Staying up to date with the most important business trends of the year will help you seize the best entrepreneurial opportunities in the long-term. Forward-thinking and staying open to changes are two important assets every business person should learn and develop.

Whether your company is big or small, whether you’re looking for further financing to open a business, it’s wrong to think that the major trends and economical swifts at the top will not influence you in the long run.

The  US Chamber of Commerce has gathered 10 most important business trends of 2020 and among them are:

• Peer group and community interaction
• Integration of AI and machine learning in the business world
• More accessible automated cloud deployment tools
• Sustainability will be a big word in 2020 for companies
• Data-driven personalization
• Freelancing and work-from-home will be a more important part of the workforce dynamics of 2020

Peer Group and Community Interaction in the Business World

Co-working hubs and clubs have been present in the business world for some time now, but it seems that in recent years, they have become quite a trend. It helps with the work, though, because you can instantly make connections with other small businesses, brainstorm ideas on the spot and expand your network more naturally.

These co-working hubs are a great way to start a business community and a group of business peers, especially if you have a small business and want to save some extra cash. The dynamics of work in a co-working hub can bring good ideas to the table very swiftly.

Integration of AI and Machine Learning in the Business World

Artificial Intelligence has been changing the face of business for some time now. If you have a small business, you might think it makes no sense to think about that at such an early stage. Nevertheless, it makes all the sense in the world to keep an eye on this emerging trend.  AI becomes extremely useful for customer relationship management, turning these CRM systems into self-updating and auto-correcting organizational machines – something that will make life easier for every business owner dealing with CRM systems. Moreover, AI can be of help in certain banking operations, as well.

The new age of AI will also produce a major change in our future education system. In 2030, we might see a rising demand of soft skills which can compete and operate with AI. A study by McKinsey& Company in 2018, showed that by 2030, up to 33% of the current workforce will need to switch occupational groups. There might come about a new kind of marketization of the currently-deemed “unpaid work”. That is mostly due to the fact that female workforce participation is currently rising worldwide. Working moms even start businesses on their own and the intense digitalization of our society and the prevalence of e-commerce websites is making it easier than ever.

For example, a woman can very easily start an Amazon affiliate program by sharing her knowledge of pack n plays. The e-commerce business is booming in the US at the moment, with a record of 598.78 billion dollars in 2019 and a prospect that the numbers will hit as high as 684.4 billion in 2020.

Sustainability Is the Keyword for the 2020 Business World

Businesses worldwide, especially the big players, are investing in different kinds of sustainability initiatives. This is also influenced by the consumers’ demand for eco-friendly alternatives and by the social and political establishment also advocating for a cleaner and more sustainable planet.

There are a lot of examples of companies going public that they are making sustainability-driven changes, such as McCormick announcing they will only use recyclable plastic by 2025 or McDonald’s announcing their intent to use wooden materials in the future.

Data-Driven Personalization and Consumer-Tailored Services

These words might sound fancy to you and that’s all. Nevertheless, they’re not just fancy world. We’re entering an area of convenience where reading your customers’ minds and offering the best solutions for them is an important asset.

The discussion on big data is huge and the debate whether that’s moral and not will probably never end. Nevertheless, you let your data be collected by so many sources that at the end of the day, you want personalized services based on that data, isn’t it so. So, yes, the bottom line is if your business offers personalized, specific offers to your customers, then chances are you’ll thrive in 2020.

All these being said, it is good that you find yourself on the front lines of change. 2020 will bring major shifts in the workplace and work dynamics, business processes and technologies and the world is about to face another important growth in the e-commerce sector.

Business owners and working individuals need to be prepared for the rapidly evolving business world as with every passing year, change seems to pick up speed and keeping up with the latest trends becomes a necessity.