These Emerging Tech Trends Assist Global Mobility Managers, and Showcase Corporate Housing

Three emerging new tech that are particularly useful for global mobility managers, their assignees, and their executives. They boost learning, help the assignee adjust to their new home, and even break down cultural barriers. The North American names the top four: chatbots for translation, language training apps, and virtual destination guides.

Global mobility managers are used to doing webinars and chat groups but given the international location of the assignments, and the need to communicate with partners and other institutions thousands of miles across the ocean, using any emerging technology goes a long way. They can be of immense help when it comes down to keeping tabs of industry-specific costs like relocation, shipping, and educational fees for the assignees’ kids.

Chatbots

First, the chatbots that we are familiar with are often used for customer service.  Click on a website and chances are there is a bot that will ask and answer the frequently answered questions. But the evolution of AI has made these bots more knowledgeable and more fluent in communicating with customers. Some of the more advanced ones can be used for services that usually require human interaction, such as sell a product or make a medical or financial diagnosis.

The need for companies to expand globally, though, is pushing chatbots into becoming international conversants or translators. One study cited by Forbes says that in 10 countries, only 60 percent of the consumers buy a product if they talk to a bot that “speaks” in English; another 65 percent do make the purchase if the bot is talking in their native tongue. Expect many corporations to invest in chatbots that do translation.

Global mobility managers who are studying a region or location where they hope to source assignees might find themselves conversing with chatbots. They can also use these chatbots to translate foreign documents that they have to read and use.

Language apps

For assignees who need to improve their English skills continually, language apps have matured or as GQ describes it, they’ve become popular because they have become very user-friendly. They have become valuable tools for global mobility managers who take trips to countries where many of the inhabitants do not speak fluent English.

A language app is also easy to download on your device. It teaches the language of the user’s choice, English, Spanish, German, Indian, Chinese, Arabic, etc. The language can be learned while the user is on commute, walking their dog, doing their gym exercises, or just taking a break. Some of the more known brands are Google Translate, Duolingo, and Mango Languages.

Virtual destination apps

Finally, virtual destination apps like Realities and Google Earth VR can give global mobility managers and assignees alike a simulated tour of their new country of employment or region of recruitment, respectively. They will both have a clear image of these places, and get a solid idea of the culture and behavior of its people.

When testing out areas from Silicon Valley to San Francisco city, for instance, the user can actually virtually visit neighborhoods, cafes, schools, and restaurants. Virtual destination apps can give the users a preview of his upcoming work and lifestyle change, without having to make the actual offline trip.

For global mobility managers and foreign talents looking into corporate housing in Silicon Valley, California Corporate Housing offers an immersive 360-degree 3D view of some of its furnished apartments with descriptions of the amenities.