2019 has already come and gone. Now with a new year ahead of us and still plenty to do: do we sit down and watch the SuperBowl or the Kentucky Derby prep races for the event happening in May, or we pull our sleeves and start digging into the new challenges.
We ask the question: what are the tasks that small business owners and entrepreneurs face in 2020? Join us as we take an in-depth look into what we can expect this year.
- The war for talent
With a booming economy and low levels of unemployment, enterprises based in the United States will likely struggle to attract talented candidates to their cause. Alongside this, healthy wage growth and plenty of opportunities means that top-quality freelancers will be kept busy for months to come with their own projects.
In order to gain a foothold of some kind, employers will have to work hard to differentiate themselves from the crowd. From flexible work arrangements to generous remuneration and other creative benefits, 2020 is set to be a year for employees.
Furthermore, one can expect organizations to look inwards in terms of talent sourcing. A greater focus on training and investing in staff will also be crucial if smaller enterprises are to remain competitive. Offering employees opportunities for personal and professional development will go a long way towards improving rates of retention.
By building up a core of highly skilled and motivated individuals, businesses will be able to attain a competitive edge over their rivals.
- A focus on cybersecurity
2018 and 2019 saw an increase in cybersecurity breaches that resulted in theft and loss of sensitive information. If the 2018 Sing Health data breach is anything to go by, we can surely expect malicious parties to intensify their attacks on digital infrastructure.
With information being the name of the game, businesses need to be doubly vigilant when it comes to cybersecurity. Investing in new cybersecurity countermeasures to better protect themselves is one way of doing so. Encrypting data, real-time protection and threat removal are crucial in today’s dangerous world.
However, electronic protection can only do so much. At the end of the day, the human factor remains the weakest link for most organizations. Maintaining good security hygiene and understanding the risks of failing to safeguard sensitive information such as passwords and login information must be drilled into the minds of employees.
During the 2018 Sing Health hack attempt, it was understood that hackers were able to gain access via a front-end terminal that had been infected by malware. The malware in question was released into the system via a successful phishing attempt.
As we can see here threats have now moved far beyond the physical realm for many organizations thus raising the need for greater online security awareness.
- The push for engaging content on social media
The days of SEO marketing and click-bait articles are most likely coming to an end come 2020. Since Google’s 2019 algorithm update, one can expect both search engines and consumers to make the move towards higher quality content.
In the past, keyword stuffing may have been a viable strategy for organizations looking to tap into content marketing, but as we’ve seen towards the end of 2020, copywriters have begun changing their strategies. As we enter 2020, expect the nature and style of content to begin shifting.
- Quicker response times from businesses
We live in a time where instant gratification has become the norm. Order fulfillment and customer service are just two of the many business processes that will undergo a drastic change come 2020.
Chatbots and machine learning have automated the more laborious aspects of customer service. Nowadays, can expect to receive a reply almost instantaneously from businesses that make use of chatbots.
Smaller organizations looking to remain relevant need to move with the times and invest in automated customer service systems. This allows them to better engage with their customers at all times.
From multinational conglomerates to garage startups, 2020 is set to be an interesting year for everyone. The future has arrived and it’s only going to get faster.
