In the modern working world of 2024, it’s all too easy to think the technology challenges you’re facing are unique to your company or your industry.

Retailers, for example, might be focused on offering improved online shopping experiences. Superannuation funds want to use data to understand their member’s employment journeys better. Health tech providers aiming to use data to help shift healthcare from reactive to preventative care.

Despite industry differences in the challenges themselves, there is a common thread running throughout them all: a desire to use technology innovations to deliver better services for customers and make a difference in their lives.

Sharing insights and 2024 focus plans

The theme of leveraging technology to improve the customer experience was prevalent during our recent Equal Experts technology insights event in Melbourne.

Our team in Australia kicked off 2024 by inviting tech leaders from different industry sectors to an informal event on the banks of the Yarra River to understand their digital focus for the new year.

More than 30 guests from the worlds of retail, banking, telco, superannuation, energy, legal, health tech and software scale-ups stopped by to share their insights and connect with other tech leaders.

Common among all the discussions on the day, regardless of industry, was a drive to use technology to make things better for their users and customers. Industries across Australia are continuing to invest in technology to make customer journeys seamless, understand their users in a much deeper way and provide tailored or personalised customer experiences.

Is AI the future?

Alongside an aspiration to improve customer experience, another key event discussion thread was the best ways to leverage the opportunities presented by AI while maintaining data privacy and cybersecurity.

Attendees from the legal sector shared how they’d started to invest in AI tools for analytics to support more strategic decision-making. Superannuation funds were exploring how AI could give them an edge in customer experience by automating or offloading repetitive tasks to free up their staff for more meaningful customer-focused work.

Alongside improving analytics and customer journeys, the financial sector is also focused on using emerging technologies, including AI and machine learning, to detect and prevent fraudulent transactions and minimise losses.

As we start 2024 it’s clear that industries across Australia are curious about the potential of AI in their sector, if not actively implementing it into their business as usual and starting to see results.

Gaining a new perspective on complex challenges

A core reason for holding events like our Melbourne meet-up is to give our network a chance to do something rare – share their challenges with people outside their own industry, understand how tech is being used elsewhere to solve similar problems and gain a fresh perspective on the potential of digital innovation.

At Equal Experts, we often take inspiration from our past engagements, including work done in a completely different sector, to help solve complex problems for our clients. We use our extensive experience in digital transformations to find the best solutions and tailor those solutions to the unique needs of a business or specific industry context.

We feel privileged to be able to run our meet-up events and extend the opportunity to gain insights into different industry tech approaches to some of our Australian partners and help them plan for the future.

We’re also looking forward to seeing some of you at our next industry meet-up event and hearing your tech insights, challenges and opportunities.

If you can’t wait that long or if you’re eager to learn more about AI, we’re hosting an Expert Talks panel discussion in Melbourne on Thursday 22 February 2024. Join us to hear a panel of experts and business leaders explore the realm of AI and examine both the concerns and opportunities it presents.