2020 was a whirlwind of a year, globally. In the face of unprecedented events that turned the world of technology upside down, individuals and organisations alike were left scrambling to adapt. But as they say, the show must go on, and here at Provident CRM, we’re excited to see what’s in store for the next twelve months in terms of digital trends.
Experts are predicting several exciting digital transformation trends for 2021, and here are a few that caught our attention:
According to Strategy Analytics, the number of 5G smartphones is expected to more than double to 600 million this year, and in 2022, nearly half of all phones in the world will have 5G.
We think that the outbreak of COVID-19 has helped to speed up the prevalence of this trend, with more people than ever working and studying from home and increasingly reliant on their tech devices.
As we continue to work and manage schooling from our homes, the value of 5G will become increasingly mainstream in 2021. The reason for this value increase is that the benefits of 5G will finally be recognised by the mainstream; better coverage will abound, speeds will increase, and people will begin to demand for 5G as opposed to being a more expensive bonus. As a result, phones may begin to drop in price as carriers attempt to reach a wider population of their customers. What’s also exciting about it? 5G may eventually be able to replace your home broadband.
As a result of the global pandemic, IT staff everywhere were forced to rethink and revist cybersecurity after the massive work-from-home shift this past year. Hackers have exploited the coronavirus pandemic to expand their campaigns of attacks against businesses worldwide, meaning that cybersecurity is more important than ever. Budget allocations for cloud security are expected to skyrocket; according to IDG, 41% of security/IT decision-makers say that their overall security budget will increase in the next 12 months.
Cloud adoption will only accelerate in 2021 with software-as-a-service and cloud-hosted processes and storage leading the way. This takes the workload off of many manual processes and less-than-secure storage solutions, which is ideal for any organisation or business owner. However, such services come at a cost, so the more you know about them, the better off you’ll be. Check out our post about CRMs that better explain software-as-a-service and how they directly relate to your company’s growth here.
Don’t worry, this sounds much scarier than it actually is! Headless tech refers to business strategy and software architecture that decouples the front-end experience from the backend data and functionality. Essentially, it allows content to be delivered via multiple channels as opposed to being tied to a single presentation, such as a website.
Engaging in the headless approach could see companies in 2021 become more efficient, more streamlined, and get a leg up on competitors. For example, many brands are choosing to apply headless technologies to their ecommerce strategy, extending their customers’ shopping experience to new channels, like smart speakers, digital signage and so forth. This technology could forever change the consumer’s overall shopping expectations, such as the demand for more flexibility and a more seamless experience.
The Customer Data Platform industry has experienced exponential growth this past year. Marketers have quickly realised the capabilities offered by CDPs, with many insisting that a CDP is a “must-have” as far as sales and marketing technology goes. In fact, a survey of over 4,000 customer data decision-makers say that a CDP is a “must-have infrastructure for any serious digital-first business.”
Customer data platforms work to bring together data from all your marketing and sales software to provide a “360-degree view” of your customers. They provide crucial insights into the best ways to engage with your customers as they move through the buyer’s journey, and it’s no wonder that marketers and sales teams alike are realising their value. CDPs exponentially help an organisation to know its customers, which helps to deliver the right messages and drive revenue growth. Now that business operations have become somewhat more fragmented thanks to remote work, CDPs will become especially relevant in 2021.
According to a survey from Enterprise Technology Research, the percentage of workers permanently working from home is expected to double in 2021. Even as vaccines are rolled out and COVID-19 becomes a distant memory, the remote working trend will likely remain, and many large tech companies like Google and Facebook have already extended their work-from- home policies through 2021.
With normal engagement and collaboration difficult to develop and maintain in a remote work experience, employees will need to put extra effort into augmenting their engagement virtually to ensure that they are succeeding and being recognised for milestones and achievements in the workplace. Simultaneously, employers must pay extra care and attention to offering such opportunities in which their employees can participate and thrive.
Remote work has made tools and apps to help manage remote employee performance not only helpful, but absolutely essential. Employers and employees need visibility to manage and collaborate on projects and bring teams together. Task management systems such as monday.com and CRMs such as Hubspot are becoming increasingly necessary for businesses in the wake of these changes.
Indeed, the future of remote work will require many adjustments, including investing in digital infrastructure and reinventing existing policies and processes. We’re making the best of it, though, and are here to help you along the way with any questions you may have. Drop us a line via the form below if you’d like to chat!
