Your Business Needs an Abundant Mindset

A Quiet Moment’s Reflection

Every week, I try to carve out a few quiet moments to think about the future of my business. Not the noise of tariffs or political posturing, but the deeper question of how we grow. What’s increasingly clear is that growth won’t come from squeezing more out of legacy systems. It will come from reimagining customer experience through digital innovation.

These reflections often lead me to the same conclusion. To scale we need to understand how technology is reshaping the workforce. As an example, the field of software engineering is being moulded by AI.

Job postings for software engineers in the US hit a five-year low at the beginning of the year. The increased productivity of AI tools automating routine coding tasks, hurt demand for conventional skills. Yet the Bureau of Labor Statistics still expects demand to grow 17% from 2023 to 2033, outpacing that for all occupations.

The skill set asked of software engineers is evolving. There's a growing emphasis on adaptability, problem-solving and AI expertise. Engineers are expected to work across functions and manage AI workflows, as well as be able to code.

This is how technology impacts working lives. Our ability to do more increases productivity and, with it, the value of individual workers. It’s why there will be no return to swathes of the workforce in the West performing repetitive manual labour in factories.

The digital economy is around 10% of total output. There is considerable scope for this to grow as we interact more with machines. This will require a lot more software, which will mean more engineers. New technology changes the way we work and also, if we are smart, helps us to adjust.

Virtual Tourism and AI Tutors

I was talking with an entrepreneur recently about virtual tourism. He had mapped out the town of Stratford-upon-Avon and wants to launch virtual tours of Shakespeare’s birthplace for those unable to travel. This includes going into local shops and making purchases. This is possible today.

When I discussed this with my partners at Scan Computing, which specialises in AI hardware and implementation, we both thought about supermarkets. Online grocery shopping is worth around £22 billion, which is 12-13% of the UK market. This share is flatlining and consumers need a new experience to restart growth.

Virtual shopping offers the promise of the instore experience online. Meanwhile, consumers show a preference for personalised retail and sustainable produce. Lists of previous purchases and green marketing are no longer enough. It is possible to pick up products, read the labels and compare offers online, using today’s technology.

This is a small change for a big industry that impacts a lot of people. Virtual tourism is a bigger step. I am also talking with a startup wanting to extend ticket sales at entertainment venues by offering interactive live events. While this is for music, I also thought about sport. If you run a football club, you want control of the broadcast rights from your stadium. Today you have to pay middle men to distribute your content.

Economies grow through innovation. Countries have been adapting to fewer manufacturing jobs for decades through education. We must ensure our next generation is skilled for the world they inherit.

The largest employer in the UK is healthcare and social work. Education is third. Provision of both services is one-size-fits-all, which works for the majority but leaves outliers behind. AI offers the ability to personalise both healthcare and education, allowing us to expand and improve them.

Scan does a lot of business in healthcare and research. These are hot areas for serious AI kit. But Scan also has offers for startups that support business launches and prevent cost overruns. They won’t sell you a technology if it isn’t right for you.

At MSBC, we are working with a private school to deliver personalised student content. It’s a joy helping students catch up in subjects where they need extra attention. The concern is that it is only private schools showing interest.

A third of UK parents say their children lack consistent access to a device to work online. They are unable to do homework assignments as a consequence. Government rather than AI is the fix for this and it’s not a reason to slow adoption for the rest of society. The ability to guide children through topics where they will otherwise fall behind, is a critical benefit of AI tutors.

My big point is that technology is the solution for the problem of technology replacing jobs. This was always the case, which is why we have more jobs today than ever before. It is those who put up barriers to progress who end up on the wrong side of history.

Map the Friction

Growth doesn’t come from doing more of what we dislike. It comes from imagining something better for us and our customers. Map the friction and rewrite the experience. Then ask if this can be done with the tools we have today. More often than not, the answer is yes.

Questions to Ask and Answer

1. Where in my supply chain or service would personal tuition add value?

2. What parts of my service can buyers experience before buying?

3. How might a virtual experience improve my distribution?

Here are 3 ways I can help

1. Book a consultation to talk about AI.

2. Read the deep dive into data science.

3. Explore use cases using accelerated computing.