Catching the wave of the latest trend can be as lucky as stumbling over a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.  Trends are wide sweeping and inexplicably catchy.  To catch a trend you need to be able to spot the ones that will work for you, act quickly and capitalize on what is sure to be a bountiful and fresh new technology in your respective industry.  Here we have picked out five of this year’s top trends for 2013.

Social Media

Though perhaps not a trend that’s exclusive to 2013, social media is taking an increasingly prominent role in the way we live and do business.  The trend for 2013 then is to find new and innovative ways to incorporate social media into your business practices and central identity.  Are you accessible to your clients? What demographics connect with you through what platform?  Are there enough lines of communication and are they well managed? These are the standard questions to consider when evaluating your social media presence and can be expanded and adapted to suit your company and client’s specific preferences

Big Data

As our companies grow and become more complex so too does the data they produce.  Big Data are a collection of data sets that are far more large and complex than what can usually be processed by on-hand data management tools.  Data is subjected to more and more rigorous analysis, which means that the information we derive from all the piece eventually overwhelms the systems we have in place.  Big Data require a more powerful processing system that can give the results we have become accustomed to in a more reasonable amount of time.  The idea is to achieve a perpetual state of Big Data in motion as opposed to Big Data “at rest” – ie. sitting or stored unused on a hard drive.

Mobility

As the roster of mobile devices gets ever longer and ever smaller businesses must optimize their websites to ensure they suit tiny screens and tiny buttons. Laurie McCabe, co-founder and partner of the SMB Group, a market research firm, writes, “SMB use of mobile business apps for employees rose from 17.5 percent to 21 percent from late 2010 to 2012, adoption of mobile-friendly websites ticked up from 18 percent to 34.5 percent, and mobile commerce adoption increased by 5 percent.” Websites that take a long time to load or are not formatted in a way that suits mobile devices will quickly be clicked away form and likely never revisited costing you and your company exposure and perhaps profit.

The Cloud

The Cloud, like social media, is not a trend that started in 2013, but it is one that is certainly growing. From remote access to documents to being able to send things without fussing with email attachments, thumb drives or faxes The Cloud is quickly cementing itself as a business tool must-have.  The Cloud is an easy was to start transitioning your office into a wireless and paper-free era and the trend is really catching on with small businesses who don’t want to have to pay huge sums for software upgrades or user fees.

Data Protection

Security in and outside of the office should be a major trending concern for 2013.  We have seen first hand what compromised data can lead to around the world and though many of the data calamities are happening at an international government level, don’t be fooled into thinking that a security breach wouldn’t be equally as devastating for your company.  It is time to go on the offensive with a good defensive: put together a solid data backup plan and discuss with your office the important of putting a premium on security and what to do in the unfortunate event that there is a leak.  This will help your office to prevent or recover from a lapse in security that, had you not been prepared, may have been the end of your business.

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