Technology helps accelerate business growth.
You have to be careful when talking about most things in technology because buzzwords can become catch-alls, over-promises, stickers to put on old things to make them sound new and exciting. AI is a good current example, but truly game-changing applications are just beginning to emerge. Most of us have seen rule-based chatbots, made funny mugshots in apps, and dabbled a little with generative AI. How we communicate about technological advancements is key.
Branding is less about what something specifically does and more about what it enables in the future. The vibe is just as important as the statistics that back it up. But look to the science and education to see where the game changers are.
3 ways technology can help grow your business
1) 90% more time and resources
Dotmatics reduces the cost and time of the drug discovery process. It gets people noticed. What used to take billions of dollars now takes millions. What used to take 10 years now takes 1 year.
Dotmatics recently announced Luma, a groundbreaking new scientific intelligence platform that helps scientists and managers integrate and analyze massive amounts of data to make better decisions. Built on Databricks, Dotmatics Luma enables teams to seamlessly bring data from all of the most popular scientific applications and lab equipment into the platform. This is a major breakthrough for scientists who struggle with critical data locked in silos. Luma is built to handle both the volume and complexity of data at near-exponential scale, and to do so in a way that puts scientists in easy control.
For example, “auto-gating” in flow cytometry allows identification of cell populations within a blood sample to be completed almost instantly, instead of taking weeks, with much greater accuracy.
Dotmatics software is currently used by more than two million scientists worldwide, from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck to research universities such as MIT and Oxford, and many of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies are in the process of implementing Luma, the new Dotmatics scientific intelligence platform.
Once data from applications, databases, and equipment is centralized in Luma, you can do some really interesting and insightful things with AI. This opens up a world of exciting new possibilities. Dotmatics describes this as a series of incremental, yet complementary layers of differentiation, each one more differentiated and more valuable to the business.
2) Transform lessons in real time
Last week, Instructure, a leading learning technology ecosystem and maker of the Canvas LMS, announced a new AI- and analytics-powered product called Intelligent Insights. Thirty-five beta tester institutions, including the University of Oxford, Cornell University, and San Diego State University, are calling it a game changer for higher education. At an advanced level, it will enable educators to tailor and customize individual content for students who need extra support and “interrogate the data” for ways to improve courses and learning in real time.
Dr. Shawn Howes, Senior Director of Instructional Technology at San Diego State University, praised the seamless integration: “Ask Data has been game-changing for us, empowering leaders to engage with data in a conversational way never before imagined. The ease of adoption and value we’ve gained from Intelligent Insights has empowered data for technical and non-technical leaders alike.”
Automating reporting and monitoring allows educators to spend more time building relationships with each student, fostering personalized learning experiences. In a 2023 survey, 92% of teachers rated “adequate preparation time” as a critical instructional support for their education. Additionally, 76% of teachers said technology and tools, such as AI and analytics tools, are important to the overall impact of their education. Intelligent Insights provides innovative, real-time solutions that address the evolving needs of educators and administrators by enabling the implementation of best practices that were previously too costly, difficult and time-consuming.
Mark Bramwell, Chief Information Officer and Director of Strategic Digital Partnerships at Oxford Said Business School, said: “This will enable our staff to develop the latest digital capabilities, ensure we continue to deliver world-leading teaching and innovation, and best equip our students with the digital skills they need for the workplace.”
3) The Technology Behind the Scenes
When bubbles start to form, every story becomes a technology story about how to optimize your business. And technology certainly can do that. But, for example, Trenton Weiscup runs Arrow Roofing in Michigan. His company is in the top 2% of residential roofing contractors in the U.S., but his roofing business is built on trust and reliability, not new equipment. He uses a lot of new technology to hire, schedule, and be more efficient, but that’s not a story that can lead in that industry.
Technology allows us to serve more customers, be on time, do great work, and highlight reviews to get more customers, but the story of this industry has always been based on trust.
The same goes for growing jewelry startups: You can find new avenues with a TikTok shop or a new channel, but the core of your industry will always be the story you tell.
Alex and Ani built a thriving business in Rhode Island by telling not only their story but also empowering people to tell their own unique stories with their wide selection of charms. Lily’s Jewelry is doing the same in Tampa. They’ve added modern technology and new channels to a business that dates back to the 1980s, but it’s their brand story of taking old recycled jewelry and remaking it into something new that resonates with many.
It’s hard to know when technology should be the main story or when it can just be a support, but as a rule, it all depends on what builds trust with the audience. If technology builds trust in your industry, make it the main story. This is true in many areas, including science, education, and finance. But technology is not a panacea, and there are many cases where the story can and should be analog.
