It will be important to ensure that the questions asked have clarity and are the right ones or the answers may be misleading.
“Ask the right person the right questions in the right order and you get the right answers” Richard Walters
Considering the dynamic and disruptive markets that businesses are going to have to operate in where change is going to become the norm how will our advisors shape up? What will be the type of help that businesses will be looking for?
What we do know is that the 4IR is fast, disruptive and revolutionary. Businesses are going to have to be vigilant at looking at what is going on in the market they operate in. “I just don’t have time to stand back and work on my business as I spend all my time working in my business” will become a mantra for short termism. Reflection as to what is happening in the market you operate in will be essential, and then constantly reviewing and ensuring that the path you are taking to get you to your chosen objectives is still appropriate must become the norm.
The key to success moving forward is going to be businesses using their own deep understanding of the industry they operate in and working out how their business model must change to cope with the challenges they will be facing. Those that take the latest disruptive technology and use it in a disruptive innovative way with agility will be the survivors.
Key questions for constant review:
- What is happening in the markets that we are operating in?
- What are the latest technological advancements that could impact on our business?
- How might we adopt or adapt these for our customer’s benefits
- What time period are we looking at?
- What training will be needed?
- How will it impact on our current economic drivers?
With markets being much more transparent and therefore competitive, margins will be tighter and every pound spent will have to be value for money. The new professional advisor will no longer be on a pedestal and must add genuine value that the entrepreneur can measure, he will have to walk the talk, back his skills and deliver real value. It will not be possible for him to have all the answers as in many cases the answers will have to be worked out.
The old model where the adviser sat at the top of the tree and could pass the more basic work down the chain of experience and earn a return on that work will disappear, AI will see to that. In the new business order, there will be those at the top of the tree, highly trained and gifted, going on the journey with their clients, adding real value and earning the returns which may well be, at least in part, results based. Effectively they will be specialist teachers helping their clients to work out a profitable way forward through all the disruption that will be going on.
FUTURE BUSINESS FORESIGHT 