Planning the future

Life in 2023

Kudos for paying attention to the lessons of the early days of the pandemic, when those who boldly invested in digital innovation found success.

Slashing budgets with a blunt instrument didn’t work in 2020, and it won’t work in 2023, either.

But don’t bury your head in the sand: 2023 budget pressure will be intense, and blindly planning for modest spending increases across the board will backfire. To come out on top, you’ll need more discipline and precision to prioritize investments, trim waste intentionally, and place smart and bold investment bets.

Economic headwinds coupled with unexpected trends in employment will make planning and budgeting for 2023 trickier than normal. Leaders must temper their overly optimistic predictions for budget increases with discipline and precision.

Those who come out on top in 2023 will prioritize investments that maximize revenue growth, profitability, and resilience while cutting spending in areas prone to waste. They also will maintain experiments with emerging technologies that show growing value.

Life in the 2030s

While planning for 2023, it may make sense to look at life in the 2030s.

For many companies – and many industries – the Covid-19 pandemic set off a period of head-spinning change. They realized they were capable of moving faster than they ever thought possible. They went digital in a matter of days, not years. They offered new services almost overnight. If companies sustain this newfound speed and agility, it’s conceivable that more innovation will happen in the next ten years than in any previous decade in modern history. Life in the 2030s could vastly differ from today.

What do we have to do?

Visualizing the future

Many consumers now value personalization over data privacy. The demand for natural and ‘clean’ products is steadily growing. Digital and social channels are becoming significantly more influential. These are some of the trends revealed in latest global surveys on consumer attitudes towards health and wellness.

The future of wellness

The wellness market is booming. Consumers intend to keep spending more on products that improve their health, fitness, nutrition, appearance, sleep, and mindfulness. Are you getting ready?

The future of your digital strategy

It’s critical to think about your digital strategy in a broad sense. From a channel perspective, are you well set up to succeed especially in e-commerce. From a marketing perspective, are you leveraging the power of social media and influencers?

The future of data partnerships

Data is going to be the key. Having a way to tie these different data systems together is probably the best secret. Interconnectedness of data and data partnerships are going to be the real opportunities.

The future of exciting shopping

By 2030, we may see a completely different store experience. It’s about capturing that concept of discovery, whether through services, classes, or just a curated, exciting, and gamified experience that brings consumer in – for example, being able to see 3-D versions of your face and being able to apply color cosmetic products to it so that you then could simply hit the buy button and have the products sent to your home.

The future of Integrity

The future we are heading into – short-term, mid-term, long-term – cannot be without Integrity. Integrity must be part of the learning process for young people, it must be part of the working process and business process of the private sector and it must definitely be part of how government operates on the national and local level. Corruption must be eliminated!

Let’s all commit to contribute to the creation of a great future!

I am aware that there are plenty other ideas regarding the future, but I have space limits; if you have ideas regarding today’s subject, send it to me at [email protected]