Tag: digital age

5 Emerging tech trends for 2023

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The tech industry grows exponentially every year and 2022 was no different. This year we’ve seen exciting tech trends like cloud computing and decision intelligence grow. 

So as the year draws to a close, we thought it’d be interesting to take a look at some of the emerging tech trends for 2023. 

  

1. Industry Cloud Platforms 

Cloud computing has definitely boomed with the huge emergence of SaaS and is set to continue developing as the demand for cloud computing increases. 

So what are industry cloud platforms? 

They are essentially an all inclusive platform with various cloud applications that users within a business are able to adapt to specific industry needs [1]. While cloud applications usually provide a few business solutions, an industry cloud platform encompasses all cloud applications that are useful to a business. 

This emerging trend is beneficial for businesses as the adaptable nature of the cloud platform accelerates the adoption of cloud technology. While 94% of enterprises already use cloud computing [2], implementing their use is still slow. This is due to various reasons including: too much choice/information to sift through when deciding between offerings, large variations in price points and hard to use applications. 

That’s why at Devyce, we’ve made our solution super simple for you! We provide the hybrid business phone system for the future of work so you can have two numbers on your phone – all on one handy app. Signing up only takes seconds! Don’t believe us? See for yourself over on Devyce 😏

 

2. Super apps

Much like industry cloud platforms, super apps are “like Swiss army knives with many tools that serve a purpose” [3]. These are apps with multiple “mini apps” within that can be added or removed per the user’s needs.

Super apps are developing to encompass commonly used app services such as messaging and financing apps all in one place, allowing individual users to tailor their user experience. They will also have applications in business as the technology develops to include enterprise mobile and desktop experiences [3]. 

The technology is still fairly new but is expected to grow in 2023 so we are excited to see where it will take us and businesses! 

 

3. Adaptive AI

Traditional AI technologies have been widely applied to industries to automate decision making by utilising advanced analysis and logic based techniques [4]. However traditional AI systems need to be programmed to update their processes when there are new insights and developments to its application. Adaptive AI eliminates this as it absorbs learning as it’s being built [4]. 

The pandemic had highlighted to many that flexibility and fast adaptability are crucial to businesses. Adaptive AI technology aims to provide this flexibility to companies as it is constantly learning and updating their models therefore making companies more resilient to unexpected changes in industry. 

Implementation of adaptive AI technologies is set to increase in 2023 as the technology develops and will greatly improve responses to real world changes as well as broaden decision making processes. 

 

4. Wireless Value Realisation 

This trend is all about integration of various wireless technologies to create a more reliable and cost efficient tech foundation for businesses [5]. Gartner expects that by 2025, 50% of enterprises will be using networking services that provide value further than communications [6]. 

The development of 5G is transforming how technologies work together to solve problems and improve existing models as it increases speed of connectivity and access to data in real time. As we continue into 2023, it’s expected that the use of wireless technology will go beyond connectivity and offer wider innovative value. 

 

5. Sustainability 

Green technology has risen to the top of priority lists for many enterprises and many look to develop more sustainable tech frameworks within the business [6]. Consumers are becoming increasingly interested in a company’s environmental and social governance as it becomes a leading factor in consumer decision making. This is pushing companies to revise their energy and material efficiency of IT services. 

 

Businesses have been using technologies such as AI, automation, advanced analytics and cloud services to reduce their environmental impact as well as provide consumers with the tools to track their efforts towards their sustainability goals. This trend will continue to grow and by 2025, Gartner predicts that 50% of CIOs will have performance metrics tied to their IT sustainability within the organisation [6]. 

 

If you’re looking for ways to improve your company’s sustainability efforts, have you considered the impact of what having a work phone does for your carbon emissions? 

Devyce can help you to reduce your carbon footprint from phones by providing you two phone numbers on your personal phone so you can eliminate the work phone! Find out more about how Devyce works here. 

So that rounds up some of the emerging trends in the tech industry for the coming year! Are you as excited as we are for the growth and development of these trends? Head over to our socials to share your thoughts! 

 

Reference articles: 

[1] https://www.gartner.com/en/articles/what-are-industry-cloud-platforms

[2] https://webtribunal.net/blog/cloud-adoption-statistics/#gref

[3] https://www.gartner.co.uk/en/articles/what-is-a-superapp

[4] https://www.gartner.com/en/topics/artificial-intelligence

[5] https://shapeitrecruitment.co.uk/gartners-top-strategic-tech-trends-for-2023/

[6] https://www.forbes.com/sites/peterhigh/2022/10/19/gartners-top-10-strategic-tech-trends-for-2023/?sh=105420514cb4

How you can leverage technology to reduce pressure on customer support teams

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The demand for customer support has increased greatly over the years, putting pressure on companies to meet consumer demands. However, many businesses struggle to keep up due to lack of resources and evolving landscapes for customer support teams. 

