It's been another year of rising costs and problems in the supply chain. Businesses have become accustomed to operating in an environment of constant change, but this does not change the fact that growth – Based on global trends – It will be more difficult to achieve in 2024.
Rising interest rates and unstable energy prices are putting pressure on companies' margins and forcing them to look at efficiency and make the most of every penny they earn.
Meanwhile, “artificial intelligence” remains a hot topic. There are high expectations for AI solutions in particular and whether they can help streamline new insights into a company's data, whether through automation or enhancing a company's products and services.
However, this year will be full of challenges for most people. So, consider these four tips more as a timely warning than a general forecast.
1. Do more with less
Economic conditions continue to pressure profit margins and create operational problems for companies. Business leaders can only manage by what they can measure, and success in the coming year will require management to know their numbers – from performance metrics to operational data, which will be key to finding ways to do more with less.
Doing so requires proper data integration and automation of manual processes across finance, sales, and operations teams.
The automation part in particular is crucial, but it must be done right: for example, several days' work can be saved in the usual accounting processes, but if the data collected does not reflect the entire organization, it will be difficult to gain insight into New trends and directions of the company.
2. Remember KI, under certain circumstances
Many companies are probably already thinking about where they can use AI to reduce costs, increase productivity, or discover new opportunities in the data and processes that already exist in the company.
Using AI and machine learning services across the entire enterprise, you can integrate data from finance, sales, service, and support and thus discover new trends. It can either lead to new product categories, customer needs, efficiencies or savings.
But growing companies have to keep calm, because they often don't have the same connections between their data — because AI only gets better than the data it's fed.
Therefore, control of private data, data flow, and integration of that information across departments must be a priority. Only then can AI begin to contribute.
Read also
Promises concrete goals: – I've been optimistic about technology all along
3. Sustainability reporting should be prioritized
Environmental, social, business ethics and CSR (corporate social responsibility) are no longer something that only applies to global companies. SMEs also have a responsibility to create and leave as positive an impression on people and the outside world as possible.
Investors, customers and employees take CSR and ESG seriously and prefer companies with clear goals, serious reporting and real development. In addition, there are regulations from the European Union, such as the latest Corporate Sustainability Reporting (CSR) Directive, which impose significant reporting requirements for groups and some smaller companies.
To ensure proper documentation and compliance, you need reliable data – not just an overview of your data. This brings us back to the fact that you must have control over the company's data flow and integration processes, but also over external data, for example, from subcontractors or the operations department, in order to sort waste.
4. Industry 4.0
There has been talk for a long time about Industry 4.0, and with “smart production” and “smart warehouse” this is actually a thing now in 2024 – and that is to be expected. violent Future growth.
Initially, Industry 4.0 was only for the largest companies, which could afford to invest in smart solutions, automation and industrial robots, but the democratization of technology means that this is becoming available to more people.
Smart, connected systems and sensors can monitor and record the real world and share insights so the company can achieve a higher level of productivity. These can be sensors that can record potential downtime of machines, and before they stop, you can prepare spare parts – or prevent downtime when operations create bottlenecks.
There are many things to accomplish in 2024, and you probably won't be able to accomplish them all. Most important of all is how you handle your data, the willingness to break away from corporate data silos and be flexible.
Only in this way can you be free, so you can continue your growth.
Read also
The new EU AI law: what does it mean for Norwegian companies?
“Web specialist. Lifelong zombie maven. Coffee ninja. Hipster-friendly analyst.”
