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Are these the top five business trends for 2020?

Top 5 business trends for 2020

As 2019 draws to a close it’s important for business owners to be on the front foot when it comes to anticipating what’s in store for next year. Predictions by experts are commonplace in business circles at this time of year and some are more accurate than others.

Our team at Alexander Knight & Co think these five trends are the ones that should be on your radar during 2020.

1) 5G

Mobile connectivity is set to get faster and more reliable with the steady rollout of 5G across the country during 2020. As well as being much faster than previous ‘G’s, it is also set to open up lots of new business opportunities for entrepreneurs. One interesting consequence of the introduction of 5G is that the battery life of mobile phones is now being touted as being up to 10 times longer.

2) Public reviews

Public user-generated reviews will play an increasingly powerful role on your business fortunes during 2020. Google reviews, Facebook reviews and Trustpilot reviews are all being pushed heavily in internet search engines and star ratings will increasingly appear alongside mentions of your business online. It’s important to get a proactive strategy in place now to make sure you are generating plenty of positive online sentiment about your business and encouraging your clients and customers to give you five-star reviews.

3) Remote working

Remote working and collaborative working spaces will continue to increase in popularity. Formerly the preserve of freelancers and one-man bands, SME’s are now seeing the benefits of increased productivity when enabling and empowering their workforce to work from home or in a collaborative working space with other companies. More and more office space will become dedicated to the concept of collaborative working and local authorities in particular will be encouraging this use to fill up vacant buildings on the high street.

4) Going global

Internationalism will be a major focus for businesses of all sizes during 2020. After three years of uncertainty about Brexit, businesses have realised that expanding their international links will stand them in good stead, no matter how things turn out with Brexit. Expect to see more companies developing international connections, launching new offices and agreeing joint ventures with companies across Europe and the rest of the world.

5) Speedy decisions

Faster decision making. Business owners who can make speedy (and correct) decisions will always be the ones who succeed more than the rest. This has always been the case but the trend during 2019 of delaying decisions about expansion, investment, exiting or acquiring new companies may come to an end in 2020. Companies in our own client base at Alexander Knight & Co are planning to make big and bold decisions they feel are right for their business. We predict more corporate transactions next year and we’re excited about what this means for our entrepreneurial client base in the year ahead.

 

If you are reviewing your current arrangements with your existing accountants please call us on 0161 980 8788.

Alexander Knight & Co at Accountex North 2019 in Manchester

We were delighted to have been invited to an exclusive round table hosted by Accountex at the Midland Hotel in Manchester. Alongside a group of other professionals, accountants and financial advisers we were there to share our insights on how to innovate and grow.

Working so closely with entrepreneurial clients who are growing and developing their businesses gave us a real advantage in the discussions and we were able to cite many great examples of the incredible success many of our clients are having in business.

One of the things we emphasised was the need for small and medium sized businesses to continue investing in innovation if they are to grow and expand. We also pressed home the need to have a good, trusted network of professional advisers around you as a business owner.

You can read a brief summary of the event here.

Time to ‘e-think’ the company car?

Company cars have been deeply unfashionable for more than a decade now. In that time, the vast majority of company directors and employees understand that they are better off buying a car personally and then claiming the associated expenses.

Concern for the environment was the reason why a more punitive tax regime was placed on the owners of company cars in the first place. Tax was tethered to the value of the car and the level of CO2 emissions belched out.

However, could the downward trend be reversed? 

The introduction of electric powered cars has reignited the debate on what the levels of company car taxes should be.

Now, the Government says that company car drivers choosing a pure electric vehicle will pay no benefit-in-kind (BIK) tax in 2020/21.

It has created two new BIK tables for company car drivers; a table for those driving a company car registered after April 6, 2020, and one for those driving a company car registered before April 6, 2020. Speak to Murray if you want to see either table.

In a nutshell, what it means for motorists is that pure electric cars offer outstanding tax advantages.

Hybrids, which are currently more popular and accessible at this point in time, also make sense as a company car. Those with a 40-mile range will have a very low 8% tax rate. Company cars with CO2 emmisions below 75gkm are a good choice as a company motor compared to the alternative diesel/petrol models.

One client recently saw more than £10,000 knocked off his tax bill because he plumped for the Range Rover Hybrid model over the petrol version.

Renaissance

Our prediction is that there will be an upward swing in demand for electric vehicles, not least from socially responsible fleet managers in the business world, but also for business owners driving cars at the luxury end of the market. These new tax advantages will see a rise in the number of company cars on the road.

With more e-charging points being installed across the country, improvements to the range of electric engines and a steady fall in the price we are sure to see a renaissance of the company car – one that might be more suitable for you than your current arrangements.

For a review of your company car tax status or that of your existing fleet for your business call Murray Patt on (0161) 980 8788.