To keep up with trends and stay on equal playing terms with competitors, entrepreneurs need to take note of local and national trends. For advice on trends that may be less well-known but still capable of creating waves, we asked members of Forbes Boston Business Council to share the trends they think should be on the radar of businesses nationally. Here’s what they had to say:
Members share their best advice on small business trends.
PHOTOS COURTESY THE INDIVIDUAL MEMBERS.
1. Rapid Growth Of Shared Office Space
Over the past few years, the rapid growth of shared office spaces (WeWorkvilles) has been occupying more and more real estate in Boston. I see many startups filling these spaces, but also a growing number of traditional Fortune 500s who are embracing this new ecosystem. I think it’s a great trend, as they’re trying to adapt to the likes of the younger generations. — Christian Habermann, Physician Cognition, Inc.
2. Artificial Intelligence
In the original Blade Runner, set in 2019, technologists had already developed replicant humans and flying cars. I’d venture to say now that we’re not too far off. Artificial intelligence (AI) has already become an everyday part of life for most humans. We use it at work and at home, often without even realizing. I’d say there isn’t much AI hasn’t touched. — Joshua Hebert, Magellan Jets
The Speaker’s Paradise is what we call the plethora of speaking opportunities that have arisen recently: more than half a million Meetups every month, 2-plus million Eventbrite events last year, 92,000 professional organizations running events and countless industry conferences. Smart business owners are getting comfortable with public speaking as a way to promote themselves and their businesses. — Bobbie Carlton, Innovation Women, Innovation Nights, CPRM
4. Increased Disruption From Google, Amazon
Small businesses are next to face major disruption from digital platforms. Google and Amazon transformed how people find things by taking out the middleman. There’s no need to shop via retailer or distributor. This massively impacted those industries and now they have their eyes on SMBs. Expect more disruption and pricing pressure as they grow the gig economy targeting services offered by SMBs. — Kevin Biondi, Sproutward
5. Group Chat Being Widely Adopted
I’m amazed by how many small businesses, including brick-and-mortar ones, are adopting group chat platforms like HipChat and Slack. It makes sense given that these businesses, as much as any other, are small teams that need to communicate and collaborate in an organized way. — Ted Chan, CareDash
6. Candidate Assessment Days
Instead of relying solely on one-to-one interviews, bring in your top four to six candidates and conduct a half-day workshop to get them to interact and present to the group on a topic they’re passionate about and observe how they behave in order to help vet the best person to add to your team. These group sessions add more depth in understanding how well a candidate may fit into your organization. — Alex Adamopoulos, Emergn Limited
7. Settling For The First Candidate
With the pressure to fill roles, especially at smaller organizations, HR and recruiting specialists are settling for the first candidate that comes through the door, regardless of whether they truly have the skills or the right intentions to fill that role. Employers need to really look at how an individual will fit in with a particular team and if they will be a valuable asset in the long run. — Moritz Kothe, Kununu
[“source=forbes”]
