23 Trends That Will Shake The Business

World In 2018
https://www.forbes.com/sites/theyec/2018/01/10/23-trends-that-will-shake-
the-business-world-in-2018/#64ad809f583f

Post written by

Young Entrepreneur Council

YEC is an invite-only organization comprised of the world's most successful entrepreneurs

40 and younger.

After a new year comes and goes, every business owner has the future on their mind. Sales
projections, marketing campaigns, tax documents and other business activities for Q1 are
among the top priorities as they launch into 2018.

But on a broader scale, business owners are also thinking about major industry shifts
and new technologies that will significantly impact the way they operate in the year ahead.
We asked members of Young Entrepreneur Council to each share one trend they believe
will influence their work next year.

Members of Young Entrepreneur Council share their insight.All photos courtesy of individual
members

1. "Away" Status Functions On Instant Messaging Platforms

Before Slack, my morning routine was typically to get into the office, plan my day, scan
through emails for anything that needed immediate attention, and then get working on my
backlog of priority tasks. After Slack, I've found when I get into the office I open Slack
and, for each account, I go through all the channels with notifications and read through
each channel. Throughout the day I find myself responding to "fires" and answering
questions that I probably don't need to dedicate my time to. In 2018, a trend that will help is
using Slack more like email messaging by turning it on only during certain times and for a
certain length and then closing it. Turning on away messages and focusing on what matters
is a trend I need back. - Michael Averto, ChannelApe

2. Greater Reliance On A Freelance Workforce

I already work with many freelancers, but as I grow, I expect that all my workforce is going
to essentially be a freelance workforce rather than any traditional employees. This is a good
thing, as it allows me to scale up and down with different businesses I am working on, and
implement projects on an on-demand basis. In turn, I can continue to maintain a lean
budget without having to contend with so many overheads. Even if business should slow at
all, I can adjust accordingly without having to worry about letting employees go. - John
Rampton, Calendar

3. Blockchain's Interruption Of New Industries

Blockchain has already made a big impact on the banking industry, and this year, it will
make its way into new industries. Everything from procurement to legal management will
be looking to blockchain to increase security throughout the entire customer experience.
For business leaders like me, we’ll need to keep our eyes on the horizon for opportunities to
integrate new technology like this into our business processes. - Stan Garber, Scout RFP

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4. Social Shopping
Social shopping seems to be on the rise. This holiday season will be a telling sign of the
growth in this trend in 2018 and beyond. It will change how we think about selling products
and services because it is a relatively newchannel that requires a different approach. There
are challenges and opportunities to research, track and respond to. - Peter
Daisyme, Calendar

5. Artificial Intelligence And Machine Learning

We have been building applications for eight years. Recently, we've started to see demands
from our clients to build apps that involve artificial intelligence and machine learning. This
had pushed us to enhance our skills in AI and ML tools, so we can implement them in the
products we build. I anticipate that in 2018, we will have more demands from our clients to
build apps with AI so that products are smarter and more intelligent. - Piyush
Jain, SIMpalm
6. Live Video
With live streaming videos already gaining popularity and interest from brands this past
year, it will continue to progress in 2018. With the digital era being so instant and saturated
nowadays with content and apps, people will want to see events and performances at their
fingertips immediately. From fireside chats and discussion panels to company events, live
video is here to stay. - Stanley Meytin, True Film Production

7. Wellness At Work

The wellbeing trend is gaining a lot of momentum, and I anticipate it being more and more
important as people seek balance and simplicity. It’s becoming more normal to consider
working smarter not harder, and with more employees in flexible or remote roles, there is
an opportunity for great improvements here. At the same time, it’s also important for
businesses to know what’s going on and be able to hold employees accountable. This is the
downside of remote work. - Baruch Labunski, Rank Secure

8. Customer Contact By Text

Increasingly we are finding that our customers are reaching out to our customer service
team by text. Whether on the Facebook app, by iMessage or on Whatsapp, we are finding
that our customers want immediate answers and a more informal means of communication.
Ever since we installed the Facebook chat feature on our checkout, we immediately
identified the shift in tone and immediacy of what our customers are expecting. When you
have set hours for phone calls or you communicate by email, the customer is not expecting
a 24/7 experience. As soon as the customer can reach you by text, the urgency in response
and time windows increase. 2018 will be the year we will need to figure out how to tend to
an always-on customer who is comfortable with a quick, informal response. - Diego
Orjuela, Cables & Sensors

