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Today’s business owners and managers are facing endless choices with new technology, including an array of automation solutions meant to drive efficiency and improve the customer experience. But the benefits are paying off for those who have found a way to incorporate new technology into their business offerings, and that trend will continue into 2024.
The Future of Automation: 2024 Edition
Adopting automation has ongoing benefits.
Data shows that automation is positively impacting businesses’s finances. Forty-five percent of retailers and 38% of restaurant owners say that their businesses have seen increased profits as a result of using technology or automation.
Beyond profits alone, business owners are finding even more benefits of incorporating automation into their operations, from an improved customer experience to greater employee retention.
Customers want more automation, especially Gen Zers and millennials.
Customers aren’t strangers to the advantages that automation and new technology can offer them, especially when it comes to repetitive or administrative tasks, and they want to see business owners invest there. Three out of every four (76%) consumers want restaurants to invest in at least one area of automation when they’re not at full staffing capacity, while 66% of shoppers support retailers using AI-based tools for certain tasks.
But the demand for automation in business is even higher among younger generations. Across the board, Gen Z and millennial consumers prefer that businesses use automation at a higher rate than older generations.
Square partnered with Wakefield Research to survey business owners, managers, and consumers across the U.S., Canada, the UK, and Australia to find out how businesses and their customers are thinking about and using automation going into 2024.
Inside the Future of Automation report you’ll find:
- How restaurant owners and retailers plan to invest in technology in 2024
- The areas where automation technology can drive improvement
- The biggest benefits of automation that business owners are seeing
- What consumers want when it comes to technology and automation in the businesses they frequent