Cover 19, and now the Delta variant, are Disruptions.  As we at Spark Partners discuss in our writing and training, significant disruptions create market shifts.  And as Adam wrote in “Create Marketplace Disruption: How To Stay Ahead of the Competition” those who build on the trends accelerated in a Market Shift stand to be the really, really big winners.

Mobile technology adoption is 15+ years along.  From pagers to mobile phones to smart phones, to FaceTime, Skype and now Zoom the trend to mobile has been growing.  Asynchronous work tools include email, which goes back 20+ years. Now augmented to include texting, Google Docs, Office 365 and a raft of SAAS, cloud and social media tools allowing us to get work done at our best pace, without wasting time on calls, in meetings or otherwise being tied up.

These trends were pronounced prior to the Covid disruption.  Now they are accelerated. Now work from home is rapidly becoming a norm (at least part time.) Even Mark Zuckerberg is working from home.  And workers are seeing greater flexibility to select the work they want to do.  This podcast covers how the disruption has really accelerated trends, and changed the nature of work and work cultures.  Winners will be early adopters of the newly created Covid norms.

Thinking points:
- Are you using trends in technology, capability, and cultural norms to figure out your policies on working away from the office?  Or are you using outdated assumptions about work?
- Are you planning for staffing realizing that demographic trends will require greater levels of automation and less use of manpower?
- Are you actively seeking ways to automate tasks so your suppliers, including employees and gig workers, can use their brains to improve productivity and improve returns for everyone?

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