Business Trends
Data is Changing our World and How we do Business
COVID-19 made digital services more desirable than ever before. This year, companies’ online services will need to ramp-up accessibility to cater to rising demand.
The businesses that successfully implement a practical ‘virtual-first’ offering that is underpinned with a clear, purpose-driven digital strategy will be the winners of 2021. Organizational purpose will need to address collective challenges as an essential principle in their approach to our increasingly digital world.
CAPTION: Businesses who successfully implement a purpose-driven digital strategy will win in 2021 (Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
COVID-19’s impact on our communities – financially, politically and socially – has caused many to reconsider how we work, engage with one another, and run or grow our businesses within a digital space. The questions this has raised is causing the re-evaluation of the need for physical bricks and mortar places, how to train and reskill distributed and remote workforces, and is thrusting more businesses and services toward operating truly digital services and foregoing large office spaces for smaller distributed coworking sites.
To bridge the gap between the virtual and the physical, businesses will need to find innovative ways that enable everyone to participate and access services.
The increased digital focus can be seen everywhere. Businesses have pivoted to build eCommerce sales, distribute meals via innovative partnerships like Deliveroo, or offer virtual connections through Zoom or by phone for consultations. Healthcare is a prime example of this agile shift. Around 66% of primary care contacts are now being managed as telephone or video consultations in England. It’s a figure that’s expected to settle to around half of all patient appointments once the pandemic subsides.
Along with exposing new business models, virtual health services have the ability to provide better health outcomes to underserved and remote communities via the promotion of preventative treatments, Point of Care Testing and cutting dependence on emergency care. Health support delivered through digital networks and supported through provision of reliable broadband access is the true spirit of purpose-driven digital strategy.
Each of these business and technology innovations is reliant on a pervasive data strategy, where access to information is the norm. The spread of connected devices – smart phones, IoT devices, and cloud-based services now enables organisations to secure and exploit vast amounts of data. This access to information is already driving decisions across organisations, better insights into customer behaviour and the development of new products and services.
CAPTION: Businesses who successfully implement a purpose-driven digital strategy will win in 2021 (Photo by Markus Spiske on Unsplash)
Governments will need to step up their involvement and role in shaping and governing this data explosion and the security and privacy for both enterprises and individuals. As more people insist on having control over their data, corporate policies on the fair collection, use and security of that information will become increasingly important.
These changes are also bringing about the opportunity to lay digital foundations for increasing inclusion around the world. Local technology innovations will speed economic recovery, growth and trade. Communities will solve problems locally and share their solutions globally so they can be adapted and applied elsewhere.
As we continue to address different crises, more and more we will need to develop solutions to today’s challenges with a view to the difficulties of the future. Technological advances and innovations will enable us to develop cross-dimensional solutions that speak to more than a single issue and work to bolster community resilience across broader sections of societies or geographical areas.
A big query for the year ahead will be how we draw our shared moral compass. The impact of COVID-19 on global frameworks – supply chains, consumer demands, agriculture, and disruptions in labour availability – has exposed the vulnerability of our connected world. We now need to find sustainable and equitable ways to mitigate these risks.
As we reimagine our digital futures and the impact it will have on all aspects of our lives, the organizations that realise resourcefulness and agility while correctly anticipating the future moral values, will be in the best position for success in 2021 and beyond.