2020 Vision Roundtable Event London, October 2011
Ten years ago, the Cabinet Office made a set of predictions about the forthcoming business decade. It foresaw the real emergence of a UK ‘e-economy’ with faster nimbler firms driven by technology and bigger companies shrinking to more manageable scales. It anticipated the growth of more IP-based businesses, more outsourcing of public sector services and a steady flow of over-50s wanting and needing second careers. Despite the banking crisis and recession these predictions have proved to be true and this change is set to continue.
The next decade will prove to be a period of revolution where it will be more important than ever to enforce new thinking and ways of working. With a predicted increase in UK population of 5 million by 2020, large organisations will not be able to absorb the increase in the labour force. As a result we will see a rise in the number of small businesses made up of sole traders and micro businesses that will provide the agility to drive the new economy.
This new industrial revolution will be fuelled by the growth in technology. Technological uptake has been growing since the development of the PC in the early 1980’s and in the very near future the PC will be overtaken by smart phones and tablets and mobile commerce, or m-commerce, will be the way that consumers and subsequently businesses will trade.
By 2020 it is envisaged that we will see:
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Sole traders and micro business dominating the UK with a 20 % increase in the number of small businesses
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A growth in the number of private consultants with a greater number of people with multiple jobs
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Major shifts in international trading patterns with globalisation continuing to be a major force
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Continued disconnection between banking and businesses for funding and transaction services