The best time of the year is approaching. The holiday season is a reason for celebration – not just for customers who shop till they drop, but also for businesses who can see their revenues soaring! That’s why as the holiday season rings in the festive mood, it’s also a good time to look at technology trends that are accelerating.

Let’s look at 5 technologies that could have a significant impact on this holiday season, and that could pave the way for business success – not just in the holiday season, but far beyond that:

1. UI/UX : The holiday season is the best time to improve upon UI/UX design. With the competition becoming fiercer during the holidays, it makes it imperative to offer your customers an unmatched UX. In addition to improving the navigation structure, payment gateway, and product mix, it is also extremely critical for organizations to enhance the UX. This means a faster website, a more intuitive interface, attractive content, high-quality pictures and videos, and a shopping experience that is enjoyable and meaningful. Investing in UX is also a great way to influence the decision-making process for customers, enabling them to purchase products that best fit their needs, while driving an increase in sales.
2. AI : AI’s impact, even in the short time the technology has been around, has been massive. The precision of results that AI has been able to deliver has made organizations leverage this technology to transform customer-facing business processes. One company which is making the most of the technology is Amazon, with its Amazon Go stores. By automating the checkout process, Amazon has created a revolutionary model to streamline the customer experience. While tech giants are constantly investing in AI capabilities, the upcoming holiday season will see even mid-sized companies and startups make the most of this disruptive technology. From predictive and preventive maintenance of equipment to sensor data analysis, automatic processing of customer data to NLP-based chatbots, intelligent programming assistants to automatic code generation – the use cases for AI this holiday season are likely to explode.
3. IoT : The days when IoT was just another trending buzz word have gone. Today, technology has become an integral part of homes, offices, and, even, cities. Given how quickly IoT is reshaping the future of the digital landscape, the holiday season is also likely to see the technology build up immense momentum. While IoT products like Google Home and Amazon Alexa have become household names, there are many others that are climbing up the popularity charts for their features and utility. The ability to connect with a slew of other smart devices in the IoT ecosystem and collect and exchange real-time data is driving this popularity. With consumer-driven IoT spending expected to grow to $236 billion in 2020, now is the time to embrace the technology to transform the holiday season, and provide customers with tomorrow’s solutions and options-today.
4. Blockchain : The amount of money that customers spend during the holiday season is rising exponentially. In the 2018 holiday season alone, shoppers are said to have spent a record-breaking $126 billion online! Big money attracts big risks. That’s why the massive increase in online transactions is making blockchain a much sought-after technology. By storing data in a decentralized ledger, blockchain facilitates smooth financial transactions, while providing transparency, and reducing the likelihood of fraud. In the upcoming holiday season, many consumer-focused companies have come around to believe that it will be a good idea to dive into the realm of blockchain. These companies seek to provide customers with a secure underlying framework so their shopping experience is secure, seamless and stress-free.
5. 5G : Across industries, 5G is bringing the promise of a massive boost to communication technology through its lightning-fast speed, low latency, and high availability. It is estimated that by 2021, the number of 5G connections will reach a whopping 200 million. As more and more customers use their mobile devices to evaluate brands, surf, and compare products, and make purchases, embracing 5G can help companies drive better and more satisfactory conversions. With higher broadband speeds across more reliable networks, customers can not only enjoy faster Internet connections, but also download files, view pages, and watch videos – with far greater bandwidth, speed, and reliability. The latency that customers currently witness with their connections will soon be a thing of the past; with a latency of 1 millisecond or less, the new world of 5G will allow more customers to seamlessly access content online–without the site crashing from increased traffic.

Get the ball rolling: With the holiday season fast approaching, its time for businesses to pull up their socks, and embrace the technological trends that can make the customer experience absolutely flawless. The possibilities businesses have, to boost customer satisfaction and drive revenue are practically endless. From offering an attractive UI/UX to embracing the realm of AI and IoT, implementing blockchain for more secure transactions and leveraging 5G to make the online experience seamless – this holiday season could well become the season of technology!