9. Chatbots

In the SAAS business, chatbots are becoming more and more prevalent. Customers want to
work with companies that deliver 24/7 customer service through chat. They don't want to
be on hold for 30 minutes to talk to someone; they would rather open up another browser
window if they have to hold. Chatbots may even help with Google rankings as visitors will
stay on the site longer, decreasing your bounce rate. For businesses that are accustomed to
having customer service calls or help tickets, chatbots will require a change in process
and new training. It's something we're in the initial stages of implementing, but we look
forward to the changes. - Syed Balkhi, OptinMonster

10. Commoditization Of Tech

Commoditization is coming for tech, especially for development. I've seen it creeping in
over the years and I think we're close to the point where commoditization is going to
reshape the agency industry. But I think if you're smart, you can get ahead of it. The name
of the game now is creating a powerful brand and differentiating your service offering – if
you can provide a white glove service and a level of value that other people can't copy, no
$8-an-hour dev team halfway across the world can ever touch you. - Ben Lee, Neon Roots

11. Voice Search-Based Ad Personalization

The ways in which people are interacting with voice search are only going to keep growing,
and that is creating new opportunities and avenues for potential ad strategy. Once the
platforms are available, I suspect this will have a major impact on how brands interact with
people. - Nicole Munoz, Start Ranking Now

12. A Boom In Coworking

I think that coworking will become the norm for a lot of corporations. Obviously it's a great
idea for startups, but more established companies are also exploring this type of
environment. Coworking isn't just about saving money and pooling resources. It is also an
amazing networking tool. Corporations that want to get closer to their future B2B
customers and trend-spot will start establishing satellite offices in various coworking
spaces. It also allows companies to be more flexible with their hiring and increase their
ability to enter newer markets. - Artem Mashkov, DEVTRIBE INC

13. Continued Shift To Standing Desks

A significant trend in the office furniture industry has been the continued shift from
traditional desks to sit-to-stand desks. Americans are more cognizant of the importance of
staying healthy, and ergonomics has transformed from an obscure, inconspicuous subject to
a topic of great interest to many. As more and more employees have come to learn that
"sitting is the new smoking," they are increasingly requesting sit-to-stand desks from their
employers. In turn, companies have been buying standing desks for their workers and will
do so at an even greater rate in 2018. We will need to continue to offer highly-desirable sit-
to-stand options and at price points that are accessible to the mass market. - Adam
Mendler, Beverly Hills Chairs

14. Hospital Consolidations

Explosive population growth has kept hospitals busy and somewhat insulated from
competitive pressures felt sooner in other markets. Now, hospitals have moved from their
traditional territories to consolidate the market. In 2015, WellStar Health System of
Marietta, Ga., bought five hospitals from Tenet Healthcare Corp. in a deal worth $661
million. The not-for-profit system, which ended last year with $1.8 billion in revenue,
doubled the number of its hospitals with the acquisition. Atlanta seems to be a microcosm
of what’s happening nationwide: Hospitals are hustling to improve economies of scale in
purchasing, and to spread best clinical and business practices across locations. This has
been undeniably good for businesses, and great for ours. - Ashish Advani, InPharmD

15. Alternative Learning Credentials

We're going to start seeing a spike in employers that begin accepting alternative learning
credentials. Right now, many employers will list a bachelor's degree as a minimum
requirement, but I think a wave of employers will start accepting Coursera, Khan Academy,
Udacity and other online courses in lieu of traditional education. As more employers start
taking these alternative learning credentials seriously, it will motivate people to start
learning again and hopefully, we'll start seeing an even stronger list of applicants. - Jared
Atchison, WPForms

16. More Intelligent Applications

When I started using computers, applications were, for the most part, a thin layer on top of
a database that presented lists of items for people to choose from (think of an old-fashioned
music player like WinAMP). Today, there’s so much information coming at us from all
angles that we can’t design applications like that anymore. We need to have the most useful
information presented to us at the right time. It’s the job of the application to figure out
what counts as useful at any moment. With the introduction of sophisticated machine
learning, low-latency mobile connections, low-power sensors and augmented reality, we’re
going to see applications get much better at filtering and prioritizing information.
Ultimately, that’ll free us to focus on generating value. - Justin Blanchard, ServerMania
Inc.

