Six ways tech will benefit business for the consumer in 2024

Adapt or perish is the slogan and any business hoping to make an impact long-term must adopt certain crucial principles especially ones that incorporate tech.

From insurance, all the way to banking retail and even public services, customers are becoming more digitally aware of tech benefits and experiences that make their lives a little easier.

There are a number of ways the business sector can leverage tech to ensure these experiences for consumers, especially in a tech-motivated year such as 2024.

Leveraging generative AI

Artificial Intelligence is a name that cannot be second-guest this year.  AI can be integrated into chatbots which can provide automated, 27/7 customer support, which makes it easier for customers to resolve issues quickly.

Andrew Bourne Regiona Manager at Zoho put it quite elequantly when he said to think of an online travel booking platform that can harness AI to curate personalized itineraries for each customer taking into account their preferences, chosen destination, and budget constraints.

This is the kind of customized service that will differentiate your brand from competitors.

Customer-centric personalization 

The insurance industry is expected to grow differently as a result of AI and emerging technology.   This will empower the insurance industry to create intelligent underwriting in order to have competitive pricing and tailored insurance products.

According to Mishaya Chettiar, Executive Head at Everything.Insure, these technologies enhance efficiency in claims processes, risk evaluations, and policy processing.

“AI-driven insurance systems automatically adjust or suggest new offers based on changes to individual risk profiles or shifts in the industry.”

Ecosystem development 

Seamless hardware and software ecosystems using smart tech to drive productivity will become important.

Akhram Mohamed, Vice-President of Operations at Huawei Consumer Business Group South Africa says foundational technologies such as AI and 5G are already changing how people work, play and live by facilitating efficiency and creativity.

“Those roles will only grow in the coming years,” adds Mohamed. According to the Intelligent Word 2030 Report, the total size of the global AI market will exceed US$2.8 trillion by 2030.

“To be truly effective..,AI technology must be implemented correctly. Building thriving ecosystems that are beneficial to both businesses and society requires matching the right technologies with the right scenarios. Open hardware, open software, and collaborative approaches are imperative to scaling ecosystem development and providing meaningful use cases for these transformative technologies.”

The personal touch mixed with tech

While some fintech companies typically use outdated, white-labelled software which is not easily customisable and results in inefficient processes and clunky interfaces, Future Forex has built a system and processes specifically for the forex space,” says Joshua Kotlowitz, Chief Technical Officer and co-founder of Future Forex.

These systems not only enhance, simplify and improve client services but also offer several advantages, including full digitisation of processes and comprehensive automation. “Clients never have to print and sign a document or enter the same information twice,” he adds.

Games are expected to be embraced by business in 2024

The biggest opportunity that we see is for technology to actually help put the customer at the very centre of the marketing experience – i.e. putting the market back into marketing, says Lebo Lekomo, Head of Client Services at Sea Monster Entertainment.

“The way to achieve this is by leveraging the world’s favourite entertainment medium – games. Games offer a way for brands and businesses to integrate into their customer’s life story meaningfully in order to improve and enrich the relationship that they have with a brand.”

“Over the last few years, we have seen that connectivity has increasingly become the only true enabler for people, and experience has become the biggest differentiator that businesses can offer their customers. In a world where customers expect more from businesses, the ultimate question is therefore how do we leverage technology, not for its own sake, but in a way where businesses can get closer to their customers and actually engage and exchange with them in a real and valuable way? We believe that 2024 will be the year that mainstream marketing will truly embrace the full power of games and that more businesses will use gaming as a key part of their marketing and brand-building efforts,” Lekomo said.

Using tech to evaluate performance and productivity

Today’s top talent expects more from their company than just a paycheck. To adjust, companies will place a renewed focus on workplace culture and supporting employees both inside and outside of the workplace. These investments will lead to higher employee satisfaction, better retention, and overall business success.

Companies that choose to focus on these areas will continue to lead, says David Ard, Head of Employee Success, Slack and Salesforce.

In 2024, businesses will transform the way they measure performance and productivity to focus on outcomes like products launched or leads generated, instead of inputs.

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