It's time to ride the next wave of disruption. The first wave of disruption saw analogue systems disrupted and displaced by digital; changing the way we work, interact, and connect. The current wave is where digital disrupts digital and its impact will be beyond anything we’ve ever seen.
Today, business growth is mirrored to ecological impact, and opportunity is shaped by adaptability and continual exploration. And the speed of development is accelerating in all sectors. Products that previously took years to develop are now prototyped, validated, adapted, and brought to market in a fraction of that time – only to be improved continuously thereafter. That is why the next decade will only take five years and it will be shaped by these five currents.
Meaning over relevance
First current
Today, an exhausting amount of data-driven interactions are without real value. Going forward, solutions with meaningful value will be essential. They must respond to, resonate with, and support people’s shifting desires, values, and lives - as individuals, consumers, employees, and citizens. Products and services that do not match these values will fall short. Meaning is one of the currencies of our future and aligning an organisation’s purpose to pursue meaning for all stakeholders will enable it to thrive.
Sustainability in everything
Second current
It’s time for business to take systemic responsibility for any impact of products, and services created — from environmental degradation to tech addiction. This means end-to-end environmentally sound technologies; from responsible source materials to ethical factory processes, and from carbon-neutral transport down to compassion for the customer experience. Sustainability is the ethical and commercial imperative of the future. It’s time to re-design current business, and manufacturing models in order to transition them into a sustainable economy and create integral, scalable, and sustainable solutions.
Trust in motion
Third current
Faith in government, big business, press and Big Tech is declining. To excel, businesses must align with people’s values and provide genuine transparency, accountability, and an ethical approach to privacy. Trust has always been a key-asset in business, and with institutional trust at an all-time low today – it is a crucial component for success tomorrow.
Engage with extended reality
Fourth current
The divide between digital and physical has been blurring. Accelerated by 5G, physical, and virtual realities will overlap and interact in real-time. As a result, businesses gain the ability to remove distances between people, their environment, and interactions between them using AI, AR, VR, and IoT. This is an opportunity to provide new meaningful experiences and grow by designing for adaptable extended reality contexts. These are the product and service experiences that will enable sustainable cities and smart manufacturing - in short, the connected products, and services of the future.
Business beyond boundaries
Fifth current
Industry boundaries are changing, new ecosystems are emerging and formerly well-defined customer journeys are transforming fast. To successfully respond to these changes, a conscious shift in focus towards delivering highly modular, easy-to-integrate products, and services are one of the first steps in meeting the new demand. To truly unleash business in a nonlinear future; designing for continuous adaptation, unlocking new partnerships and tapping into new ecosystems will be the key differentiator of success.