5 tech trends that will strengthen your bottom line

Angelique Montalto, regional director for SAP Concur Africa

1. Employees adopt AI

Employees are constantly becoming more and more open to letting artificial intelligence (AI) take over some of their tasks – especially the mundane, routine tasks. Millennials are now the largest group in the workforce, and they are instinctively more prepared to use AI solutions. Yes, in fact, in the future, millennials might even expect routine tasks to be automated.

In the not too distant future, in many workplaces, artificial intelligence will sort emails, proofread texts, book meetings, etc. As a company, it is therefore a good idea to consider where AI can contribute best and whether or not you can achieve efficiency improvements and savings by automating certain tasks today.

2. Data shifts from analysis to decisions

Data can be used even more to make good decisions – here and now. Through intelligent platforms and networking systems, companies can access data that can, for example, be used to make budget decisions based on insights throughout the company's current consumption, or that can shed light on a potential supplier's financial capacity.

Looking a little further into the future, it will also be possible to identify and predict possible threats and challenges for one's supply chain.

For example, if you are a South African manufacturing company, you can get an automated warning if your suppliers of essential components are all gathered in the same geographical region, making them more exposed to unforeseen events.

3. Companies treat their employees as tech consumers

South African consumers have become accustomed to, for example, streaming and payment apps working easily, conveniently and without major problems.

As consumers become accustomed to strong digital experiences in their private lives, they expect just as much of the technology in their workplace.

In the coming years, more companies will focus on improving the technology that employees use on the job. And there can be a lot of time to spare if the technological solutions are up-to-date, fast and stable. For example, it can be compared to solutions for travel management and consumption.

More and more companies will choose solutions based on AI and machine learning. This gives both employees a good experience, as well as enabling the company to easily monitor and control consumption.

4. Remote work wins even more

With the internet, companies can recruit employees in a whole new way because they are no longer bound by the narrow ties of geography.

The trend of virtual meetings has been going on for a long time, and today they are as normal as physical meetings.

The technology for teleworking is constantly evolving, and with more companies moving their business to the cloud, it will only be easier in the future to offer flexible workplaces. There is also a greater demand among employees to work from home - either every day or just once in a while.

This development will spread to the interior of the workplace, which must be designed more to accommodate the fact that some of the employees are only present sporadically.

With telework, companies can achieve savings and streamlining, among other things by being able to recruit the right manpower as the field of potential candidates has expanded to reside worldwide.

5. Receipts will be digital

Every year, billions of receipts are printed around the world, and most of us can hardly recognise that they are quickly thrown into the nearest trash can.

Receipts cost both money and trees, so in many ways it makes good sense to be glad that the opportunity to offer digital receipts is constantly improving.

The cashless society is gaining ground in several countries, where receipts and invoices are also being digitised to a greater extent - much to the satisfaction of the employees, as it makes the work on arranging spending vouchers somewhat easier.