We are living in the weird and wonderful era of tech.

The progress is rapid and often overwhelming if

you follow the media closely- the blockchain, deep learning, neural networks, robotics, shoppable AR
and smart AI-assistants helping you to schedule meetings or choose a new pair of jeans.

Nowadays, there’s a newer, better solution available for pretty much any “stone age” business process.
So, how important is it for entrepreneurs to keep up with new technologies?

It’s actually more important than many realize. Jumping on the hype bandwagon without doing much
research isn’t wise. Yet, successful entrepreneurs will make it a point to dedicate at least some time to
becoming aware of new technological trends, and even test driving them.

It’s actually more important than many realize. Jumping on the hype bandwagon without doing much
research isn’t wise. Yet, successful entrepreneurs will make it a point to dedicate at least some time to
becoming aware of new technological trends, and even test driving them. Here’s exactly why.

In a recent study released by Salesforce, 68% of marketing heads report that customer experience is
increasingly becoming the basis of their competitive efforts. This isn’t surprising. According to University
of Exeter Business School, having a deep understanding of the audience you’re trying to capture is how
to stay ahead of the curve. “Customers are demanding personalized experiences that make every stage
of the purchasing journey easier and more relevant to them,” said Daniel Wang, CEO of Loopring, “The
wrinkle? Delivering intimate suggestions is virtually impossible without adopting newer technologies.
That’s why competitive businesses are actively investing in big data, analytics platforms, artificial
intelligence, and block chain among other technologies to deliver great customer experiences. Choosing
to ignore the latest of these technologies may quickly make your business obscure and irrelevant as you
are no longer delivering what the customers want.”

On one hand, when a large firm decides to embrace technology, they have the funds and resources to
implement that technology on a large scale. Small businesses rarely have that advantage. However,
there is somewhere that entrepreneurs do have an opportunity.

An entrepreneur must go through significantly fewer steps to test out and adopt newer technologies.
Because they are nimble and have less administrivia to contend with, they can jump on the innovation
bandwagon rapidly and develop new solutions from scratch. In fact, that’s exactly why the likes of
Google and Facebook tend to acquire smaller startups- to gain access to their tech and the brains behind
it, before this “new kid” overthrows them.

In the meantime, a smaller business that is tech-forward will have implemented the new software, used
it to improve their ability to communicate within project teams and with customers, and have moved on
to considering the next technology innovation. If there is a formal procedure to follow, that often goes
significantly faster.

Of course, entrepreneurs aren’t just working against the big guys. In many cases, small businesses must
compete against one another to gain market traction and ensure growth. If you fail to hop on top of the
latest technologies, you can lose business to companies that do. In fact, 20% of all startup exits can be
attributed to being outcompeted.
In the article cited above, Mark Hedland spoke of the demise of his personal finance management
company. His company’s competitor, Mint, simply presented users with a product that was easier to
use. He mentions his company’s failure to adopt Yodlee, a financial aggregation tool as one of the
primary reasons for that failure. At the same time, Mint embraced technology that enabled the
automation of processes such as data entry. The story may have ended differently had Hedland’s
company been willing to embrace technology more. Meanwhile, Mint has grown because they did keep
up and adopt.

When launching a startup, it’s imperative to watch costs and stretch profit margins as far as possible.
Fortunately, entrepreneurs can find opportunities to streamline and automate processes and save
money as well. Take the restaurant industry as an example.

According to the USDA, 133 billion pounds of food is wasted each year, and that is solely waste from
restaurants and stores. Not only is that an environmental and socioeconomic concern, it represents a
huge loss of money for these establishments. By adopting inventory management technology,
restaurants can better track what they have in stock and what they need. This prevents the kind of over-
purchasing that leads to waste.

Entrepreneurs can also use technology to automate customer support through call routing systems or AI
chatbots. Project management software can ensure projects finish within time limits and maximize
resources. There’s also automated invoices and financial management. Even HR can benefit from
technology.

Entrepreneurs must contend with tough competition, tight finances, and the need to maximize every
growth opportunity. This cannot be done without staying on top of the latest technologies.