Predicting the Future!? Accenture Fjord Trends for 2021

Collective Displacement

As a society, we have undergone a drastic amount of change over the last 12 months or so. Our places have changed – with huge amounts of people moving out from the cities into the countryside or suburbs in search of space now that remote working has become prevalent. Our activities have changed – instead of physical events, we are all experts at zoom quizzes and digital conferences. Even our sense of community has changed – we are now more isolated, our often large and varied social circles reduced to tiny bubbles.

But what does this mean for businesses? Well, it has shifted the focus from where, to who.

The emphasis is now strongly on the user, which means information gathering is more important than ever. Tailoring digital experiences to customers to surprise and delight them from a distance is the main challenge for businesses in 2021. By offering customers or clients an immersive experience through advancing technology is a great way to differentiate and stay relevant in this dynamic and rapidly changing environment. An example of this is the Virtual Mall Experience by K11 in Hong Kong, where customers were able to 'walk' around the mall from the comfort of their own homes - merging the line between retail and e-commerce.

Interaction Wanderlust

2021 has ushered in a new standard of aesthetics. We spend more time than ever online, which has inevitably caused increased screen fatigue. Standing out and offering new and exciting interactions with digital content is vital to break through this level of lethargy. Innovating in ways to remove touch as a component of interaction is now a hugely important consideration for businesses – what was once the height of sophistication, having a tablet as a consumer touchpoint (quite literally!), now feels risky. Also, professional amateur content is thriving (just think of the viral TikTok accounts run by huge companies), which means that subject matter is now more important than production value, largely due to the fact that almost anyone can access professional equipment and editing tools.

A way that businesses can take action on these points is through entertainment.

Gamification, fun, and engaging user experiences turn the expected into something memorable. A lot of businesses have been utilising QR codes and VR in this way, reducing the need for touch of communal screens and creating something unique. Its important that businesses don’t feel restricted by templates, really push to try new approaches, and think what hasn’t been done yet (just like big brands such as Planet Money did early on with TikTok). Another example of the popularity in entertainment as a platform is the huge boom that Discord (a gaming platform streaming service where people can watch and interact with gamers and chat to each other) has experienced.