Just a few years ago business coaching was considered to be a way to help people who are inexperienced and those who underperform. A lot of people believed that it would be shameful to seek help from an expert in business ownership.
However, after the business coaching industry saw the potential of technology and its use, it has now become a high-quality service that many company owners pursue. With its expensive fees these days, finding one that will fit your budget can be quite difficult.
Although, even though it became such an elite service, it was still a task that had to be done face to face which meant that it still wasn’t as popular as people would want it to be.
With the use of technology, coaches today can satisfy hundreds of customers a day because they do not have to do everything in person. Motivational talks can be done through the phone or through online video chat which is more than enough.
Because of this availability of business coaches has increased considerably and the fees are also quite more affordable than what they used to be.
Here are the top 7 ways technology has helped this industry grow.
Phone Applications
Have you noticed how people have a much easier time tracking their workout progress and their calorie intake? The reason for this is that there was a boom of fitness tracking applications just a few years ago. These can help you track your workout schedule, calorie intake, meal suggestions and other important information that can help you speed up your progress.
But, why is this important for business? Well, just like the fitness apps, business coaches have also created similar applications that can provide you with the right advice and motivation to help you keep moving forward with your company. There is no more need to wait for a professional to come to your office just to give you a few lines of advice for the day. With the press of a button, you can book a coach that will be there for you every second of the day.
With the constant support from your phone app, you can certainly become a much better leader and businessman in just a few months.
Video calls
We already mentioned that calling a coach just to have a fifteen-minute face to face meeting to assist you with your current problems is not efficient at all and you probably already know that.
Thanks to Skype, Facebook, FaceTime, Viber and Line, people can easily obtain that intimacy that you would have when talking face-to-face, but with a video. Both parties can see each other’s facial expressions and can hold eye contact which is more than enough for a coaching session.
Another benefit of video calls is that they come at a much cheaper fee. You are also provided with a lot more accessibility because holding a call from anywhere in the world is quite easy, right?
Studies have shown that virtual coaching is as effective, or maybe even more effective than when doing it in person.
Platforms to reduce the workload coaches are faced with
Business coaches have to spend a lot of time and energy throughout the day to do even the smallest tasks which do not bring any profits. Things such as creating schedules, filling up the calendar, tracking goals for different coaches, sending advice through messages, handling all the notes and a bunch of other things that can take up multiple hours a day. Eyal Nachum goes in detail in an article about reducing the workload of banks on this website.
Fortunately, there are several platforms out there today that can help them manage their menial tasks.
This kind of platform enables them easier communication with their clients which will build stronger and better relationships, easy access to billing, etc. The use of this kind of a platform will reduce the cost of the operation considerably, enabling business coaches to take up a lot more clients than they used to.
Augmented Reality
Imagine yourself sitting at the office and are desperate for a piece of advice to help you handle the problems you have in your company. But, getting a call or waiting for your coach to come to your office doesn’t seem like the right solution.
With AR or augmented reality, you could hold a meeting with anyone you want from anywhere you want. With augmented reality, you could bring anyone you want right there in front of you to give you advice on your issues. This will make the conversation a lot more personal and real.
Unfortunately, the technology for such a thing is still not as developed as we would want it to be. Although we believe that in a few years in the future we will be able to utilize in any way we want.
Artificial Intelligence
Today, we are able to create artificial intelligence that can be as smart, or even smarter than a human. While nothing can compare to the way the human brain works, we can create something that can logically think like us.
You might think that artificial intelligence is still not possible, but it is actually used everywhere around you. Your phone, your computer and a bunch of other electronic devices constantly have the use of some kind of artificial intelligence.
When you ask for customer support on Amazon, you are usually connected with a bot that can help you with your questions. This is a clear example of a fully developed AI. Sure, it might not answer all of your questions, but keep in mind that it was created to answer questions that are related to your product or their services.
So, what does this mean for business coaching? Well, it means that we would be able to create artificial intelligence that could company owners lead their team. Naturally, we are still far away from creating such programs, but it probably will not take more than ten or twenty years for it to happen.
Just imagine, the “robot” will be able to help you practice every single day, give you the right advice depending on your situation and so on. It definitely is one of those technologies that will boost this industry in the future.
