Top Business and Technology Trends in 2021

10 fields that will see significant innovation in the new year.

Let’s imagine customer experience in a post-Covid world. We should anticipate that the changes in consumer preferences and business models will outlast the immediate crisis. Once consumers acclimate to new digital or remote models, I expect some of them to change people’s expectations permanently — accelerating shifts already under way before the crisis.

Digital nomadism, philanthropy, and sustainable development goals (SDG) will be popular keywords in 2021, and we will also see rapid changes in top technological and business innovation — all based on people’s experience during the pandemic. Here are a few technology and business trends we will see in 2021.

Trend 1: Drug development revolution with advanced Covid-19 testing and vaccine development

Covid caused a major shakeup in the drug industry, making it quicker and easier to trial drugs. Researchers have put many traditional clinical trials on hold, or they have shifted to a virtual structure by performing consultations online and collecting data remotely. Remote clinical trials and other changes may permanently alter pharmaceutical development.

We’ve seen speedy Covid-19 test kit developments all over the world, as well as remarkably fast development of vaccines by U.S. and U.K.-based pharmaceutical companies: Pfizer, Moderna, and AstraZeneca.

Both Pfizer and Moderna have developed mRNA vaccines, the first in human history and huge technological innovations. We will see more innovations throughout 2021 in both Covid-19 test kits and new vaccine candidates. 

Trend 2: Continued expansion of remote working and videoconferencing

This area has seen rapid growth during the pandemic, and it will likely continue growing in 2021. 

Zoom, which grew from a startup in 2011 to going public in 2019, became a household name during the pandemic. Other existing large corporate tools such as Cisco’s Webex, Microsoft’s Teams, Google Hangouts, GoToMeeting, and Verizon’s BlueJeans are also providing state-of-the-art videoconferencing systems, facilitating remote work across the globe.

Many new ventures are emerging in the remote working sector. Startups Bluescape, Eloops, Figma, Slab, and Tandem have all provided visual collaboration platforms enabling teams to create and share content, interact, track projects, train employees, run virtual team-building activities, and more. 

These tools also help distributed teams keep track of shared learning and documentation. Users can create a virtual office that replicates working together in person by letting colleagues communicate and collaborate with one another easily. 

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