Fjord Trends 2020 highlights 7 emerging trends expected to shape the business of experience
Following an unprecedented streak of fast-paced growth and profitability, businesses are beginning to feel the need for deep soul searching. As a new decade approaches, they must look inwards for a total re-examination of their purpose and place in the world, says a new report by Accenture.
Now in its 13th year, Fjord Trends 2020 takes its annual look ahead to the future of business, technology and design, according to Fjord, design and innovation from Accenture Interactive.
2019 has been a year of climate crisis activism, Big Tech accountability, the booms and busts of the gig economy, and the commitment of 181 top CEOs to redefine the Statement of Purpose of a Corporation. Changing mindsets, accelerated by rising digital adoption, have reached the C-suite, forcing leaders to reconsider the very principles their organisations are built on. The report notes that economics and politics, capitalism and resources, and technology and society have long been entwined, but only now have the consequences of their entanglement burst into the public consciousness.
Says Mark Curtis, co-founder and chief client officer, Fjord: “Protests about capitalism’s trajectory of endless growth defined by profit alone are moving from shouting in the streets to conversations in the boardroom. With this comes an imperative to find new ways to measure growth. These new values may change how we perceive the meaning of business in the decade ahead. One thing is clear: winners will be those organisations with sustainable business models and a long-term view of themselves and their impact on the world.”
Says Bronwyn van der Merwe, general manager of Fjord Asia Pacific, part of Accenture Interactive: “We’re starting to see our clients reorienting towards purposeful transformation. The decade ahead will see a challenging of fundamentals, which provides an opportunity for businesses to transform their offerings into something more mindful, meaningful and forward-thinking. The shift from a ‘me’ to a ‘we’ mindset will prompt a need for design to switch from a user-centered to a life-centered approach.”
Fjord Trends 2020 examines seven emerging trends expected to shape the business of experience and provides practical advice on how organisations can embrace the new era ahead.
1. Many faces of growth: Capitalism is facing a mid-life crisis. Success no longer solely equates to growth and organisations must start reassessing corporate purpose and recalibrate how they see their role in the world around them.
2. Money changers: How we perceive money and pay for things is rapidly changing. These tectonic shifts create numerous opportunities for a host of new products and players.
3. Walking barcodes: Our physical bodies are becoming as trackable as our digital selves. When it comes to facial and body recognition technology, what is the trade-off between privacy and convenience?
4. Liquid people: Consumption habits are changing as people perceive and define their identity in ever more liquid ways. Considerable opportunity exists in providing new experiences of consuming.
5. Designing intelligence: The human experience is growing increasingly complex. The next step for AI is to move beyond automation to designing systems that blend human and artificial intelligence and enhance the interplay between both.
6. Digital doubles: Make way for your digital double who works for you and knows what you want. Digital twins are evolving beyond industry and into our daily lives.
7. Life-centred design: The focus of desirability, viability, and feasibility is moving from “me” to “we.” Can design extend beyond its own ecosystem, shifting from a user-centred to a life-centred approach?
Fjord Trends 2020 draws upon the collective thinking of Fjord’s 1,200+ designers and developers in 33 studios around the world. The annual crowdsourced report is based on first-hand observations, evidenced-based research and client work. This year, the contributions from Fjord’s new Tokyo studio and the acquisition INSITUM have added another 250 points of view from Japan and across Latin America, making this the most globally diverse set of Fjord Trends ever.
To read the report, visit: Accenture.com/Fjordtrends2020 or trends.fjordnet.com and discuss on Twitter #FjordTrends.
7 Comments
This is more evidence of the consultancy model of making up trends and problems that don’t exist so that they can sell solutions that their clients don’t need. The world is far more simple and slow to change than these reports make them out to be.
The majority of this report is utter nonsense. Can someone please tell me what “The focus of desirability, viability, and feasibility is moving from “me” to “we.” Can design extend beyond its own ecosystem, shifting from a user-centred to a life-centred approach?” means. Ive read the entire report and the excerpts in this article don’t make sense with any amount of context either.
Hi Fyale,
Disagree with this. There is certainly a trend towards customers demanding products and services that are not only designed for their needs, but designed to make the world a better place. (if this helps to explain your question on the meaning of trend 7?)
If you’ve been unaware of this trend, and believe it has been made up to sell unwanted solutions, then I recommend that you explore this a little further as being up to date on this will most certainly help you be successful in which ever industry you work in. Everyones talking about it!
“starting to see our clients reorienting towards purposeful transformation”
*eyeroll*
Hi Spangle,
You have described the trend of ‘brand purpose’, which is not at all what Fjord has described in the excerpt I quoted.
And thank you for your advice, I’m well aware of the brand purpose trend but am yet to see evidence of its efficacy beyond niche consumer products.
Thanks!
I interpret this to be less about the overall brand purpose, and more about the impact of specific designs. Moving away from designing whats best for the individual and more designing things that are best for the planet. This article is pretty interesting! https://medium.com/the-sentient-files/10-principles-of-life-centered-design-3c5f543414f3
Like every forecast, you need to take it with a grain of salt. Trends do happen, sure, but nobody can predict the future. Just appreciate the insights and apply them where you think relevant. Or do your own research and challenge them.
There is an element of chicken or egg here. Are we developing solutions based on new technologies/situations or are new technologies/situations evolving in response to our solutions?
Either way, this seems to be an element of the eternal rationalisation of fashion to me.