Rohan MathawanThe world became a global village after a boom in transport and communications during the Industrial Revolution. Later, the internet revolution diminished the social and cultural differences we have by allowing us access to each other through a common interface.
In our digital age today, technology has trickled down into the smallest crevices of life, and to say that IT services are no less important than medical services would be an understatement. Firms like Computers In The City, a solid IT support company in London offer all the necessary services for organisations of any nature to function smoothly in today’s technology-driven environment. It is difficult to point out any field of work, any industry or any professional whose work is not directly influenced by technology.
Without a doubt, the biggest factor changing the way organisations function currently is the recent Covid-19 pandemic. There is no industry which hasn’t – at least in some capacity – been affected by this outbreak. In response, many changes are taking place in the behaviour and functionality of both individual organizations and entire industries, which are primarily thanks to recent developments in technology.
Augmented Shopping
This market is expected to reach a growth of $1.6 billion by 2025. In the near future, augmented shopping could completely eliminate the need for an in-store salesperson. An AR interface will be enough for any customer to browse through a product’s features, customize it, to view it at every angle and detail, and finally learn more about the product than a salesperson could preach.
Retailers are always in search for the next best approach to improve customer experience and their own profitability. However, it will be difficult for retailers to employ this technology without a good IT team onboard in the event of software or hardware issues. To note, even IT support staff themselves could be using AR technology to help clients sort out their own AR technology; that’s how diverse it is!
Though the benefits of this new technology are vast, it also means retailers will be transitioning into becoming more technology dependent. Only IT support companies which have the technical competence to deliver solutions to such clients will be sought after.
Robotics
In the recent past, robots (and the software which managed these robots) were expensive luxuries afforded only by large organisations, and often only for tasks which posed a safety risk or required high levels of precision, such as space travel. Today, robots and AI-powered machines – such as smart vacuum cleaners – are being used to clean the average household.
For small businesses, computer vision system robots can be depended on to perform basic store management actions such as stocking shelves, pricing products and even delivering goods to doorsteps. These simple robots are driven by a lot of computing power, which isn’t only in their onboard chipset, but also with the IT professionals who help maintain the machines’ performance.
Considering how robotics are outgrowing themselves and becoming a standard part of smart homes, IT professionals need to be able to handle a wide variety of technology. IT solution companies which previously offered accounting software and dial-up modems must now look to these avenues as future paths for expansion.
Staff-Free Stores
RFID tags, IoT devices, facial recognition and computer vision systems are picking up steam rapidly with retailers. All these technologies combined are making it possible for brick and mortar stores to operate with no cashiers and virtually no staff at all.
This seems like the optimum solution as social distancing becomes the norm, though without a good IT backbone, these technologies cannot be deployed. Businesses need to stay up-to-speed with retail innovations which are being put in practice, and keep the latest developments such as chatbots and virtual agents running smoothly.
The task of online customer assistance is already being delegated to chatbots and virtual agents. As these technologies become more intelligent and efficient through AI, they may be deemed as far superior to humans, as they are able to cater to countless, simultaneous conversations. They may also be more effective than humans with their large experience bank to draw from.
Virtual Reality (VR) Kits
What may have started as fun and games is becoming a serious business. These kits are significantly influencing the behaviour of industries (healthcare, education, construction, marketing, automotive) and their businesses, and how IT solution providers will help these organisations.
Facebook purchased OculusVR, the VR pioneers, in 2014 for $2 billion. This points to the growing importance of this technology, as it has gained massive amounts of support in recent years. In fact, IT support is significantly changing through use of this technology. Now, an IT support expert can guide a customer to solve a specific problem virtually through a headset, if needed.
Intelligent Devices
Intelligent devices are getting even smarter with the addition of monitoring capabilities through sensors, and the ability to relay this information to IT engineers live. This calls for support staff to be proactive, but also increases the need and importance of predictive analysis. The deployment of such devices for surveillance in environments like oil rigs and power plants requires the support staff to be on their toes to save clients from thousands – if not millions – of dollars in damage for even a split-second delay.
Eventually, the AI within intelligent devices will be used to better understand and forecast possible issues; however, even then the lion’s share of the burden will still rest upon the shoulders of IT solution providers to make this happen.
Wrapping Up
Businesses both small and large are taking a huge leap towards becoming more efficient by investing in technology. This move forward can only be made possible if businesses have IT experts who can assist them with the transition in this direction. For IT solution firms, this opens a huge void in which they need to be the torch bearers to light the way for business owners to follow suit.