What trends will shape businesses in 2022
What trends will shape businesses in 2022? To find out, we’ll cover some of the biggest trends that you need to be aware of, such as augmented reality, artificial intelligence, industries undergoing disruption, and more.
What trends will shape businesses in 2022?
What kind of trends do you think will shape businesses in 2022? I think that artificial intelligence, machine learning, and bots will be huge.
We’re already seeing a lot of companies use bots to interact with customers on their website, and I think that’s going to continue to grow into other areas of the business. According to the McKinsey Global Institute, “Businesses are rethinking their selling, buying, forecasting, and research and development efforts due to the impact of AI and other digitally-driven disruptions.”Of course, the McKinsey report seems to say that these types of disruptions will only affect businesses that are not agile or adaptable, but it’s safe to assume that the disruption will be a constant.
Bots are a great example of a technology that is disrupting traditional methods of selling. But what about other areas of the business?
The coming disruption will not only impact traditional retail businesses, but also health, food, and many other things, as well. McKinsey forecasts that there will be 4 types of digital disruptions in 2022: Apart from the ordinary brick and mortar disruptions, there are many other areas for which we’re going to face disruption. But finding out which ones are going to be the biggest and most well-known ones can give us a new perspective on how we can overcome these trends.
As mentioned before, retail is one of the sectors that we’re going to have to adapt to a lot more due to the growth of AI and other new technology. These new ways of making sales will happen slower for most midsize and large-size companies, but they completely reshape the way we work.IBM recently announced that they’ll be using deep learning in their Watson brand reputation system. Watson will use this new technology to better understand and predict the behaviour of consumers.
For example, Watson can now let people know whether someone seems trustworthy. It’s definitely a glimpse of what the future of retail will look like. As a result of other digital trends, many people will work from home online.
Augmented Reality in Business
Augmented reality is a technology that has been around for a while, but it’s now being used more frequently in business. Augmented reality can be used to add information to physical objects. For example, you might see information about a museum piece in front of you, or a restaurant’s menu appearing in front of a waiter.
Augmented reality has gone mainstream in 2020. While there have been various AR applications out there for years, predominantly the ones that have been used in business settings, including the Google Glass, Microsoft HoloLens, and Facebook Focals, things took a big leap forward with the release of these consumer-focused AR devices.
These devices were important for two main reasons — people were wearing them in public for the first time, and companies needed to be sure they were secure. The biggest problem was not around security itself but keeping track of where the device was, given that it tracks where you move and allows you to pick up where you left off. This meant that while your Focals were tracking your location, it was being fed up to the cloud before you did. And although it was possible to put the wearable in another place, and hide the motion sensor, it then became a piece of hardware that was always in the way.
Most likely, someone else would move it so that you couldn’t see it; so you can see what’s going on. If you wanted to unit track and move it, you must remove the tracker, which means it might as well not been there. Regardless of the issues with tracking, the practical use of Augmented Reality has been proven countless times — so why bother trying to hide it?
Many businesses now use AR to improve workflows, particularly in education. If a teacher needs to explain something to a new student, she might use her smartphone to bring in the 3D model of the room, with every detail clearly laid out for the audience. Although there are certainly benefits to this, the biggest benefit to schools has nothing to do with accuracy.
Industry Disruption
Industry disruption can come from anywhere, and it’s important to stay on top of what’s happening on the outside. One piece of advice is to be interested in what’s going on in your industry and to pay attention to how the bigger industry players are doing things.
Even if they aren’t breaking traditional conventions in how they do business, by paying attention to them you can see where trends may be heading. That knowledge will serve you well in the long run and give you an edge over your competitors. Right before the worldwide pandemic and lockdowns hit in 2020, we got an enlightening article on how major technology companies are planning for the future, and it’s a great read if you want to learn about next-gen tech.
While Microsoft seems to be the clear leader for where things are going with their plans for HoloLens in particular, look for everyone to be more innovative in designing products to adapt to the changing needs of the market. It won’t be until the technology is more mainstream than most people will start to employ businesses for technology solutions. Businesses working for the common good will become ever more common in the next two or three years (for reference, AARP uses technology for this now — imagine how many members it would have if their trends are continued.)Let’s say that the AARP membership has reached a sustainable size.
The majority of Americans will still be employing technology to help them do simple tasks, such as paying their bills or making their medical appointments, but it will be further along in the adoption curve than helping them do more complex tasks, such as making a case for why a member should get care for their chronic condition, getting a loan, or booking a smart display for industrial control.
Artificial Intelligence and Chatbots
In the next few years, we’ll see more and more businesses going digital and using chatbots for marketing and customer service. If you’re in tech, it’s important to get familiar with Artificial Intelligence and chatbots. Chatbots are computer programs that interact with customers and provide information or services. As chatbots become more common, businesses need to plan how they’ll use them in order to differentiate themselves in a crowded online market.
As the business world adapts to changing demand and a variety of digital innovations coming at us at once, the supply chain of products will become more diverse.
In 2021, many retailers will be acquiring new suppliers by buying on the instalment plan. Starting in early January, many retailers will be able to order products or inventory directly from manufacturers instead of ordering parts and waiting for parts to come in.
Some manufacturers’ instalment plans include several shipments per month and can be different from what the general consumer buys each month. For example, if someone buys a shirt monthly for $120, a manufacturer may offer an instalment plan to buy their shirts monthly for $60. In order to meet demand, retailers can even create their “grocery list” and buy in quantities that are more than what the consumer goes through in a month.
If a retailer’s customers buy a specific product (whether it’s clothing or an item with a high margin) on an instalment plan and the retailer begins to run out of those items, the retailer can slowly return them to the manufacturer, who will ship the items to the retailer a few weeks later. This process takes a little longer than if the retailer were to order those exact items and then have to pay for the shipping.
In the coming year, we’ll see an increase in the adoption of delivery apps for Amazon Logistics and other retailers’ delivery services. These apps will allow businesses to decide where they’d like to ship their goods, not the other way around.
Startup Trends
The number of startups launched annually increased from 60,000 to 250,000 from 1995 to 2009.
“The Kauffman Foundation found that the number of new entrepreneurs under the age of 30 increased by 50% between 1996 and 2006.”-Munish Arankar, StatistaDuring the second Global Entrepreneurship Monitor, which was held in May 2020, Karmarkar suggests that the number of new startups will continue to grow in most developed and emerging markets, with Asia comprising the largest share of new startups globally during the last year. According to Statista, an estimated 1,254 startups were officially registered worldwide in 2019 and these will reach 1,283 in 2020.
Therefore, at present, there is no sign of the number of startups decreasing. However, note that the growth rate of venture capital funding has significantly slowed down during the pandemic period. This shows that the investments are drying up, and more companies are required for financing. In the third Global Entrepreneurship Monitor (just released on August 7th), the SDGs report claims that reaching a world-class education system that provides lifelong learning opportunities will be critical to ensuring sustainable societal development. “Corruption and inequality in education are grave challenges that no country can afford, and quality higher education is a key pathway to empowerment for the next generation,” the SDGs report said. The number of college people will more than double in the next 15 years.
Only 4.5% of people have relevant work experience. However, 70% of the population learn through self-teaching or online learning. Communities created online, such as Free Classroom and Codecademy, have made it easier for individuals and businesses to learn online. It’s estimated that 90 million students in the world have learned a new language online.
