25 Insights of 2025

 

Introduction

The year has been a whirlwind of both uncertainties and optimism. So where do we go from here? From data-backed research by leading business institutions around the globe, here are 25 insights from the year 2025. Stay informed with these trend developments in business strategies, macroenvironment shifts, consumer behaviors, technological advancements, product evolution, and talent landscape, and reference them to support and enhance your future decisions.

Business Strategies

2025 highlights a clear tension between technological ambition and realized value. Organizations continue directing meaningful portions of digital transformation budgets toward AI, yet much of the expected impact remains unreached. This gap is pushing leaders to tighten ROI discipline, monitor performance more systematically, and clarify where value is truly created.

Data monetization is rising quickly – expanding business models and accelerating the pressure to prove returns. At the same time, executives prioritize innovation while investors emphasize financial resilience, widening the need for clearer value narratives and balanced capital decisions.

Amid this, product organizations that anchor choices in customer outcomes – rather than delivery volume – consistently outperform. With Gen AI creating multiple possible futures, resilient strategies now rely on pressure-testing assumptions and ensuring value-centered decision-making across the enterprise.

Macroenvironment Shifts

Macroenvironment shifts reveal a landscape shaped by fast-moving technology, geopolitical realignment, and evolving societal expectations. Tech continues to act as the strongest tailwind, accelerating AI adoption, digitization, and data-led growth. At the same time, rising regulatory complexity, trust erosion, and workforce transitions create meaningful headwinds that require organizations to redesign operating models.

Geopolitical changes are redrawing trade corridors, exposing sectors to uneven upside depending on scenario outcomes – whether baseline, diversification, or fragmentation. These dynamics are already reshaping global manufacturing strategies, with regions evaluated through new tradeoffs in cost, speed, stability, and labor availability.

In response, organizations are turning to emergent structures – platform models, enterprise agility, and decentralized networks – to stay resilient, align operations to uncertainty, and position themselves for long-term competitiveness.

Consumer Behaviors

Consumer behavior is shaped by a widening tension between rising expectations and uneven brand execution. Customers want AI-powered personalization, seamless experiences, and greater transparency, yet satisfaction lags significantly – especially in data handling and automated support. This trust gap elevates privacy assurances as a core component of brand value.

AI-led interactions, however, demonstrate clear performance upside, driving lower bounce rates, higher engagement, and stronger revenue per visit. As digital journeys improve, measurement also evolves. New metrics such as the "attention quotient" and "commercial quotient" help brands understand how fragmented focus and platform sophistication translate into monetization potential.

Underlying these metrics is a shift toward attention-based segmentation. Seven distinct consumer groups now display markedly different spending behaviors, media habits, and responsiveness to advertising. Notably, top media consumers do not always equate to top spenders, underscoring the need for precise targeting and content strategies that match true commercial value rather than raw consumption volume.

Technological Advancements

Rapid advances in AI infrastructure, intelligent systems, and cybersecurity are creating both opportunity and operational pressure for organizations. A three-pronged capability stack is emerging: Architect technologies lay the foundation with confidential computing and AI-native platforms; Synthesist capabilities such as multi-agent systems and domain-specific models elevate intelligence; and Vanguard capabilities address future risks through digital provenance, geopatriation, and advanced cyber defense.

These advancements also reshape IT economics. While Gen AI may initially increase expenses, it can address up to half of IT costs and deliver meaningful efficiency gains when deployed thoughtfully. As spending reallocates toward AI-powered platforms, IT evolves into a strategic multiplier that reduces technical debt, strengthens shared capabilities, and accelerates business value.

Yet a critical caution underscores these developments: ROI projections often overlook technical debt, which can erode or even reverse expected benefits. Organizations that account for this early – and invest in modernization alongside innovation – can protect returns and position their technology strategy for sustainable impact.

Product Evolution

Products are driven by a shift from generic "smartness" to more intentional value delivery. Three buyer personas – Purpose Seekers, Comfort Seekers, and Efficiency Seekers – now shape product expectations, each prioritizing different advantages such as time savings, sustainability, or healthier living. Understanding these segments has become essential for creating differentiated, resonant value propositions.

Trust also plays a defining role. Consumers reward companies that pair innovation with strong data responsibility, with "Trusted Trailblazers" earning higher satisfaction and greater household spending than providers perceived as either overly aggressive or too cautious.

