SMEs - opportunities for the years ahead

The big trends for the next decade or two are:
- new fuels for motor cars
- alternative power generation for electricity such as solar energy, wind energy, wave energy and geothermal energy for warming water instead of electric geysers.
- geothermal heating will be used to warm homes
- there will be new systems for refrigeration and air conditioning using old technology
- they will grow a wider range of fruit and vegetables locally in greenhouses to reduce the damage done in transporting these items around the world
- clothing will move back to natural fibres such as leather, wool and cotton- organic food will be an important issue in the future
- music CD’s will be out
- computer hard drives as we know them will be out
- wind up lights, radios, clocks, and a variety of other items will be in again particularly, but not only, in rural areas
- the cable telephone is going out, particularly in rural areas, and will be replaced by wireless systems such as GSM and CDMA type cellphones
- the Internet will play an ever increasing role in our lives including television delivery
- there will be revolutionary changes in sea and air travel, which might even look like a return to the early days
- security will intensify a lot. Travelling will initially become more difficult, particularly for developing countries, until they can comply with new passport requirements which will require the inclusion of a microprocessor chip that contains biometric data such as eye scans, blood details, DNA details and more. This is due to terrorism. Homes and cars will become more secure and home entertainment will become more and more important.
- as home entertainment becomes more important, so too will getaway type holidays to remote but secure locations closer to home
- AIDS and TB will continue to ravage developing countries. There will be many opportunities to solve the problem for government of AIDS orphans. If they are not looked after they will become a roving band of murdering thieves, as they fight to survive in a society that has not cared for them. Set up homes to care for them and educate them for their future and yours.
- facilities for old people and also for frail people will spring up everywhere in developed countries due to the baby boomers going into retirement
- SMEs will experience enormous growth and many large corporate businesses will downsize once they build the necessary trust relationships with SMEs for outsourcing. Banks will make a large shift in attitude and volume of lending to SMEs.

Rob Smorfitt

SMEs - tools for understanding trends (1/2007)

SMEs in my experience do themselves a massive disservice. They do not read.I am fortunate in that I am an avid reader, and it makes an immense difference to my businesses. However, I know that I am fortunate.

Whenever I do public appearances, I ask people in the room how many different newspaper or magazines they read a month, and the average is 3 (the same newspaper read every day counts as 1).

I use the Google Alerts tool to send me all the alerts on SME and Trends. Over the year end, trends become a centre of attention, and so I have received many alerts. These alerts covered trends across many industries, from food, to IT to clothing and a whole lot more besides.

Now I am not in all these industries, but I am in some. So for some of my own businesses I gained an insight into the coming trends for 2007. But for my clients who are in the other industries, I gained an insight into the opportunities for their businesses.Today, even if you do not read a lot, using a business tool like Google Alerts makes it easy to know what is going on in your industry. Can you afford not to use a tool like this?I believe not. So get out there, click on the Google link and get yourself up to speed. Use this fantastic opportunity!

Rob Smorfitt