(This column originally appeared in Forbes)
Here are five things in tech that happened this week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?
1 – 10 Windows 11 AI features you can use today.
Windows users – Computerworld has listed 11 AI-powered tools that can be used right now. A few include:
-Paint Cocreator – its AI-tool, “DALL-E” can be prompted to create a range of images based on the user’s input.
-Smart App Control is another new feature that’s still being discovered by users. This AI tool will inspect and notify users of which apps are safe to use on the operating system.
-CoPilot – the most familiar on the list based on reviews from various sources – is the AI assistant programmed to chat, seek and retrieve data, and works in tandem with Microsoft 365 to boost productivity.
(Source: Computerworld)
Why this is important for your business:
I’m holding out on upgrading to Windows 11 only because my Windows 10 laptop is working fine so…you know…if ain’t broke, right? But at some point I’ll be replacing with a Windows 11 device and maybe you’re already doing the same. The tools mentioned in the article above will help both you and your employees be more productive with the operating system. Me too eventually.
2 – The 17 best Microsoft Teams productivity features.
Reportedly used by more than 300 million people Microsoft Teams is a popular productivity tool for businesses. UC Today listed a comprehensive 17 features and their value to productivity, which include:
-Meet App – a tool to keep team members on schedule for meetings, debriefs and catch-ups. Content can be shared via SharePoint in advance of a scheduled meeting.
-Personalized Notifications dispatches updates and alerts to chosen team members – each user can choose the type of content they want to receive.
-Live Translations and Transcripts – a very useful tool that allows members to translate presentations in more than 30 languages while being able to translate them in real time.
(Source: UC Today)
Why this is important for your business:
We are only scratching the service of features available in Teams and other Office products that we’re not using. The best thing to do is to hire a Microsoft consultant for a few hours to review your usage of your Office products, make recommendations and do some training.
3 – 41% of restaurants plan to invest in AI sales forecasting and scheduling in 2024.
Restaurant365 – a cloud-based software provider – surveyed over 5000 restaurants across the country that included various establishments (fast food, fine dining). The survey found that 2024 will see an increased investment in AI systems (software, marketing tools, accounting) with half of those surveyed saying “business intelligence and analytics” will be a priority. (Source: Restaurant Technology News)
Why this is important for your business:
The restaurant industry is one of the areas where AI is predicted to expand substantially in a short period. If you’re in this industry you should be leaning into the AI tools provided by your software vendors. Schedule demos early in the year.
4 – Best accounting software for small businesses in 2023.
CNN culled their list of the best small business accounting software for 2023. Among them:
-Zoho is their pick for “best for small business” users because of its availability of features at no cost (invoicing, expenses tracker, account synchronization, and more).
-FreshBooks is their choice for “freelancers and sole proprietors” for the software’s clean interface and automated invoicing, payments and accounting features that offer month-to-month reporting of finances.
-Xero is their choice for “best unlimited users” and its low monthly fee of 15 dollars for the basic plan – which supports unlimited users. CNN highlighted this as Xero’s standout feature unique from “the majority of the providers featured on this list.”
(Source: CNN.com)
Why this is important for your business:
This is an interesting list with lots of choices for both small and mid-sized businesses to consider this year.
5 – Creative ways companies used AI in advertising in 2023.
Marty Swant of Digiday reported on the various ways businesses utilized artificial intelligence for advertising. (Source: Digiday)
Why this is important for your business:
An example is Johannes Thomas – CEO of tech company Trivago – who describes how AI has saved them in ad costs using just one campaign as opposed to several. With markets in several countries the company previously hired multiple actors for ads to reach an audience in those locations. For their most recent campaign, Thomas explained how they hired one actor and used AI to reproduce the actor’s voice (and translate the script) into several different languages for each market. “We can now make the character say different things very easily without reproducing…we can tailor scripts to different audiences …and bring this to dozens of markets and scale it very quickly.”
