Business is all about looking forward and yes, the previous 24 months have been the toughest ever for most businesses out there, but the trick to business success is to be looking forward and able to identify future trends and societal needs. This article looks at a few specific business trends for the upcoming 18-24 months that you and your business must be aware of, and able to use to your advantage.
Continuation of Remote and Hybrid work
Remote work and the hybridization of tasks and jobs that can be done partly from the office and partly from the home in the cloud is accepted as the best way for businesses to respond to the current global health uncertainty. This means that your business will need to relook at your overheads, secure up-to-date business energy quotes to save money, look at small office and production spaces, hot-desking, and shared office spaces. The tech for hybrid and remote work will also need planning and budgeting. Knowing that this is a certainty for your business and will be the future of work will allow for such planning and preparedness.
Social media marketing
The use of social media as a marketplace and the use of social media influencers as the next best means to sell and market your products and services is only going to continue to grow and extend. Sector or even business-specific chat rooms, forums and online social infrastructure is now the norm for all businesses and if your business is not, it needs to be online in a social way. The only way to build a sustainable business and a brand for the future will be online and most of this will happen on social media platforms.
Increased outsourcing, everything as a service
Everything that is not essential or a core component of the business is being outsourced. The trend is for this to continue and as such it is ever more pertinent to be sure of what it is your business does well and then allow the ancillary functions to be done by those who do these best. Managed business services are trending and will continue to do so, over the long term.
Data is an asset
We are in an age where data is considered to be the new gold, and all businesses need to be in the know as to what data would drive their business, how to collect such data, store it and analyze it for monetization.
Innovative and disruptive business models
The continuation of disruptive innovation is arguably a given. The rise of new business models that may not always fit the accepted pigeonholes of capitalism has been on the increase. Social enterprises, crypto trading, and currencies are but two such examples that have taken the business world by storm and will arguably continue to do so.
The idea of being able to determine and understand trends and then be a trendsetter can be the difference between a highly successful business and one that does well. The trends noted herein are presented as sure things, it’s about how your business now uses this information to make financial advances.
