It’s a New Year! Like most people this time of year puts us all into a mood for reflection on the coming opportunities. We like to look at every new year as a bundle of unopened opportunities that could change the way we work and manage our day to day lives.
Business leaders will be driving many multifaceted initiatives in 2013. Today as we think forward, our economy still could be impacted from the ramifications of the just-passed fiscal cliff deal in Washington and further political wrangling. We also know that in just a few short years our world has changed dramatically and cloud, mobile, and social based businesses have led that change. This year leaders won’t be as focused on getting ahead of the changes as they will be on monetizing and sustaining their business brand through the changes. That said, based on our research over the years, here are the developments we predict over the course of 2013:
- Driving customer interactions: Relationships are back. CEO’s will demand and keep pushing companies to become obsessive about their customers.
- A new look at partnerships and alliances. In a world of global economic instability and uncertainty, savvy CEO’s will mitigate risks and position their organizations for success by teaming up with other organizations to make their products, deliver their services, and reach their customers.
- Going Beyond Big Data Buzz. Executives will be pushing to increase their organizations’ expertise in data and analytics to uncover important market trends and factors that will lead them down the road to success.
- Outsourcing product development overseas diminishes. Companies will start to realize the hidden costs of outsourcing.
- Talent Retention takes first prize. This is the year when most companies will “get” the need to not just find, but also retain, great talent.
- Aptitude becomes the new skill. The labor market is not currently experiencing a talent crunch, but is experiencing a skills shortage and the two have significant differences.
