The SCO phenomenon has potential uses as switches, data storage devices, and optical displays.  These potential applications would exploit the bistability (HS and LS) which leads to changes in the colour and magnetism of samples. Molecular switches, like electrical switches, require a mechanism that for turning ON and OFF, as is achieved with the abrupt spin transitions with hysteresis. In order for the size of data storage devices to be reduced while the capacity of them increase, smaller units (such as molecules) that exhibit a bistability and thermal hysteresis are required. One research goal is to develop new materials where the SCO response time can be decreased from nanoseconds, as we know it, to femtoseconds.  One of the advantages of SCO phenomena is the absence of fatigue, because there is an intraelectronic transition instead of an electron displacement through space.