While there are many who can’t wait to bid adieu to 2020, there’s no doubt the coronavirus pandemic and the ways businesses had to adjust to ensure their survival changed the trajectory of what 2021 will look like and what businesses should do to get ready for the upcoming year. As a futurist, I help companies understand the latest trends and technologies and offer guidance on how to prepare their businesses for them. Here are the top 10 trends that will drive every business in 2021. I believe every business around the world needs to be ready for these trends.

However, over the last six months, in response to the pandemic, the world has seen some common emerging business trends.

Trends that are going to shape the future business

1.Big data will drive personalization.

Other technologies businesses can’t get away from are Big data.”You can have a high level of personalization today because of big data,” Apfelbaum said. “You can use it to create a custom user experience, because you know what your customers want in a predictable way.”

Businesses need to protect and secure data just as they would any other asset. Another important thing for businesses to consider is how to boost data literacy in their company in 2021 in order to glean decision-making insights from it. This also requires an investment in systems that can efficiently and effectively process, analyze, and store the data streaming into the organization.

2.Work from Home. . .For Real!

A huge chunk of global businesses are encouraging their employees to work from home, even post-Covid. Before the pandemic, though some companies offered work from home facilities, the majority weren’t ready for this sudden shift. 

It isn’t just the customer-facing aspect of business that is changing. Internal configurations, too, are entering an era of transformation. And, one of the major changes here is remote work setups. This is nothing new as it has been in existence even way before the COVID pandemic started. The lockdown measures just accelerated it into adoption.

3.Digital Transformation

Digital Transformation is a business trend that has gained immense popularity over the last few months. 

Before the pandemic, while some businesses invested significant time, effort, and capital into digital transformation, others weren’t too concerned about digitalising their offerings.With consumers largely shifting to online platforms and due to the pandemic-induced restrictions, businesses started building a digital presence to cater to their audience. With technology being integrated everywhere and considering the changing business landscape, digital transformation has a lot to offer this year.

4.Growth of online education systems

While children were missing school, online education systems became an emerging business trend.  Schools across the globe have started implementing different online teaching platforms to suit their requirements. However, because this is an entirely new concept to many, the assessment of assignments, online exams, and making students understand complex concepts is a new challenge on the horizon. 

And response to this situation, pre-recorded videos with more options and animations are being used frequently, giving rise to Learning Management Systems (LMS) as well.

5.Cloud Technology

According to the stated investment intentions of companies surveyed for “The Future of Jobs Report 2018,” 72 percent of respondents are likely to expand their adoption of cloud computing by 2022. This will make businesses more agile, collaborative, efficient and scalable while reducing costs.

loud would have been on the list for 2021 even without the pandemic, but if nothing else, the widespread, sudden disruptions caused by the coronavirus have highlighted the value of having as agile and adaptable a cloud infrastructure as you can—especially as we are seeing companies around the world expedite investments in cloud to enable faster change in moments of uncertainty and disruption like we faced in 2020.

6.5G Will Become the New Normal

In the current scenario, digital is normal and businesses are striving to manage operations from homes and remote spaces. 5G had already been hailed much during last year and from this year onwards this technology will gain more prominence. 5G network can provide unprecedented speed and connectivity that can cater to the growing demand for increased bandwidth and reliable connectivity. 5G going mainstream will enable better IoT connectivity, enhance user experience and digital collaboration, and accelerate digital transformation.

7.AI with Cybersecurity

With AI being introduced in all market segments, this technology with a combination of machine learning has brought tremendous changes in cybersecurity. AI has been paramount in building automated security systems, natural language processing, face detection, and automatic threat detection. Although it is also being used to develop smart malware and attacks to bypass the latest security protocols in controlling data. AI-enabled threat detection systems can predict new attacks and notify admins for any data breach instantly, making it the next cyber security trend in 2021.