Editor’s note: This article was first published in November 2013, and all its figures, on how often people check their phones, Google searches and YouTube uploads per minute, are from that year; its references to past and coming years are relative to 2013.
We don’t behave the way we did just 10 years ago. Technology has brought great advances and also great setbacks, but we have no choice but to adapt to the new environment if we want to do business or find a job that matches the industry’s new needs. A few years ago, social networks appeared as a form of entertainment. Today they are a necessity for promoting a company and getting ourselves known.
That’s why we need to understand what is changing in people’s habits in order to see how we can make money from those habits. To that end, SAP has put together a list of 99 trends in the future of business that companies need to understand and take advantage of. We have picked just 10 of them. You can see the rest in the SAP presentation linked at the end of the article. That way we’ll know where we’re coming from and where we’re heading.
1. Using social media to break up with people.
On the one hand, new technologies are making us more cowardly, since more and more couples break up over a WhatsApp or Facebook message. Some psychologists say it’s like pulling off a Band-Aid: quick and painless. Ironically, though, these days it is much harder to get rid of your ex, who can keep watching your status on social networks, and changing your phone number no longer stops the other person from getting in touch with you.
2. We check our phones every 9.6 minutes on average.
Over 24 hours, a person may look at their smartphone up to 150 times. That’s why some companies are already taking advantage by putting their ads on the phone’s lock screen. When we look at our phones, it’s not to check the weather.
3. The amount of content on the internet keeps growing at an astonishing rate.
Users carry out more than 2 million Google searches every minute and upload more than 72 hours of video to YouTube every 60 seconds, according to the Daily Mail. When we talked about the businesses of the future for 2020, we already said that big data centers and the analysis of that data would be one of the most profitable businesses, since controlling and using data gives a company an edge.
4. We watch more and more online video.
The future of film, and probably of television, lies on the internet. Many “YouTubers” will end up with bigger audiences than shows on the main TV networks. (See: 5 people who earn more than $100,000 from their YouTube channel.)
5. We want to know what our friends are doing and where they’re going.
New technologies are meeting a human need that is growing exponentially: curiosity. Social media is more about social science than about technology; technology is simply what makes it possible today. Likewise, many celebrities have found in technology a way to seem closer to their fans thanks to social networks.
6. Complete strangers advise us when we shop.
Before buying something, we look for information online. If, on a forum of supposed experts, people say that what we wanted to buy is worse than product X, they can change our minds more easily than the usual word of mouth. That’s why price comparison sites for all kinds of products are becoming a necessity, although companies themselves often post reviews of themselves under pseudonyms. In fact, people are hired to clean up the brand’s image on forums and blogs that happen to be discussing the product in question.
(Read: The 40 most profitable business ideas of recent years)
7. The shopping experience.
If, in traditional retail, a customer unhappy with a sales assistant’s service might not come back, online it’s much worse. If a company fails on service, price and quality don’t matter. A single shipping mistake can ruin the credibility of an online store that is just starting out.
8. Mobile data plans.
Although carriers are working hard to offer ever better prices and service on mobile data plans, people use public Wi-Fi whenever they can, with all the security risks that entails.
(Read: The 33 profitable businesses of the future and the industries that will create jobs)
9. Hiring.
Human resources departments have their own cross to bear: they need ever more innovative hiring methods, and at the same time, with the speed of the internet, candidates know all about those innovative methods. Not long ago there was talk of an algorithm for pre-screening candidates based on the keywords in their résumé and a few tests. In a clearly technology-driven industry, and with companies’ needs changing, human resources departments will probably look very different in the coming years.
10. Health and the environment.
Clearly, a report on the future of business couldn’t leave out two of humanity’s biggest concerns: health and the environment. You can read SAP’s full report in the following presentation:
99 Facts on the Future of Business from SAP
Featured image: W.carter, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
