Michael Bower helps companies provide cool experiences to their customers on the web. As CEO of Sellry, an ecommerce solutions company, he combines creativity with the latest technology to propel brands into the future. Alongside clients, Sellry works to reimagine and design the future of ecommerce. What new technology do you think will greatly impact consumer-facing startups in the near future? AR is going to completely change many industries.

At Zoomtopia, Zoom's very first user conference this week, the company announced a series of enhancements to its popular meeting software including the introduction of augmented reality meetings, automated intelligent transcripts and full integration with several partners including Slack and Workplace by Facebook. While it's a limited feature for now, it is the beginning of introducing augmented reality to meetings in Zoom. CEO Eric Yuan says it's for enhancing online teaching, but there is a catch. It requires the teacher be wearing an AR helmet, and the only supported one is from Meta, at least for now. Yuan says regardless, the students see whatever the teacher is seeing in augmented reality, so for example, if the teacher is walking around a representation of the solar system, that's what the students see in the Zoom platform.

Many marketers anticipate that technologies like augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) will affect their business in the next 12 months, more so than a year prior. That's according to a study by marketing and advertising services firm NewBase (formerly Publicitas International), which polled 1,019 marketers worldwide and asked them which types of technologies they plan to prioritize over the next 12 months. Respondents chose their top 5. In 2017, 30% of respondents planned to prioritize AI in the next 12 months. A year prior, only 13% of respondents said the same.

Many marketers anticipate that technologies like augmented reality (AR) and artificial intelligence (AI) will affect their business in the next 12 months, more so than a year prior. That's according to a study by NewBase, a cloud computing and IT managed services company, which polled 1,019 marketers worldwide and asked them which types of technologies they plan to prioritize over the next 12 months. Respondents chose their top 5. In 2017, 30% of respondents planned to prioritize AI in the next 12 months. A year prior, only 13% of respondents said the same.