New technology has a way of creeping up on us. Starting off as a geeky trend, or a privilege of a select few, suddenly it appears everywhere. Things like the microwave, home alarm system, VoIP business phone system, and of course the smartphone, all started off as obscure technologies.  Now they are commonplace. But what new technology can we expect to make it big in 2019? Each year, we like to take a guess.  Here are 5 cutting edge technological developments we think may impact your business (or life) next year.

If you have ever had to speak to a telecoms company about a new phone system, or even an IT company about installing new internet connection, you will probably remember the sales rep using a lot of baffling acronyms that made the entire process more confusing than it needed to be.  PoP, VoIP, LAN, WAN, VPS, GEA, BPS, might have been a few you heard mentioned. The information technology and telecoms industries are rife with such abbreviations, that should in theory, make conversations quicker - but given most of us don't speak technology-acronym language, they serve to do much the opposite.  

Most businesses approach to sales is different to their approach to customer service.  Sales teams have targets.  They are on commission.  They have lots of meetings, and generally have varied schedules and busy diaries.  Customer service teams on the other hand are in the office 100% of the time, usually with the same schedule every day. 

The design and functionality of your office could be affecting your employees’ productivity. Giving your team things such as the right lighting, adjustable desks and comfortable temperature control may actually increase their performance.  But that’s not all.  Here we share what we believe are the technologies that every office space should have to improve productivity.

Today around 70% of offices have an open floor plan. But are they really all they are cracked up to be?

When most people hear the word 'data', or ‘analytics’, they imagine pages of numbers, long documents and graphs that do more to confuse than explain.

Lea in Accounting doesn’t like the new payroll software and it is having a knock-on effect to her entire team.  Sammy in Shipping doesn’t understand the new app for logging shipments and as a result no shipments are being tracked. And the new PA keeps complaining about the business phone system because she can’t seem to remember how to conference calls.

A report recently released by the Smarter Working Initiative says that Britain’s small business owners should be paying a more attention to the work-life balance issues faced by their employees, and offer more options for flexible working.  

Most sales and marketing professionals will argue that the cold call is dead—an outdated mode of pitching your services that potentially creates more potential ill-will than sales.

Mesh networks give your home Wi-Fi setup a boost using extra boxes that give the signal a kick as it passes through. They don’t magically give your home a connection it didn’t have before, but rather extend the connection you already have, further. So if your home is large, or you need to extend your Wi-Fi beyond the router’s current capabilities, a Mesh network is probably just the thing for you.