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Hi all So today is the first day of 2022, and goodbye to 2021 that is now “so last year”! When 2021 started there was optimism and belief that the Covid pandemic was over and that 2020 was just a bad dream. Sadly, that’s not the case BUT there is room for optimism. There are now vaccines – that work. Unfortunately, not all who could have been vaccinated have been. Some believe false information – suggesting that there is a major role for those involved in any information profession (marketing research, marketing intelligence, competitive intelligence, information literacy) to show how to evaluate information and separate fake news, rumour, lies and false propaganda from objective truths. There are a range of reasons for anti-vaccine beliefs – for example a lack of science and general knowledge (a recent survey apparently showed that a large proportion of Americans are against the teaching of Arabic numerals) while others following a libertarian bent, think that vaccines are plot to force people into doing what governments really want to do – take additional power and to control the population. Sometimes these combine to give succour to conspiracy theorists who believe in secret cabals trying to take over the world. Worryingly, many have not been vaccinated as the vaccines have not been evenly distributed across the world – the vaccination rate in Africa is below 10% while in other parts of the world it’s well above 70%. This is a global problem as it means variants that can evade vaccines are more likely to occur, impacting all of us. (The current fast-moving variant – Omicron – first appeared in Africa. Fortunately, this seems milder than some earlier variants such as Delta). But how was 2021 for AWARE. We started the year despondent. No travel – and we’d been giving training workshops across the world with our last workshop in December 2019 in Shanghai. Not only that but nobody was doing research either – as everybody was working from home and businesses were on war footings, doing what was needed to keep going rather than expand. However, with the roll out of vaccines, businesses became more optimistic and we’ve led several workshops online – via Zoom, Microsoft Teams and Google Meet. (I do prefer Zoom). We developed a brand-new training concept that also can be used for team building or testing knowhow: a competitive / marketing intelligence escape room where you need to solve puzzles to move from room to room and escape to get a certificate. (We’ve a demo at www.CIEscapeRoom.com – contact us if you’d like us to build a custom Escape Room exercise for you / your company). Significantly we also found research was picking up – and we’ve carried out a number of research projects looking a fintech, pharma, telecoms, IT and other sectors. Some of these have been particularly interesting and/or involved Open Source research – which are the types of research I love as I strengthen my own knowhow about industry and business. We also attended our first in person conference / trade show since 2019 as these are now restarting and held some great interviews with our target companies. In addition, the chapter we’d written for a book on the world post-pandemic finally was printed – in September 2021. We’d written the chapter in early 2020 attempting to look at how the world would be once the pandemic had run its course focusing on generational differences: Gen Z vs. Baby boomers for example. What’s satisfying is to see how some of what we wrote was coming true even just a year after while the pandemic continued to rage (for example the differences in attitudes of Gen Z to previous generations – their approach to work, as one example, is much more laissez-faire where work-life balance is more important). You can purchase the book from Amazon at (or directly from Fast Future, the publishers – ask us for a discount code). (Search for Aftershocks and Opportunities 2: Navigating the Next Horizon). Plus we wrote several articles (with more to come) for a new Competitive / Marketing Intelligence magazine – the International Market & Competitive Intelligence Magazine and held a joint podcast / interview with Professor Rob Dover of Hull University on counter-intelligence.So, what about 2022? I think that the pandemic will still be with us for at least a further 6 months BUT that we’ll learn to live with it. In developed countries, most people will have been vaccinated (except for a few reluctant idiots as mentioned above and hopefully Covid “passports” and restrictions on those not vaccinated will encourage most to “give in”). This means that trade shows will restart and by mid-2022 so will conferences although many will still be virtual or hybrid. This makes economic sense too – why spend on hotels and travel when much can be done online. The exception will be when the physical networking becomes important. Nevertheless, I’d not expect conferences to revert away from hybrid formats for some time – attendees will be able to choose how to attend. However, I strongly think physical conferences will restart by 2023. The benefits will be that those who want to attend in person can, and those who just want the educational sessions or for international conferences can attend virtually. In principle this could increase attendance and so help grow the event business – whether for conferences, trade shows and in-person training. (As a trainer, I much prefer the in-person experience as I can see when people want more explanation on a concept and I miss the interactivity that is missing in most virtual training sessions. I also think there is a value in having an all-day session or multi-day in-depth session that’s not workable for people being glued to a screen for 7 hours or more. Hence online training needs to be broken into chunks. BUT there are advantages to this too so I think some training will remain virtual). Similarly, research work will grow – how has the world changed? Companies will need to know what has changed and in certain areas there have been significant developments that could impact their future. These include AI and blockchain technologies – and healthcare and mental health are now on corporate agendas in ways that was not the case at the start of 2020. The importance of work-life balance is now much clearer and in many businesses, employees will have the option to work from home some of the week if they want, although they will be expected to be in the office some of the time. This can reduce the cost of office space as there will be less need for all to have a permanent office and desk. Communication tools such as Zoom and mobile phones are now ubiquitous and even dinosaur employers know that you can work from anywhere. (A drawback is that you can also be monitored from anywhere so this may be a concern for some – and establishing sensible work times to preserve work-life balance will be important). On a personal level, life goes on. Susy is recovering from Covid – fortunately we were double vaccinated at that point, but it hit her hard and she’s still suffering the after-effects (tiredness, brain fog….). She wasn’t in hospital but and we are fairly sure that without the vaccine she would have been. Ariel is now in his 3rd year mathematics post-doc and I still haven’t a clue what his research topics are. (He’s now in Ben Gurion University near Beersheva after two years at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem – although he and Amalya both live in Jerusalem. Nehama is also at university and lives in the Tel Aviv suburb of Givat Shmuel). We’ve not seen the children for well over two years now – since Ariel took up his post-doc place in Jerusalem. He’s now been married for 3 years! We’d planned to travel Easter / Passover 2020… but that went. As did the same time 2021 and August 2021 too. We hope that 2022 will allow us to visit them. In conclusion I’m an optimist. I said that the pandemic will be with us till mid-2022. Travel will restart, people will go on overseas vacations again by August (without the routine of PCR tests and similar – for those vaccinated). By the end of the year, recovery will be in progress and 2023 will be a good year for many although probably not for all. (The manufacturers of masks, handwash and protective aprons will miss the good times of 2020-2021). Finally, wishing all who have read this far a really happy, healthy and prosperous 2022. RegardsArthur Weiss ... See MoreSee Less

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Competitive Intelligence for Business Growth

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