How's the Weather?

It’s been a milder winter than usual, but that doesn’t seem to stop me from wanting spring to come even earlier this year.  We just got our hour of daylight back and nothing tantalizes the senses more than having more time to enjoy outdoors in mild temperatures. 

Businesses too have been tantalized as of late by positive economic indicators: jobs seem to be picking back up, the stock market is on an uptick,  consumer spending is increasing.  But just as a winter chill in March can hang around like an annoying gnat, businesses are not so quick to embrace the positive, warm, spring-like news. 

It’s understandable.  After all cold, dark times are not that far in the rearview mirror.  A timid, timed approach to hiring and development is prudent given the ride we’ve been through.  And while many are optimistic of a warm, mild spring, there is always the change that your particular area may be in for more cold, damp and dismal weather.  It’s safe to say that places like Miami and San Diego will have pleasant weather, they always do.  But what about places like New York, Boston and Chicago?  They rely much more heavily on unpredictable factors like the jet stream and wind patterns to determine long term temperatures weather patterns. Your business might be like Miami, it doesn’t matter the time of year, for the most part the weather is nice.  Oh sure, you get a big thunderstorm and sometimes they come in clusters, but overall, your temperature and climate are attractive to customers.  Or maybe your business is like New York, it could be a rainy, wet spring, or it might be a mild, warm and fun place to be depending on effects that are beyond your control.

While this is a very simplistic analogy, I tend to think of each of these types of businesses as being someplace in between and yet leaning towards one or the other.  Economic forces will always play a factor in any business decision, yet some businesses are less affected by them than others.  Small businesses in particular, like the kind we help here at Beacon are most vulnerable to “big picture” economics, and yet thousands of small businesses also have thrived through tough economic times with little damage.

So how does this bode for the future?  Well, like the weather, the future is impossible to predict with 100% accuracy.  But like a city’s geographical climate, there are indicators of what tomorrow will be like.  Let’s take a look at a few of them

1. The business of tomorrow will be more automated.

It’s here.  After the internet boom, costs of doing business online plummeted and companies looked for ways to get more done with less.  This had ripple effects across the business landscape with dire predictions of robots replacing all of us.  That has not happened, but it’s here.  It just looks somewhat different than what you saw about artificial intelligence in the movies.   As the labor force looks to open its doors once again, it will be those with the skills and adaptability to automate their work that will be hired.

2. The business of tomorrow will be leaner.

This means that yes there will be fewer employees in a typical corporation or small business.  It’s not because businesses are not interested in growth or expansion or new talent.  It is a factor of cost.  The cost to hire and keep an employee is becoming prohibitive, but businesses can only automate so much.  Humans are still the driving force behind innovation and ingenuity.  No machine can replace that, but humans do get sick, do take time off and do have greater cost demands than machines in most cases.  And now with the notion of healthcare benefits being a wildcard political factor, the need for simplification of benefits across the board is just over the horizon.

3. The business of tomorrow will be competitive

Competition drives our society and with news travelling faster than ever before, the ability to “cut in line” when it comes not only to market efficiency, but with new ideas and innovations will be at the forefront.  Being first to market has always been an important issue, but as time marches on this will become an even bigger factor as small startups look to improve on existing technologies and products.

Yes, the weather is never an easy thing to predict.  Climate is much easier to distinguish, but when it comes to business climate, it is important to take stock of where you are- Miami, or New York?