3 Key Trends That Will Shape 2021

For many of us, it’s easy to write off 2020 as a black swan of a year full of turmoil and uncertainty. But I often find that turmoil creates opportunities for personal and business growth if we change the way we think and operate. With that in mind, here are three trends I believe were accelerated or influenced by the events of 2020 and will be important for businesses in 2021 and beyond:

Living Your Purpose

For the last few years, there’s been a lot of discussion about how millennials focused on the purpose behind the companies they chose to work for and with, and how companies could better engage the hearts and minds of millennials. With all the inequities that the pandemic laid bare in 2020, people of all generations wanted to better understand what companies stood for, along with meaningful proof that a company’s actions lived up to their purpose. They wanted to know how these organizations treated their colleagues, impacted their communities and contributed to the environment.  While I am fortunate that my company’s purpose is also a social purpose – we nurture the world by advancing care for animals – our first responsibility was to take care of our employees ensuring they and their families were safe, and then to our customers, to make sure that they had the medicines, vaccines and diagnostics to take care of our pets and ensure a safe, sustainable food supply. I believe seeking purpose in your work and doing business with companies that share your values is a trend that will only accelerate in the future. And companies that articulate their corporate purpose and ensure they are living up to this purpose by engaging colleagues, customers and communities will be the winners in 2021 and beyond. One of the greatest lessons I’ve learned in my first year as CEO is that if my colleagues are proud of what they do and the company they work for, they'll be more inspired to exceed customer expectations. I saw that firsthand in 2020, and it has strengthened my resolve to turn Zoetis into a force for good.

Making Business Flexible and Frictionless

One of the other lessons of 2020 for me was that consumer behavior can change much more radically and much faster than we ever thought possible. Who could imagine the incredible decrease in air travel and hotel stays, or in dine out and entertainment, or working from home, or movement to the suburbs and rural areas in just one year! 

I believe that companies that will thrive in the new economy need to make their business models more flexible and agile. We saw this in the veterinary space in 2021 with the movement from in-clinic pet visits to curb side. Or in the food chain where packers had to adjust their supply chains from packing for stadiums and restaurants to packing for grocery stores.

We have seen this as well with the proliferation of virtual interfaces for customers and colleagues more embracing of self-service offerings. From ordering food online and picking it up or having it delivered, to self-service IT support for the new remote worker. 

But I also believe there is a cautionary tale here on business model innovation solely focused on convenience and efficiency. As author and customer experience visionary Matt Watkinson noted in a recent post, “Every offering consists of multiple benefits and costs — you need to know which matters most. Reducing friction at the expense of human interactions that build relationships can erode value.” It’s a good lesson for all businesses to retain the human connection that builds trust and creates value while they strive to serve their customers safely and efficiently..

Fueling Innovation Through Data

Alibaba’s Daniel Zhang recently likened data to “petroleum,” which could be converted into an easier way of life through the power of computing.

In 2020, companies pivoted overnight to move office-based colleagues virtual, introduce new collaboration tools and rewire customer interactions -- making digital even more essential to the economy and driving changes faster than ever imagined before the pandemic.

Now, I think the companies that will stand out will be the ones who can turn data into new innovative value propositions. A company’s ability to mine and refine their data to create value in real-time -- through analytics, machine learning, or artificial intelligence -- will fuel the winners in the new economy. At the very least, companies need to treat data as an asset that can improve their supply chains, make their operations more efficient, lower their risks, optimize their marketing reach or improve their customer satisfaction.

But the greatest value will come from companies that innovate new products and services to solve customer challenges by leveraging data. In 2020 alone, we have seen this data-driven mindset play out in animal health through technologies such as our AI-driven diagnostic platform Imagyst, so veterinarians can make timely and accurate diagnoses for dogs and cat diseases. On the farm, the combination of cloud-based technology and automated data collection is giving beef producers accurate insights into an individual animal’s performance and its health protocol compliance.  Quite simply, no matter what industry you are in, technology and data are no longer back office -- it is front office and generating revenue for those that recognize it and mine it. 

No one is quite sure what 2021 will bring us but I am confident that those organizations who live their purpose, create more flexible and frictionless business models and use data to fuel new value propositions will create greater success for their colleagues, customers and communities.

How do you see 2021 shaping your business? I welcome your thoughts.