2020 is 10% done. How was it for you? The next obvious question is, what has been different so far this year? It’s not always easy to read but it is true to say that the way you do anything is the way you do everything.

For example, have you tried pulling an article out of Le Figaro or Die Welt and dropping it into Google Translate to see what the EU mainland thinks about Brexit?

Or, how about, reading some CES 2020 reviews?

Or have you looked for clues where you’ve always looked, or where you know your competitors look? With 10% of 2020 behind us, doing more of the same isn’t going to provide you with the business insulation that’s probably needed this year.

Adjacent opportunities can be found and grasped. Longer term scenarios must be mapped and reviewed. Constant and tenacious interrogation of your market dynamics and consumer behaviours is imperative.

The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

If you are taking care of business today with only an occasional look at immediate threats, the way you will react is occasional and immediate.

Regularly working on your future makes your opportunities appear regularly. The way you do anything is the way you do everything.

There is a way to work in your future.

It’s a way to work in the 2020-2030 decade and know what you need to do next, and then next… Download it here. Take a look and start a working differently today.

Future thinking. Future proofing. It’s what we do.

but it depends on how you see it.

Perspective comes in many shapes and sizes.

Here’s an example:

‘“…I’m overdue for a Donald.”

Donald…?

“Trump,” she explained.

Thank God for that, I thought she meant Duck.’*

Two people, two interpretations, one misunderstanding.

This is what happens when you’re made aware of a trend and you only see it from your perspective.

Here’s another example:

At the Consumer Electronics Show (#CES) this year, digital flexible screens were causing a buzz in many different product areas. I heard an exhibition stand manufacturer comment that these could offer some interesting visitor display experiences.

Well – yes, that’s true. But this is reducing the extent of his imagination to the work he does today, which is commercially limiting and demonstrates a very silo-based attitude. And let’s face it, armed with news of this emerging technology at an early stage, to restrict his product development thinking to a B2B market is to ignore the true potential the flexible screen has to offer.

You too have this choice. You can see an emerging trend as an opportunity to exploit, or as a reason to do nothing and wait.

Time plays a part

In 2017, I wrote that mobile phones would slide out of use within five years. The people I know who make apps for mobiles disagreed.

This year, at #CES, the trend is more obvious. Developments in haptics and screen texture sensations mean we’ll soon be sending texts without needing to look at a screen. In fact, this has been on the cards for some time, but it’s now winning awards as a product and not just as an idea.

In 2017, this information didn’t offer much of an opportunity to app developers, but what if they’d started building a consumer value proposition then?

Seeing the opportunity

To add to the demise of the smart phone, #CES also showcases smart glasses. Cloud-connectivity and heads-up displays combine with voice activation to seriously reduce our reliance on mobile phones.

Since 2014, when Google launched its first glasses, attitudes have changed. VR is now a part of everyday life for many people, and Google just released an Enterprise version of the Glass product, moving it from its R&D stream into its product portfolio. This is more than a trend – it’s a nailed-on certainty that the technology is coming. Carrying a phone will seem archaic when you can wear the functionality.

And don’t think this is limited to your phone…

The way you choose to see these concepts is entirely down to your attitude to your business. If you’re happy to manage innovation as it is and without considering a different future, you can do so.

If you see emerging trends as an opportunity to develop new products and future-proof the business, that’s your choice too. All it takes is your willingness to embrace the potential that new ideas may deliver, and then rank those ideas on a scale of probability.

Transformations

We see the developments that will lead to less reliance on mobile phones as transformational. If you are in the mobile phone market, the camera business, the telematics services sector – in fact, any market where you deploy lenses and screens today, we think it’s time to take note.

Duck or Trump? It’s your choice.

Future-proofing. Future-thinking. It’s what we do.

*Taken from London Rules by Mike Herron