes. They also emphasize how AI also enables time-consuming tasks to become automated, helps minimize mistakes, reduces the overall time to recruit a candidate, and improves communication between companies and candidates.
