Innovative Tech Leaders Share Their Predictions for the New Year
How can we plan ahead at a time that consistently invalidates our capacity to foresee the future? This is a question all businesses must face as they build towards 2021. While it may not be possible to predict every twist and turn the new year might bring, a number of defining trends are likely to remain centre stage. See below to find out what they are, according to leaders of two innovative tech companies.
Liron Smadja, Senior Director of Global Brand Marketing & International Expansion, Fiverr
“Whilst the pandemic has been incredibly hard on small businesses, one key learning has been the proof that many employees can work from anywhere, at any time. Even as vaccines become available, it is unlikely we will go back to the office full time. The demand for full-time office work simply is not there. Business leaders therefore need to ensure they are equipping their staff with the skills to manage and operate in a hybrid team.
The workforce structure itself is also changing, and we’ll see this come to fruition in 2021. Many businesses do not want to take the risk of hiring full-time employees to meet spikes in work that may prove transient, so we believe the year ahead will bring with it a continued trend towards agility.
Bringing freelance specialists into fully digitised workflows to help cope with this extra demand is something we have seen many businesses doing through 2020 and we expect the trend to continue to grow through 2021.
More businesses will recognise the value of hiring freelancers as a solution to filling in the skills gap they may have in their immediate teams. Opting to hire freelancers rather than full-time employees will help small businesses acquire an agile, on-demand workforce which can help with their wider business goals without affecting their cash flow.”
Benji Vaughan, Founder and CEO, Disciple
“If 2020 taught us anything, it’s that humans are infinitely adaptable. As we have seen traditional employers struggle to meet the demands of constantly changing lockdowns and furlough legislation, we’ve found more and more fledgeling entrepreneurs turning their own interests and passions into alternative revenue streams.
In order for this raft of new businesses to be successful, they need to bring their content and their audience together in one place - and this is where we can expect to see real growth in 2021.
The growth of online communities will skyrocket as an increasing number of entrepreneurs and creators recognise the value these networks can have in supercharging their business. Many of them are now using digital platforms to grow communities of like-minded individuals from all over the world.
When digital communities bring audiences together in one place where they can engage with the content they love, this space gives creators a real opportunity to build real value by monetising their fans with subscriptions, online courses, and premium content.
This kind of engagement and targeting is something that can’t be matched by traditional social media or mailing lists, which is why we anticipate sustained increase through 2021.”
The violent changes in the business landscape may not vanish anytime soon, but business leaders need not despair: we have never been more equipped to deal with whatever challenge the new year might bring. Armed with the right tools, and led by agile thinkers, businesses can prepare for and surmount the difficulties of 2021.