2021: A year of excitement and positive change

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2020 will go down in history, not just as a year of pandemic, but also one of transformation.

As we push into 2021, we need to consider our mindset for the year.

Many people I speak to are excited about the coming year.
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Shifting to work structures that will serve us far better

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Cisco recently compiled a thought leadership article Employees choose hybrid: A look into the workforce of the future.
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2021+ 9 themes for next year and beyond

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The end of each year is always a good time to distil predictions for what is coming. 2020 has been an absolutely pivotal year, it is a critical time for us to actively make sense of our path forward.

In the slides below I have laid out 9 themes that I believe will be at the center of our world in 2021 and beyond.
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Responsible AI: selecting degrees of transparency and highlighting potential for bias

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As the power of AI soars, the ethics of how we use AI is becoming an increasingly pressing issue, which as a futurist I speak about frequently.

In working with the intelligent automation company Pega I have learned about some of their extremely interesting approaches to ‘Responsible AI’.
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Looking forward to 2100 on offices, robotics, education, social media, urbanization…

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A recent article in ICON magazine looks at what to expect as we think far into the future, potentially the end of this century, based primarily on an interview with me.

The full article is well worth a read. Below are some excerpts from my quotes in the piece.
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How can large organizations build empathy at scale?

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This year in particular has been one in which many people have needed empathy in trying circumstances.

Yet how can large organizations with thousands or even millions of customers express real empathy?
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deepmind protein folding

An evolutionary leap for life sciences: when AI transcends human crowds

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The announcement that Google’s DeepMind has won the Critical Assessment of protein Structure Prediction challenge is important in a number of ways.

Being able to predict a protein’s shape from its amino acid sequence could massively accelerate the development of new medicines. Speaking to Nature:
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customer service journey

Weaving together microjourneys to create compelling customer service journeys

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The phrase “customer journey” has become part of everyday business vernacular, bringing a customer-centered and design thinking perspective to the mainstream.

Customer engagement and intelligent automation company Pega uses the phrase “microjourney” to focus on the elements that comprise the customer journey. This is useful both in being able to design a better experience for customers, but also in optimizing each of those elements so they can be woven together effectively across situations existing and new.
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future of work

Five important charts to understand the future of work and society

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MIT’s Taskforce on the Work of the Future provides some of the most well-researched insights we have on the future landscape of work.

It has just released two very interesting reports: The Work of the Future: Shaping Technology and Institutions and The Work of the Future: Building Better Jobs in an Age of Intelligent Machines.

The latter report in particular provides deep insights and updated research on key factors driving the future landscape of work, culminating in a series of policy recommendations that should be required reading for politicians and government leaders.
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The shift from reactive to proactive to preemptive customer service

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In healthcare the biggest – and very long overdue – shift is from reactive to proactive healthcare: instead of fixing people when they get sick, helping to keep them healthy.

This idea of shifting from reactive to proactive is also being applied to customer service by the very interesting enterprise technology vendor Pega , which pushes it further to frame “preemptive” customer service, avoiding any need for customers to seek assistance.
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