Suburban Village
Raik-Allens believes the focus of 2040 will be the ‘suburban village’ – with everyone living and working primarily within walking distance of their homes. Communities will pool their resources and share, he says.
“You’ll be able to trade with your neighbours, list your skills on local noticeboards, and find local experts to fix anything from your 3D printer to an ailing solar panel," he adds.
"Autonomous vehicles such as drones and self-driving cars will deliver packages between communities or even a coffee and a bagel to your current location.
“Much of the suburban park land will become communal farming land to provide vegetables and fruit to the local community without the need for delivery trucks.”
In order to prepare your business for the future, it’s important to start now, says Raik-Allen.
“The Future of Business report was created by MYOB in order to stimulate discussion and planning in the workplace, so people will start thinking about preparing for the future, now," he adds.
“The first step you can take towards being successful in 2040 is to think about how you can make your business data-driven.
"First, get some accounting software and get comfortable with the charting so you can see at a glance how your invoicing, debt recovery and payments are tracking.
"Next, automate as much of your data entry as possible so your business flows with as little human intervention as possible.
"There are lots of neat features along those lines that already exist and that will prepare your business for the next 25 years.”