Progressing from Covid-19 will require a realignment of business fundamentals, with increased demand for products and services consumers find meaningful and socially and environmentally responsible, says professional services firm Accenture Interactive’s design and innovation practice Fjord.

Fjord's yearly trends in business, technology and design report, the 'Fjord Trends 2020' report, has found that the business environment has changed at an unprecedented pace, driven by implications of Covid-19.

According to the report, although economics and politics, capitalism and resources, technology and society have long been entwined, Covid-19 has strained supply chains and supermarkets, left governments scrambling for public health solutions, and led public officials, private citizens and companies to increasingly turn to new and promising technologies to accommodate a changed world.

These unexpected events have accelerated many of the themes found in the report, of which the over-arching theme is a major realignment of business fundamentals. These were important prior to Covid-19 outbreak, but are now critical.

According to Fjord, the current business environment and international markets provide a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to innovate business models, services and products around new definitions of value.

The report identifies seven emerging trends, with the first being a demand by consumers to change from rapid financial growth to success in other ways.

Fjord founder and chief client officer Mark Curtis says companies must pursue a broader set of business objectives that are balanced with the reality that profit is critical for longevity. This opens the doors for opportunities to imagine entirely new ways to create and sustain value. In this regard, he says companies must balance the priority of profit against the necessity of pursuing a broader set of business objectives.

Secondly, there is growing interest in digital forms of money, with a preference for contactless forms of payment.

In addition, the report highlights that online purchases are far more attractive to customers concerned about exposing themselves to germs at brick-and-mortar stores and while handling cash.

Governments are also looking to digital currencies, which is shown with the US government, for instance, sharing proposals to create a digital dollar.

However, even before the Covid-19 crisis, more and more people were going cashless. The report shows that digital money is faster and more efficient.

The third trend is the increasing use of personal tracking through technology, which has been accelerated with Covid-19 as governments and authorities seemingly use this surveillance method to curb the spread of Covid-19.

Although this has raised privacy concerns, the report shows that it is likely that people's desire for disease control is making them more accepting of such surveillance.

But while governments focus on public health, the report also states that companies are using trackable data to create exciting new products and services.

The fourth trend concerns "liquid people", and considers how societal values are changing and how societal forces and people-pressure are forcing businesses to rethink their focus on the old definitions of growth.

"Liquid people" is the flipside of the same coin – it is about people’s reassessment of themselves, the lives they lead, the work they do and their impact on the world around them. This trend reflects the human side of growth. It takes into account that people are more aware than ever of issues like climate change, mental health and sustainability.

In response, the report suggests businesses must redefine themselves, supporting customers’ and employees’ increasingly liquid desires and their pursuit of deeper meaning in their daily lives.

The fifth trend deals with the repurposing of artificial intelligence (AI), with the report finding that organisations initially used AI to enhance efficiency through automation. However, AI holds the potential for more, including helping scientists combat Covid-19.

In the future, Fjord expects the use of AI will continue to focus on augmenting human ingenuity and creating new value, whether it is in the realm of public health or elsewhere.

With more organisations seeking to use AI beyond automation, they will need access to better and more dynamic tools and to more carefully plan for AI’s social and economic impacts. To succeed, business leaders need to commit to designing for human intelligence and enhance the relationship between people and machines.

The sixth trend deals with the use of digital twins, which Fjord says will expand beyond their current use in machines, helping manufacturers troubleshoot and plan predictive maintenance, to create virtual manifestations of people to drive personalised decision-making, such as for entertainment opportunities, according to the report.

Further, in the wake of the Covid-19 pandemic and increased use of telemedicine, people may deploy their digital doubles as they seek medical attention for example.

Eventually, the report suggests that it is probable that digital doubles will become a virtual home for all of people’s data.

Businesses that want to succeed on this front need to ensure they can show people their technology can be trusted and that their technology is safe, secure and engaging.

Lastly, Covid-19 has resulted in consumer behaviour changing in line with their wants and needs. Buying things, according to the report, has become physically harder, making customers rethink frivolous purchases while fuelling impulses to hoard the essentials.

Hoarding notwithstanding, the report shows that people are also shifting from a ‘me’ to a ‘we’ culture as they seek to do their part to contain the pandemic by staying home and avoiding public places, including public transport.

This will require businesses to radically redesign their business models, adapting to life-centred design. This trend is about people being part of a greater ecosystem, as opposed to being at the centre of everything.

To successfully make this shift, the report suggests they will need to embrace a broader, more holistic systems mindset.