In a survey carried out by Intercom [1], it was found that the top challenges faced by customer support teams are:

  1. Poor workflow efficiency
  2. Attracting and retaining quality staff
  3. Inefficient handling of customer queries

Support teams can leverage technological advances to optimise their way of working in order to adapt to growing demands. Here are a few ways you could utilise tech to alleviate the pressures your customer support teams face:

 

        1. Use a phone system that supports remote work 

Customer support teams have reduced in size due to the pandemic resulting in increased pressure on staff. Team leads have also faced difficulties attracting and retaining staff due to large scale burnout. 

To overcome this and adapt to the changing landscapes of work, support team leads should look into investing in phone systems that support remote working like Devyce. 

With the Teams Plan on Devyce, you can provide your employees with two numbers on their phones allowing them to work from anywhere meaning employees can prioritise their wellbeing. This will also enable hiring of talent remotely – an attraction point in hiring which could lead to increased retention of staff. 

 

        2. Use a phone system that facilitates call groups and forwarding

Customer expectations have grown and only 24% of support teams surveyed stated they were confident they could meet them [1]. Often customer queries can’t be answered by the first person they get in contact with. The biggest challenge here is transferring calls to the right person on the team in a timely manner.  

To improve the efficiency of your customer support service, look out for phone systems with features to aid your customer’s journey. For example, on Devyce’s Teams Plan you are able to set up an auto attendant which filters inbound calls to the relevant call groups, streamlining the workflow and minimising wait and transfer times. 

        3. Utilise CRM and analytic software with your phone system

Poor workflow management is a key reason for staff burn out. To optimise, team leads need to regularly revise operations by setting up and tracking call metrics. This is hard to do on traditional phone systems so companies should explore newer phone systems. At Devyce, we offer a Teams Management Portal – a platform to view call analytics, allowing optimisation of workflow to meet goals. 

The Teams Plan also offers integrations with CRM softwares like Hubspot so you can manage your customer’s journeys. Creating an integrated tech stack improves workflow efficiency as it reduces the need for switching between softwares and ensures all team members can quickly access relevant data to handle customer queries. 

 

Leveraging tech to optimise your support service strategy is the key difference between companies that exceed customer expectations and those that fall behind due to not having the infrastructure to handle the growing demands. Help your team flourish today by embracing innovative advances in technology with Devyce. 

 

References:

[1] https://www.intercom.com/resources/books/customer-support-trends-emea-2022

 

The New ‘Nothing’ Phone

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What is ‘Nothing’ all about?

Nothing is a tech company, founded in 2020 by Carl Pei and is based in London. Their mission is to ‘remove the barriers between people and technology’. They hold the intention to create technology that just works, that you don’t need to think about and just feels like ‘nothing’ [1].

After receiving an initial £7 million in seed funding, with further large investments along the way, the new nothing phone has finally landed and is available here in the UK now [1]. The question is, is the most hyped smartphone of the year worth it, and will it beat the notorious tech giants?

Can they do the seemingly unimaginable?

The new smartphone largely mirrors that of an iPhone, but comes in at almost half of the price, at £399 [2]. Yet with the mid-range price, it has still managed to incorporate high-end features found on expensive devices, including a 6.55  OLED display and a dual 50-megapixel rear camera, to name a few [2]. However, it isn’t a market leader regarding its specifications or features. With Google’s launch of the Pixel 6A which includes similar features and at a similar price point [3]. Will the Nothing phone stand out?

Making a phone that stands out in a saturated and competitive marketplace, is tough. However, the Nothing phone has challenged the status quo, by embracing a futuristic and retro design by creating a completely transparent back, revealing the inner workings of the phone. Incorporating a ‘Glyph Interface’, which lights up the back when you receive any notification, and…it’s customisable [2]. Moreover, it leads the industry regarding its sustainability ethos, with 50% of the plastic parts sourced from recycled and bio-based materials  [2].

A potential problem?

The founder stated that they are building an alternative to Apple, which essentially means they want Apple users to switch over [4]. However, the Nothing OS is built on Android. Meaning the transition for existing Android users is far simpler.

The problem is that in essence, Apple has created a rather large ecosystem, through platforms including Apple Music, Apple Fitness, and more [5]. This means switching to an Android operating system could be a problem when looking for a seamless switch.

However, it’s still very early days for the Nothing phone, having only been released on the 21st of July. They have an innovative product that has been cleverly designed, with great aesthetic detail and seamless hardware integration, but will it be enough to replace the renowned iPhone users?

We will have to wait and see!

Sources

[1]
https://nothing.tech/pages/about-us
[2]
https://nothing.tech/pages/phone-1
[3]
https://www.androidpolice.com/google-pixel-6a-vs-nothing-phone-1/
[4]
https://www.manchestereveningnews.co.uk/whats-on/whats-on-news/excited-about-nothing-phone-1-23477896
[5]
https://www.lifewire.com/the-nothing-phone-1-doesnt-stand-a-chance-against-the-iphone-5499243

Should You Use Your Personal Phone for Work?

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Work issued mobile phones are becoming less common as companies are switching to greener and more tech savvy communication systems that depend on employees using their personal phone for work. VoIP systems are more cost effective, efficient and simple for businesses, but does using a personal phone for work benefit the employee too? 

