It’s that time of year, when Business Link Magazine invites the region’s business leaders to offer up their predictions for the year ahead.
It has become something of a tradition, given that we’ve been doing this now for over 30 years.
Here we speak to Kevin McGrath, managing partner at Smith Partnership.
Before committing to giving my predictions, I thought I ought to check out what I said in a similar piece this time last year. It didn’t inspire confidence.
“The optimist in me would hope that by the spring society will return to some form of normality but the realist accepts the summer is more likely.”
With the pandemic showing no signs of abating and being fuelled by the new Omicron variant of Covid I’m not going to be so confident this year.
Thankfully, in other ways my predictions proved more reliable – the hugely successful vaccination programme, the gradual opening up of society and the return of economic confidence were all very welcome in 2021.
For me and all of my colleagues at Smith Partnership, 2022 will be a year to build on the lessons we have learnt in the last two years.
We will continue to find new, innovative ways to meet the needs and expectations of our clients through rapidly evolving technology and continue to embrace flexible working for our staff so they continue to benefit from being able to find the right balance between home and office working.
The irresistible optimist in me still believes that things will get better next year and when they do, we will be able to shift focus to the really important issues affecting not just business but all of society.
Inclusivity and the environment will be issues none of us can ignore in 2022.
