Similar to every sales company, all companies want to sell more, that is a given. If you look at some of the most successful companies over the past decade, the tech companies stand out at or near the top. It is not surprising, the executives at McDonald’s have a new plan: act like Big Tech.

In an article by David Yaffe-Bellany of the New York Times New Service McDonald’s has spent hundreds of millions of dollars to acquire technology companies that specialize in machine learning and artificial intelligence or AI. In the heart of Silicon Valley – the McD Tech Labs where a team of engineers and data scientists is working on voice recognition software.

In March of this year, McDonald’s spent more than $300 million to buy Dynamic Yield, a Tel Aviv based company that has developed the artificial intelligence tools now used at thousands of McDonald’s drive-throughs. According to CEO Steve Easterbrook, the recommendation algorithms have generated larger orders or more sales. By the end of the year, all McDonald’s drive-throughs in the US.

In September, McDonald’s purchased a tech company called Apprente, a start up in Mountain View, California that develops voice-activated platforms that can process orders in multiple languages and accents. One can expect the platform to take orders from customers as opposed to humans.

Linking to dividend paying stocks, besides focusing on the items which makes profits, the company has to reach out to understand and embrace technology. It makes management more difficult, but to be successful, the companies have to embrace technology. It is better for consumers, we do not know, but that is the way it seems to be going in order to increase sales and generate more profits. Has the companies you invested in, embraced technology? how and what are they doing?

There are more questions than answers, till the next time – to raising questions.