Top business buzzwords of 2016

As 2016 comes to an end, get ready to be inundated with top-10 lists. To start you off, here are some of EY’s top business buzzwords for the year:

FinTech. According to the EY FinTech Adoption Index, adoption of FinTech products in Canada is expected to triple in the next 12 months. To keep up, traditional banks are making their own investments in technology or partnerships with FinTech firms.

Cybersecurity. Increasing connectivity and digitization creates significant opportunity for criminals and compromises safety. Organizations must emphasize protections of their systems and personnel, and safeguard their data.
Mid-market. There are over 1.2 million private businesses in Canada. In the past few years, the buzzword “middle-market” has been used to describe small to medium-sized private businesses — but there’s nothing small about them. Ranging from start-ups to large, multibillion-dollar organizations, their ability to remain agile makes them a force to be reckoned with in 2017 and beyond.
Disruption. When an organization completely re-thinks its business model, purpose, customer base and value proposition, the result is dramatic changes to its products and services, and, frequently, the rules of an entire industry. The combination of ever increasing insights from vast amounts of data, technological advances and changing customer expectations will result in disruption happening to both businesses and industries more frequently.

Blockchain. Think of blockchain as a version of the Internet that can carry out various transactions but is virtually impossible to hack. It has the potential to revolutionize financial services by making transactions cheaper, quicker, and more transparent and trustworthy. Given its enormous potential, financial services companies will continue to experiment with blockchain technology to uncover its most valuable applications.
Environmental sustainability. The idea of using present resources without irrevocably damaging the environment — land, air and water — for the future has been around for years, but is now encompassing every sector. From regulators setting new carbon reduction goals to shareholders demanding transparency, sustainability is no longer a “nice-to-have” — it’s a business imperative.

Other words on EY’s list: data analytics, digital, innovation and operational excellence.

The staff of Advisor.ca have been covering news for financial advisors since 1998.

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