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4 Digital Trends Disrupting the Industries

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Published:
November 2, 2020
Reading Time:
5 minutes

Digital trends will disrupt 84% of industries by 2020. According to a recent Harvard Business Review study. Now, we could throw statistics at you all day, but we’re guessing that you know that digitalization is changing everything – and quickly. So we’ll fast-forward to your real questions: namely, what are these digital trends? and how can you use them to your advantage?

We’ll break down recent digital trends into four major categories.

  1. Fintech
  2. Blockchain
  3. Legal tech
  4. Tax tech

Then, we’ll examine companies at the cutting edge of these digital trends and extract what they’re doing right so that you can put it into practice.

Let’s launch right in:

Fintech

Using smartphones to invest, subscribe, and pay has become second nature to Millennials. They care much more about efficiency and convenience than security . After all, they’ve grown up giving away their personal information in the form of the nicely-named “cookies” that they leave behind on every digital site they visit.

Fintech, rather than bringing to mind “Jaws” theme music and lurking sharks, should excite you with the opportunities it brings for growth. Firstly, it simplifies your payment process for consumers, increasing the chances that they’ll invest in you. Secondly, it allows for easy cross-border payments around the world, opening up new markets for your company. Thirdly, it provides you with in-depth data insights that let you manage your risk in the digital age.

Take Spotify, for example. They integrated fintech into their business model to achieve their growth targets by relying on unicorn startup Adyen. It provided them with an all-in-one payments platform that handles 187 currencies and over 250 payment methods. In fact, Spotify has since redefined how they think about payments. Now, they don’t shunt their payments team off to the side.

Rapid growth, global payments, customer satisfaction what’s the catch? Well, only that you have to decide whether to launch your own solutions or partner with a fintech company and that you then need digital experts to make it happen. That’s why it’s useful to seek out coding, analytics, and strategy consultants to ensure the process goes smoothly.

“Seeing payments as a driver and enabler of growth has really helped us reach the fifty million plus paying subscribers that we have today.” - Andy Wiggan

Blockchain

You may have heard that blockchain will reshape our world and create a decentralized utopia. Well, the utopia part may be pure hype, but blockchain will indeed reshape how most industries store and access data in coming years. If you want to reduce the time it takes to process information, be able to instantly know if your data is tampered with, and automate tracking of products, you’re going to want to seriously investigate how you can work blockchain into your business plan.

How do companies actually use blockchain to improve their services? Just look at startup MyCrop, which is testing the tech to track their seeds as they move through their supply chain from distributors to retailers to farmers. Blockchain gives them the means to introduce transparency, authenticity, and quality, since the data on each seed is collected and stored – securely – on an encrypted, decentralized ledger that can’t be changed. What’s more, all the clients they service can click onto a simple mobile app to check out any relevant data.

Larger companies like Walmart are joining the playing field as well. It was working with IBM to digitize their food supply chain on products ranging from mangos to mandarins. But there’s a common thread here, whether you’re a large or small company: you need someone to help architect, design, develop, and implement real-world solutions, which usually means sourcing some rare blockchain consultants and professionals up for grabs.

Legal Tech

Ahh…the bastion of lawsuits and other things that no business in their right mind wants to think about. But, legal tech is rapidly transforming the way your business interacts with law firms and consultants. Rather than remaining with firms that bill by the hour, companies (at least the smart ones) are starting to seek out specialized partners that use technology to lower costs and offer flexible packages.

digital trends, 4 Digital Trends Disrupting the Industries

You now have firms like Guardian Legal Consultants, a Canadian company that sprung up after its founders started discussing the inefficiencies of the legal industry over drinks. They automate many standard legal tasks in order to focus on “collaborative problem-solving tactics,” digitize documents whenever possible, and encourage electronic transmission of data. What does legal tech like this mean for you? Greater efficiency, lower rates, and easy communication. If you’re looking to hire legal tech talent, try and land someone with expertise in digital collaboration, data science, and statistics. According to the Boston Consulting Group, that’s what will “become the coin of the realm” in the legal profession. And don’t forget about the potential of AI

Tax Tech

With new taxes and regulations potentially looming as the UK announces its 2% sales tax plan for social media platforms, internet marketplaces, and search engines, and as Colombia, Australia and India consider similar taxes on “digital giants,” tax tech may just save you and your finance department some major headaches.

By helping you gain insight into past tax performance and predict which practices will lower your business tax costs for future years, tax applications demystify dense financials into clear solutions. Much of tax tech’s potential comes from its analytics of big data. For the first time, your company can stop throwing human power at the problem of how to best manage your taxes come April and rely on algorithms to select the best possible option.

Yet you can’t eliminate the human aspect entirely. Before you choose and implement tax software, you’ll want to consult a digital expert who understands global and local regulations and is strongly familiar with your available software options. If they know how to configure them, so much the better. Get them on your team – now!



When in Doubt, Consult it Out

Industries are digitalizing at the speed of light, hence Blockchain 2.0, IoT 3.0, and Internet 4.0.

We’re upgrading our technology faster than teenagers trade in Apple iPhones, and to do so, companies are starting to rely on outside digital consultants who can lend much-needed advice and expertise.

That’s the part that we at Consultport can help you figure out. Providing you with access to first-class freelance consultants, our platform has given global leaders such as McKinsey, Goldman Sachs, and Google the people power needed to stay on the cutting edge of digitalization.