The empowered consumer is a trend that has been changing the marketplace for years. As consumers have a louder voice, more access to information and a larger array of options than ever before, the relationship between businesses and customers is changing and the balance of power tipping in favour of the customer. COVID accelerated this to a new level altogether.

Among the most significant and lasting changes created by COVID last year was the sudden shift to remote work. Return to offices this year have been varied, and where we will collectively end up in our work life in years to come is proving difficult to predict.

Buying a car has long been esteemed as a core milestone for people of all ages. Many of us fondly remember buying our first car, and we all celebrate the buying of a new one, turning to social media and friends to showcase our shiny new purchase. However, trends of recent and coming years are pointing towards a way of living in which celebrations of these purchases will happen less and less.

Recent years have seen cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin, Litecoin and Etherium attract enormous attention and fascination. While early investors in these currencies made small fortunes overnight (Bitcoin’s value soared over 70% in 2020 alone), what the fever-pitched excitement over cryptocurrencies overshadowed was the more important technological transformation being driven by blockchain. 

In previous generations, the role of technology in everyday life was clear, with each innovation finding a clear role in serving the interests of the individual. Not only was the role of technology clear, but its distinction from humans was clear. People used a computer when information was needed or used a phone when a call needed to made, but its role as a servant to the human was evident.

The notion of robots or technology overtaking us was the stuff of science fiction and had no real substantial basis in the real world. However, as our lives have increasingly centred themselves on our technology, these distinctions between human and robot, servant and master are becoming less and less clear.

Future-proof teams are ones that can confidently walk into tomorrow, knowing that they have prepared for what is next. The future of our work is demanding greater levels of innovation, creativity and original thinking than it ever has before. In order to maintain the forward thinking that tomorrow requires, our teams need to have the people and structures in place today.

We have always known that the future of our work will look dramatically different from the present. What we did not know is that the global pandemic would pave much of the groundwork for this future’s arrival.

Years ago, social media well and truly lived up to its name. Platforms which enabled the easy exchange of photos and statuses, these media allowed individual engagement for purely social purposes. The last decade has seen social media evolve into something much more overwhelming, addictive and ultimately lucrative than their original ‘social’ role, especially as their most native users have grown up into their most powerful and profitable consumers.