Operational efficiency, agility to drive tech in 2021

As 2021 begins, we are looking at the New Year with a mix of optimism and uncertainty. While the steady stream of vaccines becoming available is causing optimism, the pandemic is still ravaging in full steam and the ‘second wave’ is bringing lockdown back in many countries. The pandemic’s impact on the business environment has created a few unmistakable trends. Visibility is low and there is uncertainty about demand in many industries. This has accelerated the move to digital.

Companies are investing in cloud technology, online training, digital delivery, e-commerce, logistics and customer success initiatives. The focus for new investments is on improving operational efficiency, improving agility and ability for people to work anywhere. Here are some of the trends expected in 2021.

#1: Employee engagement, HR tech becomes essential

Even before the pandemic, the move to digital was driving executive decisions to reshape their workforce. The pandemic has accelerated this trend. Companies are investing in digital marketing, customer experience and sales. Remote work has increased the need for employee engagement and HR tech to facilitate employees and managers get things done.

As more jobs have moved ‘virtual’, the applicant pool has surged. HR sometimes is receiving 10 times the number of applicants they used to receive previously. We expect investment in AI for recruitment to increase in 2021. Candidate sourcing and candidate rediscovery are two areas where AI is expected to play a key role.

#2: Localisation is a critical revenue driver

While COVID-19 pulled us apart, technology brought us together. Worldwide, millions of people went online regularly for their work, shopping and entertainment for the first time. Research reveals that 90% of online shoppers prefer to use their native language when available and 72.1% of internet users prefer to dwell on websites translated in their native language. No wonder companies are rushing to invest in localisation to improve their prospects with consumers.

#3: Distributed cloud lays the foundation

For many of us, the pandemic meant a sudden shift to remote working. We started plugging into the cloud, collaborating online, and switching on our webcams for the first time. Once the infrastructure had been set up and the inevitable problems fixed, the speedy switch to life online proved not only workable for many people, but highly valuable. Gartner defines ‘distributed cloud’ as where cloud services are distributed to different physical locations, but the operation, governance and evolution remain the responsibility of the public cloud provider. Distributed cloud is becoming the technology backbone for companies going digital.

#4: Learning technology investment surges

Online education has exploded during the pandemic. As a big chunk of the workforce is expected to continue remote work, investment in immersive learning technologies is signalling the potential for virtual reality (VR) in education. The use of augmented reality (AR) in education is also expected to increase, as the trend of gamification in learning is getting established. Overall, edtech and learning investments are surging.

#5: Blockchain transforms the supply chain

Customers love same-day delivery. However, it can be quite challenging for logistics. Thus, blockchain technology in supply chain management becomes important. Vendors, customers, logistics firms and shipping lines can all collaborate using a single platform. Information is stored in a single location in the form of blocks. They are kept secure using encryption. A time-stamp ledger linking new information to the existing chain ensures traceability.

In addition to being safe and limiting fraud, blockchain systems are economical, transparent and fast. The supply chain can be completely paperless.

#6: Customer success technology comes to prominence

During pandemic, the role of ‘customer success (CS) vs sales’ came into limelight. During stressful times people preferred doing business with known vendors rather than starting new relationships. Companies are expected to sell customers’ desired outcomes instead of products and features.

Great CS technology can provide your customer success initiatives with the necessary customer analytics, tracking product usage, cross-functional communication, and much more. Internet of Things (IoT) can today notify key information about customer behaviour. Soon AI and ML will be transforming customer success. No wonder customer success firms are being acquired billion-dollar valuations this year.

#7: OKR adoption accelerates

Objectives and key results (OKRs) have long been the favourite execution system of Silicon Valley elites like Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Apple and Twitter. There is a surge in adoption of OKRs beyond the tech world as companies and teams discover that OKRs are perfect to improve focus, align teams towards the overarching corporate goals, aim and achieve stretch targets. Companies are investing in OKR software to improve collaboration and teamwork while achieving ambitious goals. A good piece of OKR software integrated with a performance review system also helps HR to make performance management a continuous process and improve employee morale.

The connecting thread between all these trends is clear: They are driven by raising customer expectations as they have been exposed to the conveniences of digital during the pandemic and the need to bring in laser-like focus to execution as companies have limited resources to focus on the most important goals.

By Bastin Gerald, Founder, Profit.co