Modern businesses are built on a collection of hardware, software, and services produced by dozens of vendors. The average enterprise uses more than 1,000 applications. The average desktop kit uses over three dozen devices and applications, many made by different companies. And emerging integrated systems rely on myriad technologies in data centers and cloud services. Your business may have even more layers to contend with.

As a retail inventory management professional, you know better than anyone the frustration of out-of-stock items. It’s a problem that impacts everyone: customers leave disappointed, associates struggle to provide a good experience, and stores lose valuable sales. Therefore, addressing out-of-stock issues is essential for maintaining customer loyalty and improving overall store performance. But how? It’s not like you haven’t tried to solve this problem before. No one is ignoring it.

Marketers can’t set a strategy just by looking at sales numbers or economic trends. We must fully understand our audience: what they’re thinking and why, their learning styles, the online places they frequent, and their desired business outcomes. We need to know what matters most and least to them so we don’t add to the digital clutter. That’s not the hardest part of our job, though.

Two years ago, I wrote a Forbes Council article encouraging members to assign more value to software tools. Not just the apps that are on mobile devices and wearables but the software that’s being used to manage those devices and manage overall operations – the software used to make critical business decisions. When I read the article again recently, I realized that this is advice that needs to be resurfaced.

I’ve been working with artificial intelligence (AI) for a long time, so I’m always curious to hear what new engineers think about its potential impact on our lives and the world at large. That’s why I recently sat down with Saliha Demir on our podcast.

How often do you compare yourself to other people? To your peers or competitors? Once a day? Once an hour? According to Tim Stoddard, your answer should be, “Never.” You should only be comparing your performance today to where you want to be tomorrow. That’s how you get better. That’s how you succeed in life and business. By getting better – doing better – each day.

There are a lot of ways to reduce shrink at the point of sale (POS) without degrading the customer experience. There are also many ways to stop losses stemming from accidental misreads or mis-rings by associates as they’re hurrying to queue bust, do inventory, or restock shelves. All of them start with having the proper barcode scanner. I know you probably think you’re set with your scanners. But are you really? Are you sure you have the right scanners for the job?

It's the little things in life that seem to have the greatest impact on our well-being and happiness. The same is true in business, especially when it comes to technology. For example, many retail, healthcare, and hospitality leaders have been telling me they would be so much happier if devices like barcode scanners were physically smaller and easier to install and manage.

I know many companies are making technology purchases these days in reaction to regulations or mandates. Not just in transportation and logistics (T&L), either. I’m seeing this happen in the pharmaceutical and food and beverage industries too. But because compliance is the driver for these purchases, I worry that many business leaders aren’t taking the time to consider the bigger picture opportunities that technology offers them.