Gartner Symposium 2016 roundup:key trends for small businesses

Are you a small business lookingfor technology & software advice?

Here are the 9 key trends discussedat Gartner's Symposium/ITxpo2016 in Barcelona...

...and how they will be relevant for your small business

Key trend #1

Customer experience is worth paying for

Consumers are willing to pay more inexchange for a better customer experience.

Turn your salespeople into product experts Focus on the needs of the customers Guide them along the buying journeyContact them on the touchpoint of their choice

Differentiate your business through customer experience.

Small business takeaway

Key trend #2

Hiring & managing talent needs process overhaul

Take lessons from marketing and see candidates ascustomers who you need to sell your business to.

If small businesses want to attract top talent they need todefine their brand to candidates

Small business takeaway

Mission Nature of workLifestyle, benefits and environmentManagement style

Top talent will choose to work for you, not the other way around.

Key trend #3

Ecosystems: be friends with your enemies

“An active community of developers can createmore products in a week than you can in a year”- Peter Sondergaard

Partner with your rivals and competitors Tap into the skills, experience and resources of largerorganizationsGet access to tools and technologies

Small business takeaway

For small businesses especially, it’s important to partnerwith frenemies.

Key trend #4

Embrace cognitive diversity

Think outside the box when it comes to recruitment.

Recruit a range of people who think and workin a different wayRecruit people from different countriesRecruit people from different fields of work Recruit people with a different profile

Small business takeaway

Reach innovation through cognitive diversity.

Key trend #5

Focus on IT agility through cloud computing

Gartner recommends a bimodal IT approach.

Insight

Small business takeaway

This may sound like a lot of effort for small businesses...

...but the idea of embracing cloud computing & focusingon faster application development & implementation canbring new levels of agility and efficiency to your smallbusiness!

Key trend #6

Blockchain is not just for the enterprise

Gartner predicts that by 2022, an innovative businessbuilt on a blockchain will be worth $10 billion.

Signing legal contractsIdentity verificationEnergy managementCloud storageTracking the source and location of goods

Insight

Blockchain was the key word of the Gartner Symposium

Blockchain refers to the ledger that records all bitcointransactions, but has now moved on to other uses:

Small business takeaway

Partnering with an enterprise can help you applyBlockchain to your business:

You can learn from and piggyback off their initiatives,and take advantage of the increased security in legalmatters that blockchain can offer.

Key trend #7

The Internet of Things

In an increasingly connected world, everythingis now a “thing”, even your customers.

Small business takeaway

Better understand & communicate with your customersImprove efficiency through remote monitoring of devicesBring new ideas to market quickerMonitor business processes better if you scale acrossdifferent locationsDiversify revenue streams

With all these connected devices comes a mountain of datathat you can use to:

Key trend #8

Intelligence will be artificial

Gartner predicts that by 2018, 45% of thefastest-growing companies will have feweremployees than instances of smart machines.

Small business takeaway

Your business probably already uses algorithms toautomate mundane tasks in areas like sales and marketing.

Other useful areas of AI where you might think ofinvesting include customer interaction analysis,smart scheduling, and recruiting.

Key trend #9

Your next customer service assistant will be virtual

Gartner predicts that by 2019 the use of virtualcustomer assistants will triple.

Small business takeaway

Customer service is a key area where small businessescan differentiate themselves to compete against theirlarger competitors.

Virtual assistants will enable better customer service ina more efficient and cost effective way.

Consider these key trends to gaina competitive advantage in 2017!

Which Gartner Symposium 2016 trends areimportant for your business?Share your opinion with us!