According to the accounting and consulting giant PWC, 2017 will be another high growth year for the sharing economy.
They're predicting sharing economy revenue in Europe will grow about 60% over 2016, reaching about 27 billion Euros (the predictions are from PWC's European group).
This is just one of 10 sharing economy predictions they released last week in their article Find out what's next for the sharing economy in our 2017 predictions.
Three of their forecasts jumped out at us. These are:
5) Permeating new sectors
The sharing economy has been made famous with certain key sectors such as automotive, and hospitality, but 2017 will see the innovation ripple across established sectors. Industries where cost pressures are mounting, such as healthcare and retail, have the most to gain from leveraging sharing economy models. Medical equipment sharing platforms such as Cohealo have emerged across the Atlantic and as the UK healthcare system starts to collaborate more closely, we think 2017 will see the first opportunities for some NHS Trusts to share resources, including staff, equipment and estates in a more dynamic way - a trend we will be exploring in future blogs!
High-value add industries where margins are fairly healthy may still be surprised by the sharing economy in 2017.
This very much fits with what we are seeing. More and more industries are moving sharing and/or on-demand business models.
6) Silvers surfing the sharing economy
In 2017, we think that digital natives, the early-adopters who powered the rise of the sharing economy, will start to take a back seat to the “silver surfers” - who could well drive the next phase of growth. The over 50’s have already become the fastest-growing user group for many platforms, including Airbnb and DogVacay, and a recent Eurobarometer suggests that this age group is most likely to transact more frequently. The platforms that can capture this demographic in 2017 will gain a competitive advantage against their rivals.
This forecast focuses on the demand side of the sharing economy. In addition, we're seeing growing numbers of older Americans working in the sharing/on-demand economy.
7) Corporates becoming sharing economy platforms
In 2017, many corporates will become platforms themselves in order to tap this new source of talent. For example, last year we piloted the “Talent Exchange”, a subset of our US Advisory business. The Talent Exchange is an online marketplace for professional, independent workers and it has surprised us how much demand there has been, with thousands of independent talent profiles now registered to be matched against relevant work opportunities. As this trend evolves, HR departments will increasingly be asked to manage an increasingly diverse workforce and accommodate increasingly flexible ways of working.
We've covered the growth of private talent clouds and it's clear their use is expanding.
For more on this and other trend information, visit PWC's always interesting Megatrends Matter blog.
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