You have to be careful when you mention most things in technology because buzzwords can border on being a catch-all, an over promise, a sticker to put on something old to make it sound new and exciting again. AI is a good current example. But there really are truly game-changing applications occurring right now. Most people have seen a rules-based chatbot, created a fun headshot in an app or even dabbled with generative AI. How we communicate about advancements in tech is key.

Branding is less about the specific thing something does and more about what it makes possible in the future. Vibes are just as important as the stats to support them. Look to science and education, though and you’ll see where the game changers are.

3 Ways Technology Is Growing Businesses

1) Gain 90% More Time And Resources

If you are Dotmatics and you can reduce the cost and time of the drug discovery process. Now that grabs people’s attention. Something that took billions now takes millions. Something that took a decade can now take a year.

Dotmatics recently introduced Luma—a breakthrough new scientific intelligence platform that helps scientists and administrators unify and analyze large volumes of data for better decision-making. Built on Databricks, Dotmatics Luma lets teams seamlessly pull data into the platform from all of the most popular scientific applications and lab instruments, a major development for scientists who typically struggle with critical data trapped in silos. Luma can handle both the volume and complexity of data at a nearly exponential scale, and it’s built to do so in a way that scientists can easily control all on their own.

For instance, with flow cytometry “autogating,” identifying cell populations in a blood sample goes from weeks to nearly instant, with far greater accuracy.

Today, Dotmatics software is used by more than 2 million scientists globally from Bristol-Myers Squibb and Merck to research universities like MIT and Oxford—and many of the top 10 pharmaceutical companies are in the process of implementing the new Dotmatics scientific intelligence platform, Luma.

Once data from applications, databases, and instruments are centralized in Luma, then you can begin to do incredibly interesting and insightful things with AI. It opens an exciting new world of possibilities. Dotmatics describes it as a series of progressively, but complementary, layers of differentiation – with each layer becoming more differentiated and therefore more valuable to a business.

2) Pivoting Lessons In Real-time

Last week, Instructure, the leading learning technology ecosystem and maker of Canvas LMS, launched Intelligent Insights, a new product powered by AI and analytics. The 35 institutions that were beta testers, including Oxford, Cornell and San Diego State, have called it a game changer in higher education. At a high level it empowers educators to adapt and customize individual content for students that may need extra support and “ask your data” on how to improve courses and learning in real-time.

Sean Hauze, Ph.D., Senior Director of Instructional Technology at San Diego State University, has praised the seamless integration: “The Ask Your Data feature has been a game changer for us, empowering our leaders to interact with our data in a conversational way that was previously unimaginable. The ease of adoption and the value we’ve seen from Intelligent Insights has democratized our ability to leverage data—by both technical and non-technical leaders alike.”

Automating reporting and monitoring gives educators more time to build relationships with each student, facilitating a personalized learning experience. In a 2023 study, 92% of faculty rated “adequate prep time” as important instructional support for teaching. In addition, 76% of faculty stated technology and tools, such as AI and analytics tools, are important to the overall impact of their teaching. Intelligent Insights provides innovative real-time solutions to address the evolving needs of educators and administrators by making it possible to implement best practices that were previously too expensive, challenging and time-consuming.

Mark Bramwell, CIO of Oxford Said Business School and Director of Strategic Digital Partnerships, noted, “With this, we look to enable and empower our people with the latest digital capabilities so they can continue to deliver world-leading teaching and innovation and best equip and prepare our students with the digital skills they will need in the workplace.”

3) Behind-The-Scenes Technology

A bubble can start to exist where every story is a tech story on how a business is optimized. And certainly technology can do that. But for example Trenton Wisecup runs Arrow Roofing in Michigan. They are in the top 2% of residential roofers in America but roofing is built on trust and reliability and not new gadgets. He has used plenty of new tech for talent recruitment, scheduling and efficiency but that’s not the story you can lead with in that industry.

Tech allows them to service more clients, be on time, do a great job and highlight reviews so they get more customers. But a story in that industry is always based on trust.

Same can be said for growing jewelry start-ups. You can use TikTok shop, new channels, find new avenues but central to that industry is always the story you tell.

Alex and Ani built a thriving business out of Rhode Island on not only their story but by people being able to tell a personalized story with an abundance of charms. Liry’s Jewelry is doing something similar in Tampa. They have added modern tech and new channels to a business that has existed since the 1980s but it’s the brand story of taking recycled old jewelry and turning it into something new that is resonating with many.

It’s hard to determine when tech needs to be your lead story or it’s just support but as a general rule it all comes down to an audience and what builds trust. If the tech builds trust in your industry, lead with it. That’s very true in science, education, finance and more. But tech is not a catch all and there are plenty of times where the story can and still should be analog.