The beginning of the year is widely known as the time for generating New Year’s resolutions. As March continues and personal goals begin to either take shape or fade away, company executives are continuing to forecast what the year will have in store for themselves and their businesses. Evolving trends are a top concern and an important part of this forecasting process, as they can impact businesses in any number of unexpected ways.
Those in the C-Suite should be well informed about some of the top trends expected to dominate business in 2017. If you are a business leader, or if you are aspire to become one by pursuing your executive MBA degree, read on to see 4 top trends that you should keep an eye on:
1. The Company Culture
Though “company culture” is often dismissed as a buzz word, it is increasing in its importance with every technological advance that makes the workplace more flexible in its daily operations. As important elements of culture, communication, collaboration and community become even more significant as workplaces begin to operate differently.
When a company has a clearly defined culture, the staff and managers (regardless of their location) are on the same page and feel comfortable expressing their ideas among their peers, subordinates, and superiors. This helps maintain open lines of communication throughout the company and ensures that organizational goals are well understood. If every person in the company, from the intern to the C-Suite, is working together toward common, specific goals, efficiency and productivity can be maximized.
Additionally, a strongly defined company culture helps companies attract and retain top talent, key to success in a competitive business landscape. In fact, companies that were defined as high culture were recently reported by Columbia University to have a turnover rate that is 35 percent lower than that of companies having a low culture score. Defining the culture of a company is clearly important.
2. Growing Technologies
Technological advances have completely changed the way numerous businesses operate. In fact, the growth of the internet and cloud computing have changed the way that companies operate on a daily basis. Important processes have been automated, files have been digitized and stored in the cloud, and collaborative tools allow for more remote work opportunities. In fact, Synergy Research Group reported that cloud-computing usage grew 21 percent in 2015 to over $110 billion. While companies continue to invest in new technologies, they will need to ensure to build the infrastructure around these new devices. Taking the time to change the infrastructure around this technology will help to maximize the potential of the changes. This includes:
1. Training employees in how these systems work.
2. Establishing face-to-face time with experts in the technology field who can discuss the different features of new systems and how they apply to the company workplace.
3. Rebuilding the infrastructure to support the new technology instead of trying to fit the new technologies into old ways of thinking.
Along those same lines, cybersecurity will be an important concern in 2017. According to Tech Republic, cybersecurity, analytics and the “Internet of Things” will become extremely important to the C-Suite as the year progresses. The C-Suite will often be held responsible for the cybersecurity of new technologies, and will therefore need to well-versed in both the technologies and their security protocols.
3. Innovation and Rapid Change
To many big businesses and those who run them, the concept of rapid change can be difficult to handle and nearly impossible to integrate into existing processes. However, the digital economy is forcing companies to think differently as new business models develop virtually overnight, presenting new and unprecedented competition. The solution is for the C-Suite to prepare for and foster innovation and rapid change within their organizations so that they can reinvent themselves and be (or at least compete with) the “next big thing.”
Four ways that business leaders can foster innovation and support change within their organizations are:
1. Give employees (and other executives) time and space to be creative. Institute brainstorm sessions on a monthly or quarterly basis where ideas can be shared without judgment or censorship among business units or groups, including the C-Suite.
2. Include thoughts on innovation in internal communications, like letters and emails from the CEO to employees.
3. Reward out-of-the-box thinking that has produced positive results. If an employee accomplishes a goal (or exceeds it) in a new and different way, encourage him or her to share their process, fostering creativity among the rest of the team.
4. Create an internal online forum where business leaders and employees can come together to discuss new ideas.
4. Communities for Employees
As mentioned above, an internal online communication tool can be useful for more than just idea generation and sharing. It can also be used to improve overall company communication.
Even though most employees work in the same building, they may still have trouble communicating with each other. If one employee has a question, it is likely that one of their coworkers has a similar one. Instead of waiting for answers, the employees would benefit from being able to turn to online communities where employees can share their ideas and help solve each other's problems. This type of free flowing message board can greatly improve company efficiency. Technologies like Slack and even Skype make this type of collaboration easy, and are a good way to solve communication problems for larger organizations.
The C-Suite, therefore, should be aware of the communications lines throughout the organization, and how they can further open them. Introducing technologies to bring the company closer together is a must in 2017.
If you are interested in learning more about trends impacting the business community, visit Washington State University online for extensive articles, infographics, videos and more. If you are thinking about pursuing your executive MBA degree online, learn more about WSU’s program today.
Sources
https://www.fool.com/investing/2016/11/29/10-cloud-computing-stats-that-will-blow-you-away.aspx
https://www.orbitalshift.com/Features/Communicte
http://www.techrepublic.com/article/top-10-cxo-trends-to-watch-in-2017/
http://www.forbes.com/sites/meghanbiro/2016/12/09/5-work-trends-leaders-cant-afford-to-ignore-in-2017/
http://blog.incentive-inc.com/how-to-foster-bottom-up-innovation-in-your-company