Emerging technologies for business: The small business future outlook

Across industries, small businesses are in the business of technology. Emerging technologies will shape the future of your business, whether you build your own technology products, use it to sell services, connect with customers or power operations.

Small businesses are investing in connectivity technology

Many businesses are already looking to get ahead by adding or upgrading small business technology solutions. In the past year, most small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) invested in enhancing connectivity, according to the Verizon Business' 5th Annual State of Small Business Survey.¹ Some of the top solutions for investment included:

• High-speed internet plans (67%)

• Internet connections with strong bandwidth for high-capacity activities (66%)

• Routers or extenders to enhance wireless signals (61%)

• Secure cloud backup services (60%)

• Communications and networking hardware (59%)

• Devices for employees to enhance connectivity (55%)

Why small businesses are investing in new technologies

By investing in connectivity, small businesses can access emerging technologies for business comparable to those of their largest competitors. As a result, SMBs are upgrading their technology to accomplish a wide range of goals, including:²

• Making operations more efficient (53%)

• Acquiring new customers (45%)

• Better connecting with existing customers (42%)

• Improving cybersecurity (40%)

• Meeting the changing demands of a hybrid or remote workforce (30%)

How will the next generation of emerging technologies for business impact your operations? Here's a look at a few ways that technology could change your business.

Widespread AI

The rapid rise of user-friendly artificial intelligence (AI)-powered platforms has made many small businesses quick adopters of the technology. As tech companies continue to innovate and incorporate AI into their products, small businesses may be able to automate time-consuming customer service tasks, personalize their marketing and gain new operational insights.

Next-generation chatbots

Many small businesses already use chatbots to handle basic customer service inquiries. With AI, small businesses can leverage chatbots to manage customer interactions. These interactions will be seamless, accessible around the clock and similar to human interactions, allowing small businesses to scale their customer service without the expense of a large team.

Hyper-personalized marketing

Companies can improve their personalized marketing content for individual customers. Even businesses with smaller marketing budgets can use AI to develop targeted email campaigns, recommend more relevant products and more effectively optimize content for search.

Supply chain optimization

Businesses will be able to use AI to improve forecasting, inspection and optimization in the supply chain, creating a more efficent and more personalized experience for customers.

Payments will get smarter

Businesses are investing in emerging technologies to track sales trends (48%) and improve payments security (51%) as well as payment speed and efficiency (57%).³ Promising new payment solutions are poised to help small businesses operate more effectively in a number of ways.

Next-generation contactless payments

While people can already make a purchase with a tap of their phone or credit card, the next generation of payment technology could further diversify how we buy. People may pay with wearables like smartwatches or rings, biometrics like a fingerprint, voice-activated payments or with checkout-free shopping that uses computer vision, sensors and AI to detect and charge any item a customer takes out of the store.

Cryptocurrency

The rise of digital payments like Apple Pay and Google Pay mean small businesses must already think beyond cash or credit. As cryptocurrency becomes more accessible and mainstream, small businesses may need to consider accepting different types of crypto coins for payment. These payment types may offer better security and lower transaction fees while also appealing to tech-savvy or international customers.

New digital sales channels

Whether you sell through a brick-and-mortar location or an e-commerce website, you should prepare for a wide range of new sales methods. For example, you may make sales through voice-activated devices, which could allow customers to make purchases just by talking to their smart device.

How Verizon can help

Leveraging emerging technologies for business will require a fast, reliable and secure internet connection. Most businesses recognize this need and are taking steps to upgrade their bandwidth. Verizon offers a range of flexible and affordable business internet solutions designed to help you meet the needs of today's business and tomorrow's technologies.

Learn how Verizon can help you reshape the way you do business.

The author of this content is a paid contributor for Verizon.