Despite rapid innovation cycles, many users feel disconnected from new features. While personalization and improvements are appreciated, a majority express that updates arrive too quickly or fail to address real problems. This tension highlights the growing need for product strategies that balance innovation velocity with meaningful, user-centered progress.

Talent Landscape

AI adoption is accelerating faster than workforce readiness, widening gaps between required and available skills. Shortages in areas like data science, machine learning, and algorithm development threaten momentum unless organizations scale focused skilling, reskilling, and mobility programs. Workers value AI's speed benefits yet still prefer human quality for judgment-driven tasks, reinforcing the need for hybrid workflows that balance efficiency with expertise.

Strong managers amplify the impact of scarce technical talent. High performers deliver outsized productivity gains and improve alignment across roles, while practices such as better role–skill matching, lateral paths, and rotational assignments increase retention of AI-native employees. Organizations that prioritize capability development and people leadership will be better positioned to sustain progress in an AI-driven labor market.

https://tinyurl.com/mw22cn6a

Product Development Processes

 

Krisztina Szerovay

How product development processes have evolved

This sketch shows some of the milestones of how product development processes have evolved. While it is a simplified view of the evolution, it highlights the most important factors.

These are the main approaches:

• Waterfall Model
• Agile methodologies (e.g. Scrum)
• Lean UX
• Design Sprint & Dual Track processes

Additional ingredients, foundations that drive the evolution: Design Thinking, Lean Startup

Digital Products & Services

The most significant difference between physical products (e.g. cars, airplanes) and today’s software products is that the latter are in constant change, those are complex, unpredictable systems. Consequently, the processes that were invented for the products like cars needed to be changed to better satisfy the business- and customer needs.

https://tinyurl.com/mrs9vhrj

What is Amazon's approach to product development and product management?

 There is an approach called "working backwards" that is widely used at Amazon. We try to work backwards from the customer, rather than starting with an idea for a product and trying to bolt customers onto it. While working backwards can be applied to any specific product decision, using this approach is especially important when developing new products or features.

For new initiatives a product manager typically starts by writing an internal press release announcing the finished product. The target audience for the press release is the new/updated product's customers, which can be retail customers or internal users of a tool or technology. Internal press releases are centered around the customer problem, how current solutions (internal or external) fail, and how the new product will blow away existing solutions.

If the benefits listed don't sound very interesting or exciting to customers, then perhaps they're not (and shouldn't be built). Instead, the product manager should keep iterating on the press release until they've come up with benefits that actually sound like benefits. Iterating on a press release is a lot less expensive than iterating on the product itself (and quicker!).

Below is a basic template for the internal press release, a primary artifact of the Working Backwards process. I've added a few tips on writing each of the sections, and then included an example press release I wrote for a fictional product. I hope these will help you get started working backwards from your own customers!

A few notes on using the template above:

• Title - This is a standard press release title. I like this general format: [COMPANY] ANNOUNCES [SERVICE | TECHNOLOGY | TOOL] TO ENABLE [CUSTOMER SEGMENT] TO [BENEFIT STATEMENT]. You can browse company investor relation websites to get other examples of press release titles and subtitles.
• Subtitle - The subtitle just frames the main announcement in a different way or provides another element of detail.
• Date - This is the date you could potentially launch the product. Safety tip: If you add a date and then review your press release with an exec, they're likely to cache this date and think the product is going to actually ship on the date. Make it practical, just in case.
• Intro paragraph - Provide a crisp 3-4 sentences that reiterate and expand on the title with a little more detail on the customers served and what is being launched.
• Problem paragraph - Lay out the top 3-4 (max) problems for the customers your product or service is intended to serve. Describe each problem briefly and talk about the negative impact of it. Resist the temptation to start talking about your solution. Keep this paragraph focused on the problems, and make sure the problems are ranked in descending order of how painful they are.
• Solution paragraph - Describe how your product/service elegantly solves the problem. Give a brief overview of how it works, and then go through and talk about how it solves each problem you listed above.
• Quote by leader in your company - Pick a leader in your company and make up a quote that talks about why the company decided to tackle this problem and (at a high-level) how the solution solves it.
• How the product/service works - Describe what a customer has to do to start using the product/service and how it works. Go into enough detail to give them confidence it actually solves the problem.
• Customer quote - Create a fake quote by a fake customer, but one that sounds like it could be real. The customer should describe her pain point or the goal she needs to accomplish, and then how the product you launched enables her to do so.
• How to get started - Provide a URL or other information on the first place a customer should go to get access to the product/service.

