10 Mega Business Trends To Watch For In 2012

The Shift From Transaction To Engagement Ushers A New Era For Businesses.

As organizations enter the evolution from transactional systems to engagement systems, a shift is happening in business (see Figure 1).  Engagement requires a different design point and business model for success.  Engagement must account for sense and response, massive social scale, conversation, new user experiences, real-time, multichannel networks, and other factors.

Next generation C-suite leaders not only build for engagement, but also design for the next era of experiential systems which apply context to deliver agility and flexibility.  These shifts have massive impacts on the societal, technological, economical, environmental, and political landscapes.  In fact, these shifts to experiential systems drive the 10 mega business trends to watch for in 2012 and beyond (see Figure 2).  Of note, they can also be aligned with Constellation’s Business Hierarchy Of Needs prioritization framework (see Figure 3).

Figure 1. Move from Transaction To Personal Fulfillment Systems

1. Regulation gets worse and more expensive.
2. Consumerization of IT must be enterprise class or businesses will fail.
3. Organizations who master data visualization gain the advantage of speed
4. New growth comes from monetizing the complete ownership life cycle
5. Social shifts from B2B/B2C to people to people (P2P) networks.
6. Battle for growth must include new global customer bases.
7. Strategic differentiation begins with great design
8. The corporate digital divide only grows larger
9. Market leaders know how to manage their innovation agenda
10. The brand remains king (or queen).