Trends to 2020

Adam Bates

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Recent Posts

Saving lives

Making significant positive change does not always require huge buckets of money

Living in London I take quality healthcare as a given. A few weeks ago I was speaking at the TEDxKPMG DELHI conference in Delhi, India. Two of the speakers, Dr Amit Chatterjee & Rohit Bhasin, opened my eyes to another...

Tags: delhi, health care, india, infant mortality, kpmg, lifebuoy, london, unilever

A retail revolution

Dissolving the barrier between the physical and digital worlds

Growing up in Belfast in the 1960s I remember milkmen, bread vans, fishmongers and a butcher all delivering fresh produce to our home.  Over the next 40 years these tradesmen virtually disappeared as the supermarket chains developed.  But I believe...

Tags: belfast, gatwick, john lewis, leadership, qr code, retail, revolution, tesco

Living in a box

Two-way interaction is the key to grabbing audiences attention

For me, watching the Olympic Games opening event was one of the most exciting TV experiences of my adult life. As the Queen turned to James Bond to say hello I was clapping and cheering.  As Beckham smirked as he...

Tags: advertisers, dual- or multi-screen experience, leadership, olympic games

How a wedding sparked a data challenge?

Many businesses are a bit like me: They do not have a really clear data strategy.

June was a pretty special month for me. I had a great holiday in Australia, which ended up with me getting married in a dried-up riverbed in place called Parachilna out in the middle of the outback.  As I flew...

Tags: cds, data storage, data strategy, management, the cloud

Blurring the digital divide

Digital advances present opportunities but will disrupt and destroy those who do not adapt

I took delivery of a shiny new Samsung television last week. The helpful guy who installed it showed me how to turn it on and off and change channels by talking to it!  Very impressive, I thought. But in reality...

Tags: digital world, gaze-tracking interfaces, ipad, leadership, touch screens

Collaboration is critical

Collaboration and a focus on customers is key to future success

I was recently fortunate enough to travel to New Zealand where I met a variety of people from the government and private sector. A couple of subjects dominated our discussions: agriculture and the role of government in supporting and indeed...

Tags: agriculture, collaboration, forestry industries, horticultural, icebreaker, kiwifruit, merino, new zealand, zespri

The changing face of the consumer

How are companies leveraging the rise of the middle classes, particularly from India and China?

While all the focus currently is on the economic difficulties around the world, looking out to 2020 the clear pattern that companies need to be examining over the longer term is the rise of the middle class. The OECD defines...

Tags: chanel, consumers, gucci, luxury goods, management, middle classes, moet hennessy, prada, purchasing power, seismic change, whisky

2012: when 'real time' business comes of age?

Timely, effective communications offers business a competitive edge

In the 19th century, the introduction of the telegraph across the US provided businesses with the ability to have timely two way communications over vast distances. This allowed some businesses to coordinate more effectively, react to changes in demand and...

Tags: integrated and connected, leadership, real time, social media, technology advances

From baby boomers to Gen Z

Leaders need to address the lack of trust in “big business”

My grandfather ran a chemist’s shop in Enniskillen in Northern Ireland for all his working life.  Aside from service in the Second World War, my father was an academic all his working life.  It looks like I will work at...

Tags: big business, demographics, generation x, generation y, leadership, social media, technology

Transform or be transformed

Disruptive innovation doesn't just affect consumer products

In April 2011, the Economist indicated that in 1937 if you were a company on the S&P 500 index you remained there for 75 years, which in my world is forever.Today, companies last on the same index for 15 years....

Tags: change, developments, innovation, leadership, new breed, technology