Rethink Everything - Predictions that Will Affect Your Business’s Survival
By Evan Hackel
There are times when change is only being discussed. There are other times when change is exploding into our lives and bringing about radical change every day.
We are now in that second kind of period – one in which change is not theoretical, but transforming our lives daily. If you doubt that is true, I would urge you to compare your life today to what it was only a few years ago. If you are like me, the change I see is extreme.
Many people are driving hybrid and electric cars that brake and steer for them, are living in homes that are protected by phone-linked security systems that they can access from anywhere, are monitoring their health and fitness with apps that didn’t exist a year or two ago, and are interacting with merchants using only their voices, not computers.
As I say, we are in a period of actual, not theoretical change. Furthermore, we live in a time when many of the changes will affect our businesses. If we as businesspeople are not ahead of the wave of change, our businesses will only fall behind and suffer.
Sears is a good example. A hundred years ago when Sears created the concept of the catalog and direct mail marketing, the company was at the forefront of innovation. Hundreds, maybe thousands, of department stores couldn’t keep up with that innovation and went out of business. And when we fast-forward to today, we see that Amazon.com has created the 21st Century version of the Sears catalog, which is Amazon’s Internet online selling platform. Sears, left flat-footed, is closing stores and could go out of business. Think about that. Given its heritage, Sears should be the Amazon.com of today.
I could go on naming companies that are suffering because they failed to adapt. General Motors is one. Once believed to be a company that “could not fail,” it is now closing plants and has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection.
The lesson is that more than ever before, businesses need to ask . . .
Do we want to change, or do we want to go out of business?
Big changes are coming, but what will they be? What major trends are poised to revolutionize the world of business? Here are some that I believe will transform business in the next 10 to 15 years. Some will start earlier, others later. But they will all happen and if you are to survive, you need to start adapting today.
Trend: The Internet Is About to Become Dramatically Faster
As the Internet moves to the G5 network, the result will be that people will be able to interact seamlessly and instantaneously online. This increase in speed will foster all kinds of new websites, with tools and videos that heretofore were not possible to consider. The new speed will enable voice recognition and speech dictation to work with amazing accuracy.
The message for your business is that now is the time to start thinking about how your customer experience will change as it becomes more web-enabled. Start to build the building blocks now for this change. And start recruiting employees who are much more technologically knowledgeable than you have in the past. So hire people with high IT IQ’s. Tech is no longer a nice to have, it is a need to have.
Trend: Internet-Enabled Shopping
Because customers’ experiences in stores will be web-enabled, everything will change When they come into a store, more of them will use apps that facilitates the buying process. This is already taking place. When I shop at BJ’s Wholesale Club now, for example, I use the BJ’s app to look at coupons; I choose the ones I want to use and when I arrive at the register, they are automatically applied, and I get discounts.
In the future, we will see greater integration of Internet-based shopping tools that will allow customers to use their phones to watch video product demonstrations that facilitate product selection, enable them to have their products ready for pick-up before they leave stores, or to have those products delivered to their homes.
The message for your business is to be aware that Internet-enabled shopping tools will soon be part of your customers’ shopping experience. It is going to be very, very big – are you preparing for it?
Trend: The Technology Divide between Rural and Urban Markets Will Become Dramatically Bigger
Today, the availability of high-speed Internet service, which people in urban centers take for granted, isn’t available in many rural areas of the U.S. Following patterns of adoption for other technology, G5 availability will start in urban markets and then spread from there. There will both be a dramatic difference in the speed of Internet and the technology IQ of populations, based on the geographics. That means that for a finite period of time, the customer experience you deliver will be different in urban and rural markets.
The message for your business, in practical terms, is that you must develop different strategies for both marketing and customer experience, based on your customers’ access to hyper-fast Internet.
Trend: Autonomous Self-Driving Vehicles Will Become Much More Prevalent
They will have an immense impact on the speed and efficiency of service and product delivery. We are already seeing this trend in its early stages with app-based meal delivery and other services.
The message for your business depends on the nature of your business. If you are in the food service industry, the changes will be cataclysmic. If you are a traditional restaurant, you will need to create a separate area to prepare and process meals that will be delivered to your customers. At the same time, you should start to think about ways to make your restaurant much more appealing and comfortable for your dine-in customers; you will need to offer more extensive menus and differentiating experiences that motivate them to leave their homes and visit you instead of your competitors. Think of movie theaters, which are already offering recliner chairs, food delivery to seats, and other incentives to get people to come to the movies instead of watching TV at home.
If you are a retail business, start to think about ways to enhance your ability to make deliveries, possibly utilizing self-driving vehicles. And remember, your customers already expect to receive their orders sooner than ever before. No more waiting one or two weeks for delivery. People expect Amazon.com-like levels of service. They already are starting to want their orders to arrive the same day, or in only a few hours. How are you going to adapt to meet those demands in the future?
