Businessesâ responses to changing technology
Rikke gives some examples of the ways in which changes in technology can provide business opportunities
Changes in technology create both opportunities and threats to businesses:
- Opportunities â Developing technology brings with it opportunities for new products or new uses for existing products. A business that can respond quickly can be first to market with a new product.
- Threats â New technology means that old products are likely to become No longer used or needed.. Businesses that make these products could find themselves struggling unless they are able to respond to changes by developing new products.
The portable music industry is a good example of how changes in technology can have an impact on businesses, even those that are household names:
Businesses may also need to respond to changes in technology in other ways. For example:
- Consumers can now share their views and opinions much more widely, eg using social media. Businesses need to be able to deal with any negative comments. As a result, many businesses have created social media teams to interact with customers.
- Many businesses have seen opportunities to reduce their costs through using new communication technologies. For example, businesses have reduced the number of printed documents they use, replacing them with documents in electronic formats that are easier to share, eg instruction manuals available as downloadable PDF documents.
- Businesses have used technology to help address environmental issues. For example, the increased use of A remote worker is someone who works outside of the office, usually from home and communicates with the office by email, telephone or video calls. and the use of Where live video is streamed over the internet so that people can communicate face-to-face without being in the same room. tools means less travel and associated pollution. This results in a reduction in a businessâ A measure of how much carbon is used through the activities of a person, company or country..