Business, and the companies within business have always changed and morphed. Certain things happen that render certain companies useless. Look what the digital camera did to kodak and the film printing industry? Imagine how the development of the automobile changed the way transport was conducted. There are all kinds of changes in the world driven by technology and innovation. Business is always affected. Forcing companies to change and adapt or face being outdone by their competitors who seem to want to do better. It has been a while since the last big change. Some could argue it was the smartphone and the integration of the app. Others will say it is cloud computing while most say nothing is as big as the internet which changed the face of business like nothing before it. Yet humanity will always question and always want the best for themselves, it is what makes life great. Expansion and improvement. Not everyone can ride with it, but changes open the doors for others. Look at Amazon and how they used the internet to revolutionise the retail industry while not using one physical presence. Business changes year on year. In this article you can see how it is changing or how it is going to change, where you and your business can buy into it, or be wary of things that could potentially cancel you out. You may have heard of some of them, others are further off than some, yet all are realistic and have been sounded out by some of the biggest firms in the most prestigious boardrooms.
In terms of frontiers, space provides, to be cliche, the final one. Humanity as a race still knows relatively little about space, but when you view its business application the mind boggles. Already firms like space-x have jumped on the bandwagon, declaring themselves as providing space transport for civilian applications. There are others too, like bSpace who can take your satellites up into the atmosphere for whatever application you need. When you mix this in with the mining firms and their blustering about asteroid mining, the sphere of space seems poised to change everything. All it would take is a certain leap forward in space travel and the whole plane of business could be changed. Imagine an asteroid containing huge quantities of gold. Gold’s value would plummet due to its increased presence. It may not be close, it may not be close at all, yet it is undeniably a game changer in the sphere of business, and will force many businesses to change they way they operate.
One of the key elements of business is the need to transport items across land, sea and air. This comes in components, food, cars, the list is endless. As a result the business of freight is huge. Many shipping moguls made millions in the industry and thousands of people are employed as truckers, transporting goods across countries and the world. This is all set to chance, some say for the worse, others the better. Driverless technology has been used by Uber and Google recently, with middling success. But no one can say it is not taking hold. The tech is coming in leaps and bounds. Meaning soon you will see cars on the road without drivers. This will revolutionise the trucking industry. No longer will truckers need to be employed. Instead the goods will be loaded up and sent on their way. Freight is easier to program than certain cars, like taxis, because they are going from A to B. The route is already programmed with no differences. It has made many people nervous, as loads will be out of a job. However, this is the price of innovation. People either need to learn a new skill and learn to adapt or find another profession. It sounds brutal on the face of it, yet it is the only way.
Connectivity is only going to increase. Look how connected the world is now. If something bad happens, then it is on youtube in a matter of minutes. Almost every single person has a phone capable of high definition video in their pockets. Just let that sink in. Everyone is connected on the move by 4G internet. There are never away from the internet. It is just going to become more profound. Borders will diminish in the business sense as people start to use the internet to find better offers and businesses. A business in New York could put a business in London out of business due to people going overseas for their items. As the internet speeds increase so will new ways to connect and it will change the scope of business forever.
Staying with connectivity, look at how many things are connected. It is no longer computers and phones and tablets. Now televisions are connected. As are internal heating systems, meaning you can control the heat from your phone when you are out of the house. There are kinds of things that the internet can in some way benefit. This is known as the internet of things. It is becoming prevalent in all areas of life. So much so that there has already been fears that the government can access you through your TV and such.
In terms of business, big data is still having a lasting effect that will only increase as the years go on. It is essentially digging deep into the very data of websites and the like to find out consumer habits on a specific nature. For example, what you clicked before you clicked on a different product. Where you came in from, how many people clicked on a product page before exiting the website entirely. From this the company could implement different things to help pull more people in for sales. They can work out what people are doing and think of things to counter it to ensure they rake the money in. A lot of it is psychological, but it has been proven to work in the past. Just look at casinos with no windows or clocks. It works. Big data has changed the way business react and change. They no longer need website feedback. It’s all there, it just needs to be deciphered.