Total shoulder arthroplasty has become an effective treatment option, for both pain relief and restoration of shoulder range of motion. The key factor limiting long-term prosthetic survival remains glenoid implant loosening. Proper glenoid implant positioning and orientation during surgery was shown to significantly reduce complication rates. The emergence of new technologies now allows for three-dimensional (3D) surgical planning, patient-specific instrumentation and augmented-reality-based intraoperative navigation. Such novel tools have been developed to aid and improve the surgeon's performance. The future will tell whether the gains in term of surgical precision will also translate into better functional outcomes for patients and prolonged survival of glenoid implants.