The 21st Century business
While the 19th century had the factory, the 20th century became notorious for the office. We take a look at how entrepreneurship is set to change as we advance deeper into the 21st century.
Touch technology
Robert Epstein, head of small business sales and marketing at Microsoft, believes that very soon businesses will be experiencing a more intuitive interaction with technology. ‘In the future, I think we will see more and more natural user experiences. For example, Windows 7 already has touch built into it. It will all become much more seamless for users.’
On another planet
Step into a world where there’s no recession. Second Life is a virtual landscape where you can invent your very own entrepreneur. It even has its own currency, so if the everyday slog all gets too much, try the virtual equivalent.
Web 2.0 (or 3.0)
Hyped beyond belief they may be, but social networking sites are here to stay. Social networking provides a low-cost way to market her business. Blogging, Twitter and Facebook are all very useful business tools, and a very immediate, vibrant way of marketing.
Intelligent software
In the past, all financial information tended to get locked away in a big database in the accounting department, so the person in sales wouldn’t have access to the analysis of his customers. Business intelligence software puts these tools into the hands of the people who can make the most use out of them. It connects the data together, and can easily be viewed through Excel, for example.’
Robotics
It is predicted that businesses will start taking advantage of developments happening in robotics: It won’t be so much a case of the robot doing the photocopying, but of the robot being the photocopier and walking over to you.
Voice recognition
Software that can transcribe the spoken word into text is an area already being widely developed, there is a whole spectrum of [voice recognition solutions], from fully manual to fully automated, and industry players are trying to move the bar closer towards automation
Girl power
The future of entrepreneurship looks decidedly female, with the rise in the Mumpreneur. We’re definitely going to see more women entrepreneurs with the rise in technology. It allows them to be successful and at the same time do the things that are important to them, like being free to pick up the children. It does empower women, and as a result we will see a greater gender balance of business owners.
