Five 2021 trends that will carry on into the future

The year 2020 hit us pretty hard and fast, with most of the year spent adapting and adjusting to new realities. But in 2021, people will be looking beyond just living through the pandemic, but to take back their lives in some manner.

Here are five things we learned in 2020 on a path of refinement in the coming year that will carry on into the future.

Last mile drone delivery

Drone delivery has been seeing application beyond just delivering Amazon packages and chasing curfew breakers back into their homes. Last mile drone delivery is looking to be a viable option for transporting vaccines and other light wight cargo sooner than we think.

Drone company Wingcopter is currently in the trial stages of deploying drones to deliver vaccines to remote communities where road infrastructure is inadequate or nonexistent in dire and eminent time.

Building such roads would take time which nobody currently has, and drones are viewed as an ideal method for bypassing rugged mountains and large bodies of water quickly and without risking cargo damage and deformities.

Digital health

Remote and digital healthcare will not slow down in the slightest going into 2021. On the contrary, virtual, and remote care is now seen as a better way to do many things previously done person-to-person.

In truth, just as many meetings could have been emails, many doctors’ visits could have been phone calls, and with the spread of monitoring and sensory technology, the time is ripe.

Health information technology:

CEO of Medicomp Systems, David Lareau, predicts a major shift in Health Information Technology payment methods from transaction-based to condition-based reimbursement.

New and emerging innovations such as price transparency tools, remote monitoring, and patient engagement apps can help transform healthcare reimbursement. This will not only compensate doctors properly for their services but help funnel scarce resources to where they are needed the most.

Working from Home

There is little surprise in seeing the work from home lifestyle flourish in the coming year.

Businesses have already begun incorporating remote work policies into their regular employment plans, with full or partial ‘WFH’ now a possibility depending on the job in question.

Ideas of such as XR technology, or Extended Reality, a mixture of AR and VR, are already being entertained as the idea of a virtual office slowly becomes the norm.  

Subscription-based and paywall content

Even before the pandemic, we have been seeing a slow rise of subscription-based services in everything from home entertainment to daily food delivery. As mainstream search engines and content sites fill up with all kinds of clutter, people who can afford them are putting their money into a monthly fee for special content.

Aside from the well-known Amazon, Netflix, and Disney+, online documentary sites and search engines are retreating behind subscription fees as well. Some more affordable than others.