Navigating the Shortening Half-Lives of Technology on Mars

sharharyan11223

I am truly blessed to work for a startup on the cutting edge of artificial intelligence (AI) in retail. While other industries within Martech haven't moved much over the past decade (eg rendering and email delivery), not a day goes by in AI without some progress. It's scary and exciting at the same time.

I couldn't imagine working in a corporate corporation with strict controls, processes and bureaucracy that could take months or even years to implement a discovery. As a lean startup, our data scientist reads a research paper one week and implements methodologies the next week… dramatically increasing the results we get for our clients.

Our solution feeds prediction data to our retail clients' database in their cloud, which is integrated into their Martech stack. As our models are updated and produce more accurate predictions, we can deploy them without interrupting our client. Clients can immediately take advantage of our innovation.

Contrast this with consultants, development teams or platforms that require implementations, integrations and training. Our time to value (TTV) is fast. Our competitors have long implementations with complex integrations where ROI takes months or years... and sometimes never comes. In-house teams trying to start from scratch are even worse off.

This means that a DTC dealer who invests in our predictive customer insights doesn't have to worry about the half-life of our technology and whether it will have to be replaced by new technology in years, months or even weeks.

Half-Life technology
Understanding the concept of technology half-life is essential for companies trying to maximize their marketing strategies while staying ahead of the curve. The half-life of a Martech solution refers to the time it takes for a technology to become obsolete or lose half of its usefulness, primarily due to advancements in the sector or evolving consumer behavior. This concept significantly influences decisions on investment in, development or integration of new Martech solutions.

Martech includes a variety of solutions, from customer relationshi Kazakhstan WhatsApp Number List management (CRM) systems to analytics platforms and digital advertising tools. The half-life of these technologies can significantly affect marketing strategies and operational efficiency. Fast-moving areas such as social media analytics may have shorter half-lives due to constant changes in social platforms and consumer trends, requiring agile and adaptable Martech stacks.

Investment and development decisions in the Martech space should consider:

Expected half-life of the technology.
Compliance of the solution with the company's marketing strategy.
A balance between the cost of adoption and the expected improvement in marketing results.
Adaptability of technology to future market changes and consumer behavior.
Let's go back to AI as an example. When OpenAI launched ChatGPT, the industry exploded and quickly deployed these generative AI (GenAI) solutions into their platforms. Desperate to add AI or AI to their current solutions, SaaS platforms rolled out overnight solutions.

Here is the problem… the industry is in absolute chaos right now. Billions are being invested in bringing artificial intelligence closer to ASI. Versions are rolled out daily, with dozens of companies outpacing each other with each advancement. In time, if enterprise corporations can't out-compete their nimble little competitors... they'll have to acquire them. This means that virtually every line of code that providers and companies pay to deploy today could be gone tomorrow.