Despite the fact that Covid-19 has now claimed more than 319,000 lives across the globe (as of May 19th), this global pandemic is increasingly being considered in terms of its widespread socio-economic impact.
While nations such as the UK may be poised to see up to 35% wiped from their GDP and total economic output in 2020, however, it’s fair to say that some business niches are continuing to thrive against the familiar backdrop of relentless innovation and technological advancement.
But what are the key trends to look out for in the business market in 2020, and how will these manifest themselves during the remaining seven months of the year?
- The Rise of AI and New Technology
According to most resources, the leading five strategic business drivers through 2022 are technology-related, while the majority of which refer to new innovations and ground-breaking concepts.
At the heart of this is the so-called ‘Fourth Industrial Revolution’, which represents a fundamental and technology-led change to the way in which we live, work and interact with one another.
Artificial intelligence (AI) is perhaps the technology most synonymous with this revolution, as machine learning continues to underpin a number of successful industries while also creating a raft of new jobs and boosting company efficiency.
- The Increased Use of Big Data
Big data is another rising trend in the worlds of commerce and business, particularly as companies are now being provided with access to advanced tools and platforms that enable them to gather, organise and analyse information on a huge scale.
This is borne out by the statistics too, with ‘The Future of Jobs’ report revealing that 85% of respondents are expected to expand their adoption of user and entity big data analytics through 2020.
This undoubtedly has immense potential in the commercial world, especially from the perspective of sales and marketing. Big data also underpins predictive technologies and algorithms, which have potentially far-reaching applications across almost every marketplace.
- The Rising Prominence of Forex Trading
Both of these technologies are particularly prominent in the world of forex trading, as while AI is deployed to help automate higher volumes of orders in real-time, big data and the potential collation of disorganised information affords investors access to far greater insight than ever before.
As a result, there’s no doubt that a growing number of finance graduates and aspiring entrepreneurs are looking to target forex market trading as a way of generating income.
As brokerage sites continue to evolve on the back of sustained innovation, traders are also able to target variable markets and geographic sessions with far greater success. This is enabling them to optimise their trading volumes without leaving them over-exposed, which is ideal for those looking to strike the ideal balance between risk and reward.
- Advances in Mobile Internet
On the topic of forex trading, this is also a niche where mobile penetration has increased incrementally in recent times.
Across the board, the number of smartphone users has peaked at 3.5 billion in 2020, which means that 45.04% of the total world population now owns a device of this type.
As smartphones become increasingly commonplace and continue to evolve in terms of their functionality, businesses are being forced to create a prominent mobile presence and change their methodology to reflect their customers’ changing habits.
- Observing Shifts in National Economic Growth
With Covid-19 in mind, it’s also worth noting that socio-economic trends and events (in conjunction with technological advancement) are continuing to have a huge impact on commercial growth throughout 2020 and beyond.
Going forward, national growth trajectories will have the greatest possible impact in sectors such as aerospace, transport and the supply chain, while they’ll also influence infrastructure projects across the globe.
This is an important trend for entrepreneurs and investors to monitor closely, particularly as the global economy continues to count the cost of the coronavirus pandemic on a vast scale.