Predicitng about the future is very necessary as it helps out to know how much risk is involved to gain the achieved goals for the business.
In business, predicting the future correctly easily translates to increased success, cash, and market share. Unfortunately, the future is a finicky thing that almost always resists accurate assessments. Sure, it would’ve been great to buy Amazon stock after the dot-com bubble burst, but there was little way of knowing at the time that Amazon would become what it is today.
That being said, there are still a few trends that seem poised to make a big impact on the business world going forward. Planning for 2020 — and beyond — requires taking a close look at what’s likely to make an impact on your business. While you’re not always going to have accomplishments equal to getting in on the ground floor of Apple, you can closely follow important developments to stay on the cutting edge of what’s happening.
Preparing for the future means capitalizing on growing trends while safeguarding against potential hazards. Some movements are more obvious than others, but all deserve your close attention if you’re hoping to get ahead.
Digital Transformation
The digitization of the world isn’t a new development — it’s been happening since the dawn of the World Wide Web — but that doesn’t mean it’s poised to slow down anytime soon. In the last decade, the number of workers who telecommute has increased by 20%; in the same timeframe, cloud computing spending has grown 4.5 times faster than traditional IT spending.
While these statistics may seem unrelated, they point toward the same outcome: The workplace of the future is going to be a digital one. That will mean something different for every business, but it’s something that every business needs to grapple with. Whether you adopt a remote work policy or transition some of your key functions to online platforms, your business must adapt to survive.
Cyberwarfare
With an increased reliance on internet technologies comes a greater threat of internet-based attack. Most cyberattacks and online exploits are nearly impossible to predict — it’s difficult to know what, exactly, is vulnerable before it’s attacked.
Mikko Hypponen, one of the world’s most notable futuriest speakers , researches and talks about what the digital world’s next “killer virus” might be and how businesses can deal with it. Enlisting the help of leading thinkers in the world of cybersecurity, can give your business the extra protection it needs going forward.
Increased Automation
You’ve probably heard a panicked declaration that robots are coming for our jobs. While automation is certainly poised to take over some tasks, researchers differ on what this will actually look like — a 2013 report from Oxford University showed that half of all American jobs are susceptible to automation, while researchers at McKinsey arrived at about 5%.
Regardless of which number is more accurate, automation is already changing the way business is done. By 2022, 80% of all advertising processes will be managed automatically. Perhaps the best way to prepare for automation in your business is to focus on the menial tasks that keep your employees from doing their best work — find platforms to automate those first.
Greater Specialization
In the age of startups and dynamism, the old generalist model seems outdated and clunky. Harvard Business Review declared that the labor market is in “The Age of Hyerspecialization” and the business landscape isn’t far behind. Small businesses focused on niche markets are far more likely to make a quick impact than slow-moving megacorporations are.
The takeaway here is to find a path and stick to it — in terms of a niche, not in terms of how you do things. Businesses with recognizable objectives, branding, and capabilities are far more likely to stick in consumers’ minds than those without. Trying to take on everything from the get-go is likely to keep your business from actually excelling at anything. As a business, it’s becoming increasingly risky to be a jack-of-all-trades.
More Disruption
More specialization also means more opportunity for disruption. Whatever your company is doing, there’s a chance that another one could specialize some core part of your business and run away with it. Approximately 90% of businesses have some sort of strategy in place to defend against digital disruption. While having a strategy is an important step, it needs to account for disruption from all sides to be effective.
It’s not all doom and gloom, though — you can use disruption to your advantage. Look at businesses larger and slower than your own. Identify potential aspects of their operations that you think your business could capitalize upon, and move quickly. The landscape won’t wait for you to catch up.
Preparing your business for the future is a battle against the clock. By the time a trend is recognizable, it might already be too late. If your business is looking to stay successful in 2020 and the years to come, keep an eye on what’s next.
