Forbes – famous business periodical – has published an interesting and useful article about major business trends of the year 2021. Today we would like to share some comments and thoughts about some trends mentioned by Forbes analysts based on our experience of working in the B2B sphere. 

Major business trends for 2021

In the article we describe the sense of a trend mentioned in the Forbes article briefly and put down our thoughts right after. Let’s go!

  1. Trend 1 is Work from home. Indeed, in the past year many businesses and establishments had to transfer employees to remote work on the background of the COVID pandemic and lockdown issues. For some of them this was a great challenge. Probably, this was not an issue for employees of software development companies due to their enough level of digital literacy. And some state authorities needed some more time to adapt processes to remote work, because they had to be sure they have necessary equipment at home, are provided with a secured and stable connection to information systems, agree on communication and work schedule and so on. The author mentions one great thought: lockdown showed us that many people feel more comfortable and are more productive while working at home, but, at the same time, many people disliked such a “format”. As a result, employers have to rethink if they really need large office space, and maybe it is better to provide remote workers with what they need. 
  2. The second business tendency is Data as an asset. Actually this is our favorite one. Indeed, the situation is that data represents an asset nowadays, like funds, real estate, etc. And the better we collect, store, process, analyze, protect data – the more value it represents for business. We have an article dedicated to data and digital culture and its value for business, so we highly recommend it.
  3. One more business trend according to Forbes is Business model innovation. It is said that “The businesses that are currently thriving even during a pandemic are those that reacted quickly to the changes.” Actually, nothing to add and nothing to take away from this statement.
  4. The 4th business tendency is Automation. The author says that business owners try to take people away from processes and automate warehouse management, delivery, interaction with customers and many other processes. No doubts that this business tendency is not just for 2021, it started long ago and will take place beyond 2021. We predict that sooner or later such jobs as driver, courier, designer, lawyer, accountant will also be completely automated. 
  5. Decentralized finance is the next business tendency. Forbes says that there is a shift to decentralized investments thanks to market uncertainty while latest trading software solutions rely on an increasing number of factors and tools: robo-advisers, deep signals and patterns analysis, financial data aggregators and even local market regulations peculiarities.
  6. The 6th big business trend is development of Virtual interfaces. This means that customers can try something before they buy, applying some goods to their virtual copy and see how it looks. Anyway, right now, at the beginning of 2021 this is not a common situation. Augmented reality, virtual reality and mixed reality technologies still need some advancements to become cheaper, so that even a small clothes store could afford it and offer it to customers. We hope that by that time there will still be small clothes shops together with large chain stores. )
  7. Going from Global to Local – another business tendency. The author underlines that businesses faced disruption of international supply chains on the background of COVID pandemic and lockdown issues. That’s why companies start looking for local services providers. Code Inspiration analysts are of the opinion that there are also some changes in people’s mindset, they become more and more patriotically minded. They prefer local food, services of local small businesses, goods of domestic producers. We are sure this tendency will stay here in 2022 and beyond and should be kept in mind. 
  8. Purposeful & Meaningful – the 8th business tendency. Says that employees, especially representatives of younger generations who just begin their career, expect to see some purpose and meaning of their day-to-day work. This means that business owners have to elaborate some values and company’s goals and great mission and promote everything to employees.
  9. Next business trend is sustainability. The idea of this business trend is doing business with attention to natural resources consumed, ecology, nature, environment. The author says that “every company needs to rethink operations, environmental impact, and their products and how they are being used.” Our analysts have nothing to add here )
  10. The last big business tendency is Social engagement. The idea is that online presence really matters and SMM activities are a must in 2021 to reach (potential) customers. We would also like to add that the online presence of any business should not be limited by social networks. Today a company has to be listed on online catalogs – aggregators of companies. Be sure you have Google MyBusiness, Apple Maps, BingPlaces, Yelp profiles of your company. By the way, all the mentioned aggregators follow Going from Global to Local tendency because their main goal is to recommend local companies on user’s request. Or consider a possibility to create an aggregator in your area or niche

Wrapping up

Concluding everything said we would like to say that, paraphrasing the famous statement about the survival of species:Business motivation quote

In these times that are considered to be times of crisis, it is necessary not only to be strong, but also extremely flexible. These 10 business tendencies can show where you should direct your flexibility. And do not forget that almost all of these 10 business trends require high-quality software.