You Can Now Use WhatsApp On Windows Without Your Phone…And Other Small Business Tech News This Week

(This column originally appeared in Forbes)

Here are five things in technology that happened this past week and how they affect your business. Did you miss them?

1 — WhatsApp has a new stand alone Windows version.

Windows users of WhatsApp can now enjoy the application with using their phone or even having their phone available. The company has released a new app that’s available on the Windows store. (Source: The Verge).

Why this is important for your business:

This is a big one for me because my company has a fair amount of clients and others in our community that use WhatsApp (I also have relatives overseas where WhatsApp is extremely popular). Up until now all conversations went through my phone. But using the application right from my laptop will surely save time, and position me to start better integrate these conversations with my CRM. Downloading now….!

2 — Small businesses outdo large corporations with the “buy now” button through ecommerce.

A recent study showed that the new “buy now” button adoption for small and large businesses has been proven to help customers save time while online shopping. Additionally, 85 percent of small businesses owners in the study prefer this option versus only 71 percent of larger businesses owners. This may be because many small businesses use large payment companies like PayPal at their online checkouts (Source: PYMNTS).

Why this is important for your business:

According to the study, small merchants are more likely to offer one-click buy button checkout to increase conversions because it’s basically the most friction-less way to complete a sale. The study found that use of buy buttons saves consumer 148 million hours annually during online checkout. The takeaway is that if you don’t have a “buy now” button on your e-commerce site you’re lagging the trend.

3 — Microsoft makes collaborative worksheets easier to use with their new “@mentions” feature.

Microsoft has received numerous complaints for how difficult it is to create a collaborative worksheet, consequently they have added this new feature “@mentions” to make spreadsheets easier to use. This feature allows users to tag their co-workers so they can edit, view or clarify a specific section. These tags can both be inside and outside the network. These mentions can also be added to the Microsoft workbook. This feature will be expected to come out to users in October 2022 with only desktop Excel users will be able to have the feature for now (Source: Tech Radar).

Why this is important for your business:

A much-needed feature. Let’s see how everyone likes it in October.

4 — A chain of Japanese supermarkets will use robot arms to restock shelves.

300 Familymart locations across cities in Japan will be equipped with AI powered robot arms to restock shelves. This is to help relieve store workers while helping to combat the labor shortage in Japan. According to Telexistence — a Japanese tech company — each robot unit can replace one to three hours of human work per day. Familymart will pay the tech company a monthly fee to use the robots. U.S. tech giants like Microsoft and Nvidia have been in talks with Telexistence — a Japanese tech company — on the future for AI powered bots. (Source: Seattle Times)

Why this is important for your business:

With fewer workers coming to work, companies around the globe are compensating with investments in technology to permanently replace them. It’s a great opportunity for the robotics industry and an excellent way for businesses to control their overhead while still delivering their products and services. As for the workers?

5 — Meta is introducing AI and automation tools to help advertisers.

Advantage+, Meta’s most advanced AI and automation for advertisers, is a feature that used to be exclusive to high-end campaigns but now can help advertisers further by getting more from their ad spend even for just one ad. (Source: Search Engine Journal)

Why this is important for your business:

According to Meta,small businesses can use this feature to create their own ads right on Facebook. This can also create shopping ads for online and in person retail. The feature creates a more targeted ad for the consumers that would be more likely to buy from that company. “With Meta Advantage+ shopping campaigns, we are able to grow our business by automating our targeting and campaign creative with less manual setup, which freed up time to focus on other areas of our business.,” one Meta company says. “After initially testing Advantage+ Shopping Campaigns earlier this year we’ve allocated more of our budget to these ads as we’ve seen continued performance and lower CPA.”

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Originally published at https://www.forbes.com.