2017 – an unpredictable year

2017 has been a turbulent year for both people and businesses. In the UK, Brexit has had a huge impact, in the US Trump has been tweeting more than ever. At the start of an unpredictable year, we tried to see what lay ahead. But did we manage to predict the unpredictable?

One of our major predictions was that 2017 would see a rise in the use of robots in the workplace. While they may not be taking our jobs in the more creative sectors (yet), we have definitely seen a huge rise in AI programs being used across a variety of sectors and a continued push towards automation in traditional sectors like manufacturing.

One big event we didn’t see coming was the call for another General Election and the rise of Jeremy Corbyn. Many of us at AML thought he would lose his position – but his success goes to show that social media marketing is a powerful force for any brand.

One thing that nobody could have predicted was the meteoric rise of Bitcoin. For a fairly marginal currency with a price of $1,000 per coin at the start of 2017, to see it shoot up to $17,000 (at time of writing) is unprecedented and highlights just how unpredictable 2017 has been!

All in all, it seems that the main thing we did get right was that 2017 would be an unpredictable year. How will 2018 fare?