17. Growth Of Automation

We're seeing the growth of automation right before our eyes, and I think we'll see this
coming into more workplaces as we move into 2018 and beyond. While we may not see the
game-changing moves happen right away (e.g. an entire role replaced), I do think we're
going to see tools being built in the SaaS space that continue to make our work lives a little
easier. Where some people may develop stress around this idea, it will allow us to automate
time-consuming tasks and focus on the big picture. Some of my favorite instances of this
are social media automation, chatbots and the quick replies that Gmail is beginning to
provide that leverage machine learning and AI. - Erin Blaskie, L-SPARK

18. Fractured Social Media

As many different social media platforms begin to resemble each other more closely, they
also start to reach different demographics. An example of this is the schism between
Snapchat and Instagram users: The recent addition of Stories and face filters from
Instagram has drawn some users away from Snapchat. As users begin to draw lines in the
sand, our focus will turn towards picking a side as well. To make the most out of our time
and resources, we plan on committing to two or three key social media sites by creating
content and interacting with followers. It is true that by adopting one network we will be
turning our backs on an entire demographic of people. However, the scatter-shot approach
just doesn't offer the kind of return that justifies the extra effort. - Bryce Welker, Beat The
CPA

19. Augmented Reality

I’ve been impressed with some of the augmented reality applications that were created
following Apple’s release of ARKit earlier in 2017. But I think 2018 will be the year AR
goes huge. By bringing the digital and physical worlds together, AR will touch many
business processes. I’m particularly excited about the training and educational potential. As
a server and cloud hosting provider, we manage several large data centers. AR will be great
for training new staff members on our equipment and letting them run through repair and
support procedures. I’m also looking forward to integrating AR into our monitoring
systems so server administrators can locate problematic servers and access a live overlay of
server performance and issues. - Vik Patel, Future Hosting

20. The Human Touch

A lot of people are focused on innovative technologies like AI and blockchain, and these
have a lot of potential. But the biggest trend that matters in 2018 and beyond is how we
treat our customers and ensure we continue to meet their preferences. While innovations are
exciting, it can be tempting to roll out new tech before it's ready, potentially alienating
customers and even team members in the process. This is why we plan to continue to invest
in a world-class customer service team staffed with humans (not chatbots), and remain
responsive and open to what our customers need from us. - Ross Cohen, BeenVerified

21. Mobile Everything

There is absolutely no question that the market is exponentially moving to mobile-

everything. Mobile usage is up immensely and everyone is scrambling to catch up,
especially retailers. Although it may be obvious to some, there are still many brick and
mortar business that refuse to believe that the internet is quickly becoming the primary
means of business. The data is there to prove it. In 2012 approximately 11% of retail sales
occurred on mobile devices. Fast forward to 2016 and 48% of consumers are reporting that
its easier to shop on their mobile phones. This is the modern equivalent of companies like
Sears not foreseeing internet retail in the early 2000s. If you're not offering customer-
centric, fluid, cross-platform experiences for your customers, you are sure to lose. - Ali
Mahvan, Sharebert

22. The Membership Experience

Working in the grooming and retail industry, my team anticipates the rise and importance
of customizing guest experiences even further in 2018. As competition continues to grow in
the grooming segment, we intend to focus on our membership incentives. It is important to
find ways to simultaneously secure annual participation from your customer-base while
also providing them with the service and pricing incentives that only exclusive
memberships offer. - Ben Davis, The Gents Pla

23. A Growing Focus On Diversity

My work with Gaingels is all about diversity, specifically the importance of driving social
change through business and capital investment. Our belief is that you drive real change by
investing capital, effort, relationships and talent into projects that reflect your values. The
change we are looking for is more LGBT leaders, and more representation for all diverse
groups at the senior levels of startups and other companies. Given the issues that have
arisen over the past year, improving diversity should be a critical issue for 2018, and we
intend to be at the forefront of that global effort. - Paul Grossinger, Gaingels

Young Entrepreneur Council (YEC) is an invitation-only, fee-based organization comprised

of the world's most successful entrepreneurs 40 and younger. YEC members represent
nearly every industry, generate billions of dollars in revenue each year and have created
tens of thous...