Trend: In-Store Experiences Are Going to Have to Get Much More Appealing
To compete with the experience of Internet shopping, retailers are already finding ways to make visits to their stores much more engaging and experiential. Think of Jordan’s Furniture, a retailer in New England that has installed children’s rides and other attractions in their destination stores.
The message for your business is to discover and offer in-store experiences that your customers cannot enjoy online or at other companies. Some ideas include more elaborate product demonstrations, the opportunities to test and experience the products that you sell, special events like cooking classes, and more.
Trend: Robots Will Play a Much Bigger Role in Your Business
Robots will become much more efficient and much more useful in your enterprise, thanks to Artificial Intelligence, faster Internet speed, and other factors. We have all seen videos of robots cooking burgers, and similar applications of robots will become much more common.
Don’t, however, assume that robotics will cause a dramatic decrease in jobs. I remember that back in the 1980s, people thought that computers were going to take away jobs. That didn’t happen. Robots will not take away vast numbers of jobs either, but they will change what people do and shift the weight toward technology.
The message for your business is to start to build a workforce of employees who are equipped to perform more technology functions. And start to consider how the use of robotics has the potential to lower the cost of doing business.
Trend: A Faster Internet Will Revolutionize the Delivery of Training
High-speed Internet will make it easier and faster to deliver training to employees in widespread company locations. Plus, more flexible training options will make it possible for employees to access instant videos or instruction when they don’t know how to perform a task.
The message for your business is to get ready for the age of instant, on-demand training for every function. Also, expect an increase in the use of simulations that will be used to train management-level employees.
Trend: Traditional Currencies Will Disappear
In the coming few years, more people will be paying with platforms like Venmo, with phone-based payment options, with debit cards and with a variety of other non-cash services. I predict that more companies will be paying their employees by depositing their wages directly into their Venmo and other accounts.
Again, we can expect this trend to have the earliest impact in urban areas, and then to spread. Blockchain technologies will be a major driver of the cashless revolution too, promising faster and more secure transactions that will encourage more buyers to buy online.
The message for your business is to rethink how you will process transactions in the future. As you are able, begin now to accept phone-based and other non-cash payment options. As you use them and learn from them, you will become more able to adapt to future changes in payment options.
Trend: New Forms of Multi-Level Marketing Will Evolve
For most of us, the term “multi-level marketing” calls up images of Amway and similar businesses that enable people to earn extra income on the side. But multi-level marketing will change and play a bigger role in the way businesses win customers and increase sales. We are already seeing this happen in nontraditional businesses that are coming to rely more on referral marketing. And many mainstream businesses – restaurants and retailers especially - are offering customers credits for referring customers to them.
The message for your business is to begin to envision electronic and other coupons that encourage your current customers to refer business to you. We see this happening already in a variety of eCommerce businesses. I predict that multi-level marketing in some forms will move to the mainstream and could become part of your strategy for growth.
Trend: Remote Employees, Including International Workers, Will Become a Larger Part of Your Workforce
Unless you have a business that requires all your employees to work in defined physical locations, this trend will impact on your business. The cost savings of remote employees, the speed with which you can interact with them and the quality of video connections will make them feel included in your enterprise while they work from home or remote locations. As a result, they will have reduced travel time and a better work/life balance. And this trend will allow you to save a tremendous amount of money per employee.
The message for your business is to begin to develop systems and build a culture that welcomes employees who work remotely. Now is the time to prepare for an age when you will build a talent pool of less expensive remote employees.
A related trend is that the gig economy will grow and offer new opportunities to hire employees in a focused way to meet your immediate needs. Also, be prepared for the reality that more of the employees who work for you on a project basis will be working for multiple companies.
Trend: Many More Women Will Arrive in the C-Suite
We are already seeing many more female executives take top-level responsibilities, with the biggest level of change taking place in smaller companies. I believe that in the next 15 years, we will see that as many as 40% of company leaders will be women. It will be an exciting and transformational time of change.
The message for your business is to more actively recruit, cultivate and promote qualified women into leadership positions – or who have the potential to grow into them. If you are lagging behind in this area, as some businesses are, it is time to rethink your entrenched culture and practices.
Trend: In-Home Purchasing and Services Will Become Much More Popular
Instead of buying products in a store and having someone deliver them, more customers are already expecting to seamlessly make purchases at home and take immediate delivery. It is a form of delayered buying that is already taking place.
The message for your business is to start to envision and use new ways that your customers can make purchases while at home. Part of this revolution will be enabled by increased Internet speed, but we can also envision a time when a team of trained salespeople will visit customers’ homes and complete the buying process there.
In Summary . . .
Unless you understand these trends and begin to adjust now, chances are that you, like Sears, will be moving toward extinction.
Begin to hire people with high high-tech IQs. Start to adapt your company culture today. Watch the trends and envision ways to stay several steps ahead.
This age of rapid change might seem threatening. But it is really a time of immense opportunity for businesses that are eager to adapt. Will you be one of them? I hope so. We are poised to arrive at an exciting time when companies that have adapted will succeed and prosper. Will you be ready? I hope to see you there.