Sage predicts six tech trends for SMEs in 2017

Chatbots, collective intelligence and blockchain are some of the big technology trends that are expected to transform the way entrepreneurs run their businesses in 2017 according to Klaus-Michael Vogelberg, chief technology officer, Sage.

Vogelberg sees six major trends in 2017 that could significantly impact business methods and how owners work in 2017 and henceforth.

“As every business – big or small – is transforming more or less intensively into a tech-enabled business, today’s entrepreneurs should be on the lookout for the opportunities these technological developments can bring to their business,” Vogelberg said.

The first trend SMEs should look out for is chatbots or digital agents becoming increasingly common on different devices and more interfaces which entrepreneurs use to manage and control their businesses. These interfaces will dramatically change the working relationship between humans and computers.

The user experience, Vogelberg predicts will not only become more convenient but also more enjoyable – these will work autonomously and have self-learning capabilities. Eventually, software could act without user intervention, or ask a certain question only once and use this information for all further activities.

A press release from Sage to BusinessDay noted that the firm launched the first accounting chatbot, Pegg in June 2016. Pegg is a smart assistant that allows users to track expenses and manage finances through messaging apps such as Facebook messenger and Slack.

“Pegg hides the complexities of accounting and lets entrepreneurs manage finances through conversation, making the process as simple as writing a text. By digitising information at the point of capture, it takes away the hassle of filing the receipts and expenses, eliminating the need for paper and data entry,” Sage wrote.

The second trend Vogelberg noted is the adoption of artificial and collective intelligence by smaller companies. He states the need for SMES to combine efforts to maximize the benefits of artificial intelligence and work towards sharing data and computer power in a structured and systematic manner. They will benefit from the collaboration by receiving a better and larger data pool and superior data intelligence.

The third trend is blockchain. Blockchain organises transactions of digital assets between two parties in a radically new way by eliminating middlemen or intermediaries like banks, notaries, state authorities or trading platforms to legitimise the exchange of certain assets – such as digital properties, digital trading goods, digital contracts, or even financial transactions via digital currencies such as bitcoins – blockchains allow individuals to transfer these assets in a direct, safe, secure, and immutable way between each other. A decentralised, distributed ledge, essentially an asset database shared across multiple participants, combined with crypto-economic algorithms serve as the technological basis of a blockchain. Vogelberg notes that business builders should also carefully analyse if – and how, the new blockchain technology could impact their current business models.

“Particularly all those industries which work as intermediaries between two parties – such as lawyers, notaries, or real-estate or financial brokers – could be affected by this new, innovative approach. Bookkeepers and accountants might also be affected in the way they do business in the future, as blockchain has the potential to eliminate a significant part of the workload – such as checking and booking transactions, transferring money or paying invoices – handled by these professions today,” Vogelberg said.

Another trend is the revolution in the way people use money and transfer payments from one account to another which is already growing. In 2017, better solutions will allow companies to establish an end-to-end payments value chain with their suppliers and customers.

“These new solutions enable anytime anywhere, immediate and omni-channel payments and will be fully integrated into the financial accounting systems of tomorrow’s enterprise. All parties, such as e-commerce platforms, banks, fintech or partners, will profit from open API standards and financial transactions,” Vogelberg said.

The last two trends are platform-based infrastructure and internet of things creating new services and job profiles. SMEs will replace their stand-alone, onsite software systems with integrated, cloud-based software solutions that operate on global Cloud platforms such as Salesforce.com who are offering their users access to a wealth of business apps and integrated services.

FRANK ELEANYA