Where To From Here? Predictions For The Future Of Business

Entrepreneur, philanthropist and international speaker. Regan Hillyer is here to help you make a bigger impact.

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Increasingly with my client base, many of whom operate small businesses, I am seeing elevated stress levels associated with the ability or, in some cases, inability to currently navigate their way into the unknown.

So what exactly are the causes of this uncertainty?

They were stoic during the global pandemic and embraced and encouraged new ways of working and keeping in contact with their friends, family and colleagues, believing all the while that the experienced “glitches” that these trials and tribulations provided made them and their businesses stronger and more agile.

There were supply chain complexities (that are ongoing), disruptions to engaging with their clients, consumer hesitancy, health provider concerns and continuing volatility in a dynamic and constantly shifting marketplace.

The focus on a global pandemic has largely waned and the world is returning to opening up and air travel is in a resurgence, but other concerns have come to the forefront. There has been concern about superpowers flexing their muscles. There are concerns about shortages from sanctions and ongoing disruption to the supply chain networks, along with worries about inflation, higher cost of living and continued reliance on fossil fuels. These stressors all threaten to undermine growth and development.

Now my clients are asking me about future trends—how they should be positioning themselves for moving forward and morphing with change and where they should be positioning themselves to be best placed to take advantage of what seems to be super-dynamic and thoroughly unpredictable global trends.

To my mind, there is one message: expect the unexpected.

However, in saying that, I am not predicting doom, gloom and a dire future. In fact, quite the opposite. There are some interesting trends that I believe will be powerful and influential moving into the foreseeable future. However, these are purely my thoughts around where I see movement away from stale, old, engrained business and corporate models and are in no way definitive; as I said, expect the unexpected.

Future Trends

We will continue to require essential services in relation to natural resources, water, healthcare and energy; however, the business models around these integral resources will have to change. I believe these changes will be positive, given the learnings coming out of what has been one of the most dynamic and unprepared-for periods in modern history.

If the pandemic taught us anything, it was how quickly our established infrastructures that we relied upon could crumble and be found lacking. The competition for, and hoarding of, resources was alarming and shone a light on global financial inequality and the inability of many developed nations to share and be magnanimous.

• Increased Global Corporate Responsibility

For us to survive and thrive, a new form of global responsibility has to emerge: one that focuses on the good of humanity and supports positive collective actions of countries, businesses and people. Corporate responsibility will have more of a light shone on it. Consumers will expect better. There will be new legislation that further protects the rights of workers, and a new form of socially based capitalism will emerge and drive this new business responsibility, perhaps including market regulation. No longer will the “quick buck” rule. No longer will so much be held by so few. We can no longer allow the widening gap between the rich and the poor to become even wider.

• The Dawn Of A New Era In Work

Digital technology will continue to flourish and become more accessible for emerging nations and with this digital future, an enabled on-demand, independent workforce will emerge. Businesses and CEOs will need to understand how to engage with and attract this workforce and make a work regimen that suits their mobility and flexibility. The emergence of “new” jobs will proliferate and, in turn, academic, training and learning institutions, in partnership with corporations, will have to adapt their courses to mirror these jobs. This will also affect future urban planning and development, as commuter hubs will not be as much in demand.

• Consumer Power

Consumers also will need to have confidence that this emerging, new workforce is remunerated and supported ethically and responsibly and that their standards of living are improving with their technological emergence. The “sweat shop” and enforced labor will no longer be tolerated.

The consumer will also be even more demanding in the personal privacy space, expecting that the hacker and the digital scammer will be a thing of the past.

• Eco Imperatives

Care for and support of the Earth’s environment will still be of prime importance and uppermost in the consumer’s mind. It will, along with respect for labor laws, be the absolute driving force behind customer loyalty and product appeal. There will be zero tolerance for polluters, culturally insensitive practices or mining of resources that destroy habitats without conscious repair or betterment, and greenwashing will be outlawed. Travel is most likely to have an eco-appeal base.

The conscious consumer will increasingly look toward new technologies to solve old problems and demand that businesses pioneer the research and development required to be at the forefront of these problem-solving technologies almost immediately, not within some promise for the future. It is therefore imperative that organizations keep abreast of a more aware contemporary consumer mindset and social conscience; they will need to stay relevant, embrace creativity and monitor innovation to stay in touch with their dynamic and increasingly educated and demanding consumer market.

Adapt And Be Agile

Keywords for the future are agility, flexibility, social and ecological consciousness and new-way upskilling.

The ability of a business to adapt to and see emerging trends is paramount to its survival. Companies and organizations will have to research and embrace new ways of working, and those that do not adapt to the new consumer mindset and concerns will simply not be viable.

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