2020. It’s easy to think we’ve still got a decade before we get there. In reality, we’re only eight months away. We might not yet have reached the Jetson’s vision of flying cars and jet packs but the technological advancements we’ve made are impressive. Artificial intelligence, space tourism, 3D printing, these concepts are no longer predictions for our future. They’re a reality. The technology we consume and manipulate will only continue to play a huge roll in how we navigate our path towards the future.
By 2025, we will make up 75 per cent of the workforce and with digital at our finger tips, it is expected that the ways we work and “login” will continue to develop. So, what do we know today that can give us strong predictions for our future tomorrow?
Mobile
One thing we can predict is that nine-to-five work days and our social lives will become increasingly integrated. Mobility is allowing us to access information and connect with people anytime, anywhere on any device. This means the workplace is slowly changing from somewhere you
go to conduct business to something you carry with you. The hard lines separating the home and the office space will further blur as we continue to work from laptops, tablets and phones.
Functional
As flexible working options become increasingly favoured, and the ability to work remotely becomes better accepted we can expect to adapt our homes to this style of work. This is not a new idea, a fixed desk within some sort of office space in a home is common and has been ever since computers were introduced.
However, as we move away from fixed desktop computers to portable laptops, tablets and mobile devices we can expect furniture and living layouts to evolve. Similar to organisations adopting “open plan” work places we will see a spike in communal living areas, like the lounge room, transform into working hubs. If not already, high speed internet and smart tech will become top priority.
Unbranded
Changes in consumer behaviour and technology are also shaping the way we purchase goods. Historically, brands have been important in making decisions as a consumer.
Established brands represented quality and superiority. But nowadays, society is much less interested in brand names and more so in what the product or service can do for us. We value convenience, experience and quality over brand names. We can chalk this down to technology, specifically software and algorithms. As we shift our product search online, our decisions are increasingly based on the results that search engines select for us. Filters allow us to narrow down results to include particular elements that we are looking for providing us with products specifically tailored to our needs.
Conscious
Shift in buyer behaviour is not only affecting our personal decisions but is helping to shape society as a whole. We are becoming more eco and socially aware, tending to make considered purchases based on the brand’s social, sustainable and ethical message. Companies lacking a hard-line social or “green” conscience will find it hard to survive in the future environment.
The “gap” between the “world as we know it” and the “digital world” is rapidly closing, but we shouldn’t fear it. After all, how it pans out is entirely up to us.
Words by Stephanie Vigilante & Hasham Khan
Stephanie Vigilante 
Leave a Reply