It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to James Pinchbeck, partner at Streets Chartered Accountants.
Looking to the new year ahead often comes with a mix of excitement and in trepidation as to what the next 12 months might have in store. Perhaps though in doing so it is useful to reflect on what one predicted for the last 12 months. Therein lies the rub, all too often and not least in a Vuca world (volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous) the predictions we have at the beginning of a period of time invariably don’t always turn out to be exactly as we thought. The one thing we have seen in recent years is there is little in the way of certainty.
This aside, looking ahead to 2023, there is a real sense that the challenges around staffing and skills shortages will play an ever-important role on business performance and sadly customer experience and satisfaction. It is not unreasonable to think we will face further industrial action within the public sector, but also, we should be prepared for further workforce challenges within the private sector. This may be around not just pay, but also working arrangements along with mental health and wellbeing.
In the belief that with adversity comes opportunity, we should more optimistically see greater heightened levels of innovation and enterprise. Certainly, as we all get to grips with the cost-of-living crisis we are likely to see the launch of new products and services that are born out of the problems and challenges we face. We should also expect to see much more in the news of start up and scale up businesses engaged in realising the potential of technology to improve productivity and people’s lives, whether this is using artificial intelligence, augmented and virtual reality, the internet of things, or the metaverse.
As we continue to reflect on the pandemic and growing concerns about the impact of climate change, 2023 should see a greater appreciation of and focus on ESG (Environmental, Social and Governance) by not just corporate enterprises but also more and more businesses.
Finally, 2023 is the Chinese zodiac year of the rabbit or to be precise the water rabbit. The sign of the Rabbit is a symbol of longevity, peace, and prosperity in Chinese culture. 2023 is predicted to be a year of hope. People born in a year of the Rabbit are called “Rabbits” and are believed to be vigilant, witty, quick-minded, and ingenious. Certainly such characteristics would be a real attribute for the year ahead.
