December 20, 2023 - The Entrepreneur's Studio, a podcast produced and sponsored by Heartland Payments, wrapped their second season by looking at trends business owners can expect to see in the new year. 

Chris Allen, podcast host and Heartland’s Sr. Vice President of Marketing, sat down with Adam Mitchell, Heartland’s Executive Vice President of Product Technology and Enablement to discuss the 2024 financial landscape; specifically its impact on the payments industry. From the evolving role of technology, to strategic considerations in everyday operations and customer experience, Allen and Mitchell provide actionable insights to get listeners moving in the right direction for the new year. 

“You can’t be prepared for most black swan events, but at this point it would behoove you to have a plan if some things that have played out the last few years come to fruition again,” said Mitchell. “Don’t feel like you need to burden yourself with the full weight of inflation just because you don’t want to pass on some of that expense to your customers. If you haven’t truly looked into the price sensitivity of your goods and services, you’re leaving some important revenue on the table that your customers would be willing to digest.” 

Among key topics addressed in the episode are how to adjust to and adapt rapidly changing technology, how new tech can help small businesses navigate change and the cautions and considerations regarding the future of artificial intelligence (AI). 

“Every software provider you’re seeing right now has tremendous incentive to enhance their solutions with artificial intelligence,” said Mitchell. “It’s not going to require you to leverage those tools in the future. Your point of sale provider, your payroll provider, your supply chain or logistics service provider, whatever it might be: they are all thinking critically about how to integrate these tools to make your life better.” 

Mitchell also addressed the growing unease surrounding AI. 

“I think a lot of people fear that these tools will put them out of a job, and it’s true in some regard,” said Mitchell. “But I think they will probably create many, many more than they eliminate. Did the internet get rid of some jobs? Absolutely. Did the internet create way more jobs than it eliminated? Yes.” 

To hear more insights from this episode and many others, download and listen for free on any major podcast platform or head over to theentrepreneurs.studio or follow @theentrepreneurs.studio on Instagram.