What if you could track your customers’ habits and know exactly what they were going to do—or buy—next? Or what if you could teach your computer to analyze speech, maps, videos, pictures, or handwriting? Even better, what if you had the ability to direct your analytics system to perform functions simply by talking to it?

A few years ago, this might have sounded like science fiction, but these capabilities exist today. And when understood and used in innovative ways, they can drastically improve the way you see and use the data you have on hand and the way you analyze it.

Here are 5 tech trends to take advantage of:

Internet of Things (IoT):

“Things” are the sensors implanted into devices—from smartphones to smart cars, medical devices to environmental monitoring—that track and transmit data. And they can track everything. Think energy used to transport cargo, the exact location of that cargo, which items are flying off shelves at which stores, and even the inner workings of the human digestive tract. It all adds up to a lot of data. Big data. And companies that can find a way to harness the massive amounts of data to sort out what’s relevant can use it to make smarter decisions. For example, analyzing data from in-store cameras can give retailers insights into customer behavior that they otherwise wouldn’t have. And companies can use those insights to create more targeted, personalized marketing campaigns.

Artificial intelligence (AI):

No, we’re not straying back into science fiction territory here. Artificial intelligence is what allows developers to program systems to carry out complex tasks ranging from face recognition to self-driving cars. AI is massively important to the future of business. If for example, you could use AI to automate currently manual or time-consuming processes, such as analyzing tables, data visualizations, and producing reports, you could erase a lot of labor and time from your process. You can also use AI to develop automated thresholds and pattern recognition alerts. Once the alert is activated, for example, the analyst is alerted, allowing the business to quickly address the issue.

Advanced machine learning:

Machine learning takes AI one step further by actually teaching computers to recognize patterns and understand data, and then analyzing the data across large data sets very quickly. With this technology, computers can actually learn to analyze images, videos, maps, handwriting, speech, and more. Advanced machine learning, or deep learning, can be used to find previously difficult-to- pinpoint anomalies and correlate them across data, as well as generate more intelligent predictive models. Gartner named machine learning its top strategic tech trend for 2017. Ovum calls it the “biggest disruptor for big data analytics in 2017.”

Chatbots:

It seems like chatbots are everywhere all of a sudden. At their core, chatbots are AI-based programs that use natural language processing or decision trees to communicate with humans. They can help customers place orders, answer product questions, make appointments, conduct surveys, provide product support, and handle inbound calls. And every interaction they have generates valuable data that improves decision-making. But perhaps the biggest benefit is for business analysts who can use chatbot capabilities to direct search and analysis activities through the bot. For example, you could ask your system, in natural language, for the latest data related to a key metric—and get that data immediately.

Drones:

Amazon was the first company to make headlines with their plan to deliver products to customer’s doorsteps via drone. And it’s about more than just convenience—Amazon will gain valuable data from those drone deliveries, which it will use to improve its business model. But there’s endless potential for drones in business. For example, a drone could collect warehouse data to help analysts identify areas for improvement or log inventory. Drones with onboard sensors and cameras can easily capture aerial images, which can, in turn, generate data on everything from traffic patterns to land density and other crucial metrics. Adding drone data to existing business data gives
analysts a window into new patterns and untapped insights.

Whether you have an army of drones at your disposal, or want a faster, easier way to pull insights from your IoT data, Domo gives you data from across your business—and any device or means you’re using to collect that data—in real-time, all in one place. In fact, you can get it right in the palm of your hand, because Domo is designed to be as on-the-go as you are. See relevant data, draw insights, and get machine-learning driven
alerts when any metric exceeds or drops out of the parameters you’ve set on it.

Want to give it a try? You can get started with Domo for free right now, and use it for as
long as you like.