Communicating at work

Communication is a, if not the most, important factor in business.The way companies communicate can determine how they are received by clients, customers and how successful interactions within the company are. Most employees can expect some kind of worked issued device when joining a new company; know as a COBO, which stands for company-owned, business only, which could be a second smartphone or an office landline with a personalised extension number. With a COBO, as implied in the name, the company provides a work phone to the employee, and that phone’s only use is work, whether that is calling clients, communicating with colleagues or emailing. Some businesses’, however, use BYOD as their communication method, which stands for bring your own device, which is a newer method used by companies; with this, employees are to use their personal phone for work-related purposes and are responsible for the maintenance of the device, as well as other things such as security. Trend Micro reported that, out of 13,000 remote workers, from 27 different countries, 39% currently use personal phones, or devices, for work-related purposes. 

Why Two Handsets? 

So, why was having two phones the norm? Up until recently, having a company issue a phone for their employee has been normal protocol and expected. If a company relies on their employees using a mobile phone for their work, why shouldn’t they pay for it? 

Although it is essential in our ever increasingly digital world to have constant access to work, having two smartphones seems wasteful, inconvenient and expensive. 

Business issued phones made much more sense when most people did not have their own phone, and so it was essential their work provided one. Nowadays, phones are much more accessible, as they are cheaper, simpler and pretty much indispensable, everyone has a personal one, so it seems uneconomical and lavish to have two. 

Using A Personal Number For Work 

However, a new issue arises here. If companies stop giving out work phones, will employees have to rely on their personal number for work? Using a personal phone for work is cost effective, efficient and cheaper for everyone involved but using a personal number is tricky. 

The first issue with using a personal number for work is the lack of privacy. It can feel uncomfortable to give out personal information, such as your number, to clients, customers and colleagues. Giving out your personal number means, not only that you are contactable 24 hours a day, but also that there is no division between work and personal, making it hard to preserve your privacy. 

A personal number, which would typically be an ‘07’ number could also come across as unprofessional as your official work number. Customers and clients may feel uneasy calling a mobile number instead of a landline number for professional services. 

The advantages of using a personal phone for work, however, are abundant. 

Firstly, being able to use your own phone for work means you have familiarity and control over it. With work issued phones, there may be limits and locks to how you can use the phone. Similarly, the phone could be a make and model that you don’t know how to use as well as your personal one. Using your own phones for all purposes, work and personal, allows employees to organise their digital lives in one place, upgrade when they want and customise the phone however they chose.

Cost is another huge benefit to employees using their personal phones, mainly for the employer. Instead of paying for a handset, contract and for upkeep, all the employer has to pay for is, in some cases, a second number and any particular apps they want the employee to use, such as a data secure app or tracking app. Also, if an employee is using their personal phone for work use, it is more likely they will take better care of it, have it on their person at all times and so be more available, when needed. 

Having a personal phone for work also fits the modern day reality of the ‘new normal’ that the pandemic has left us grappling with. Many of us are now adjusting to remote or hybrid working, meaning you cannot use your office desk phone, as perhaps done before, but also are reliant on up to date and reliable technology to be able to work from anywhere. Using a personal phone for work means just that, allowing you to continue to work and stay connected to customers, clients and colleagues no matter where and how you are working. 

Second Work Number On Personal Phone 

The best of both worlds, perhaps, is the solution of having a work number on your personal phone. Keep the advantages of using your personal phone but maintain professionalism and privacy by having a second number, a work number, on that phone. 

Many businesses are switching to this method of communication in order to adapt to the digital transformation and keep their employees, and customers, happy. VoIP systems are a great communication solution for businesses, big and small, as they give employees a wireless number on their personal phone. The advantages that the features of VoIP systems over traditional phone lines are endless for businesses: 

  • Call forwarding 
  • Auto-Receptionist
  • Call Recording
  • Extensions
  • Conferencing 
  • Customisable voicemail
  • Data tracking 

And more! A VoIP system, like Devyce, only enhances a company’s communication, at the same time saving money and time.

Having a work number on a personal phone is also ideal for an employee. They can continue to use their personal phone, while maintaining their privacy and work life balance. Devyce has a customisable ‘Do Not Disturb’ feature, so that employees with a work number on their personal phone can set clear boundaries and send work calls to voicemail when on personal time.

It has also been reported that using your personal phone for work, with a second number, can relieve stress. By differentiating between work and personal calls, on one phone, people have found their work more manageable and have been able to stop constantly checking on two phones for calls or texts.

Learn more about VoIP systems here: https://devyce.com/2022/01/26/how-voip-systems-work-and-how-it-will-improve-your-small-business/

Get a work number on your personal phone, for yourself or your whole team, here: https://devyce.com/pricing/


Sources

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/using-personal-phone-for-work

 

https://medium.com/predict/its-time-to-stop-carrying-separate-smartphones-a40f25304711

 

https://www.techradar.com/news/stop-using-your-personal-phone-for-work-stuff

 

https://www.howtogeek.com/359944/the-best-way-to-get-a-phone-number-for-your-small-business/

 

https://ergobility.com/blog/work-from-home-tips-maintain-separate-phone-number

 

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