Trends for entrepreneurs and startups 2021
Although we are going through a global crisis, where everything is uncertain, even so, opportunities for entrepreneurs are always present and it could be an excellent year for those who know how to identify them.
In this article you will discover some of the most important trends of the year.
Cybersecurity
Cybersecurity is one of the issues that all companies are taking into account. In 2019, cybercrime caused losses in excess of €800 billion. But concern about the security of corporate data is materializing in growing investments to protect it, even more so in the pandemic's wake, when cybercriminals have stepped up their activity.
According to INTERPOL data, in just one four-month period (January to April), it detected more than 900,000 spam emails, 737 malware-type incidents, and 48,000 malicious URLs, all related to COVID-19.
For this reason, and according to experts, 55% of companies are expected to increase their cybersecurity budgets by 2021. This year, a large part of the population continues to telecommute, and the fact of not storing all the information on the same server makes them more vulnerable. Likewise, the increase of digital tools or the use of Artificial Intelligence are also circumstances that increase the risk of cyber-attacks.
There are many areas that entrepreneurs can take advantage of. On the one hand, developing protection systems for cyber-attacks. Security audits and ethical hacking projects. Developments of cybersecurity and cyberintelligence software.
On the other hand, it is also in improving access systems to corporate websites, social networks, online banking, e-commerce. Consequently, the future lies in biometric security (iris recognition, voice, face, handwritten signature) applied to mobile devices. Also improvement of identification systems for legal activities, such as validating documents, invoices, contracts.
The cloud
Although the adoption of cloud services has been growing over the last few years, there are still many more large companies that make use of them (over 62%) than medium and small companies (only 6%), so there are still business opportunities in this niche.
As the cloud market continues to evolve, the distributed cloud is making a strong entrance. A proposition that supports the way in which companies are adopting emerging technologies.
As the cloud market continues to evolve, the distributed cloud is making a strong entrance. A proposition that supports the way in which companies adopt emerging technologies.
More and more organizations are opting for a distributed cloud model, because the operation and governance of public cloud services remain the responsibility of the provider while bringing the physical location of the cloud closer to the user.
Large public cloud providers such as Amazon, Microsoft and Google take a private cloud approach to the services they provide. However, the industry is increasingly moving towards hybrid or multi-cloud environments, with infrastructure requirements deployed in a variety of models. The combination of multiple public and private clouds is a model that will only tend to grow in 2021.
Biotech and Healthtech
New technologies have come to revolutionize everything, and the field of health is no exception. Biotech or HealthTech is one of the trends of the new startups aimed at the field of health that aims to solve the great challenges in health.
If it was already revealing itself as an unstoppable trend, the current circumstances have generated even greater interest in everything related to health and personal wellness. In fact, it is one of the fastest growing sectors.
The speed at which biotechnology and processors are developing, together with artificial intelligence, make it one of the most attractive sectors for investors. Therefore, also for entrepreneurs.
In addition, the health sector is one of the booming sectors and has gained great prestige among society, so training in the field of health is also going to take off in 2021.
Telemedicine will also be our solution on many occasions. Due to the pandemic, people today prefer not to move, queue and wait for certain types of mechanizable consultations.
E-learning
Online training has been the constant during 2020, and in 2021 it will not change. What will change is how we consume. Therefore, more microlearning will be demanded for just-in-time consumption, the method that says "if I have a need to learn something and I have the time, I want to do it".
Before the pandemic, the consulting firm Research and Markets predicted that the online education market would amount to $350 billion by 2025. It is expected that after updating this data, following the effect of the COVID-19 pandemic, it could rise to more than $500 billion.
The educational transformation to digital is getting stronger and stronger. There are still many challenges to overcome, but more and more are integrating technology into the learning process.
5G is coming
5G is intimately linked to major industry trends: cloud, artificial intelligence, edge computing, and, of course, IoT. On the other hand, it also meets new consumer needs with high demands, such as online gaming, that pay attention to specific network capabilities.
With the promised 5G technology, it is assumed that many of the current problems related to connectivity will disappear. As a result, great opportunities will arise for the development of mobility and bandwidth-based services. In addition, the technology industry will be one of the major beneficiaries.
E-commerce
The pandemic has prompted physical stores to reinvent themselves in terms of technology. Although it is something that came from before, with the crisis it has gone from a trend to a necessity.
Today, almost everything we buy is done online and those who were more reluctant to digitize their business, have been somehow forced to change their model because the market has demanded it.
Although there are large leading platforms (Amazon, eBay or Aliexpress), there are also many niches with great opportunities where specialization and customization of customer service will allow competing with them.
That is why personalization and customer service will be a trend in 2021 in market niches where the big platforms do not reach.
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