If the press release is more than a page and a half, it is probably too long. Keep it simple. 3-4 sentences for most paragraphs. Cut out the fat. Don't make it into a spec. You can accompany the press release with a FAQ that answers all of the other business or execution questions so the press release can stay focused on what the customer gets. My rule of thumb is that if the press release is hard to write, then the product is probably going to suck. Keep working at it until the outline for each paragraph flows.

Oh, and I also like to write press-releases in what I call "Oprah-speak" for mainstream consumer products. Imagine you're sitting on Oprah's couch and have just explained the product to her, and then you listen as she explains it to her audience. That's "Oprah-speak", not "Geek-speak".

Once the project moves into development, the press release can be used as a touchstone; a guiding light. The product team can ask themselves, "Are we building what is in the press release?" If they find they're spending time building things that aren't in the press release (overbuilding), they need to ask themselves why. This keeps product development focused on achieving the customer benefits and not building extraneous stuff that takes longer to build, takes resources to maintain, and doesn't provide real customer benefit (at least not enough to warrant inclusion in the press release).

Here’s a mock press release to show you how it all comes together: 

CIRCULERT APP ALERTS SHOPPERS WHEN THE PRODUCTS AND SERVICES THEY WANT BECOME AVAILABLE OR DROP IN PRICE

If a product or service isn’t available today or at the right price, Circulert helps shoppers buy it later, for less.

SEATTLE–January 1, 2021 - Circulert, a Seattle company, today launched a new application for iOS and Android that notifies users when the products and services they want or need become available for sale or drop in price. 

Many items consumers want to buy aren’t available today, or the price might not be quite sharp enough to prompt a purchase. If there’s a specific brand of clothing you like, you have to keep checking retailer websites so see if they’ve released a new line, or spend time looking through a slew of daily emails from every retailer you’ve ever shopped from to find the one email that tells you about new products you care about. How often have you found out that your favorite band is playing a show in your town after all the tickets are sold out? How often have you picked through “web specials” of your favorite clothing line when they go on discount, only to find that the only sizes still available of that one product you love are XXL of XXS? Too often.

Circulert solves these problems by telling you when you can buy the things you want, or buy the things you want at the price you want. No more work. No more missing out. Circulert learns about the products and services you care most about, and then sends you only the notifications you want. You can choose the notification style or frequency, or view a feed of recent alerts. You are in control. At launch, Circulert can send you availability or price drop notifications for products like clothing, music, or books from your favorite brands, artists or authors. Circulert can also tell you when your favorite band schedules a show in your town, when a flight between you and your long-distance partner is a screaming deal, or when the price of that sweet new tech bauble drops below the amount your spouse is likely to notice on the credit card statement.

“Our goal with Circulert is to take the hassle out of buying things later,” said Ian McAllister, creator of Circulert. “There are tens of thousands of retailers on the web selling everything imaginable. Circulert helps consumers filter out the noise and all the stuff they don’t need, and helps them get the things they do need at the best price, saving them time and money.”

To try out Circulert, go to Circulert.com and download the app for iOS or Android. Connect the app to your Amazon, Ticketmaster, and other online accounts, and then review the suggested alerts. Circulert will then send you only highly relevant notifications when the items you want are available at the right price. You can star items that you want to get back to easily, share them with friends and family, or follow through and buy them.

 “I absolutely hate missing out on a great deal,” said Clare Keating, a nurse in Seattle. ”To make sure I don’t miss out I used to have to hit my favorite websites every few days. With Circulert, I found out about great deals right away and never miss out.”

If you want to save time or money (or both!), visit circulert.com today.

Ian McAllister

https://tinyurl.com/3s24xncn

The 7 Strategic Phases of the Product Development Lifecycle

 

The strategic phases of the product development lifecycle is a sequential set of steps encapsulating a given product’s entire life cycle. The first step is ideation. The last step is plotting how to sunset a product. Many different skills, methods, tools, and stakeholders are involved in various aspects and phases.

The only true consistent figure in this process is product management. Product managers take the reigns as early as product definition and concept vetting. They bring it to life, nurture its growth, and ultimately put it to bed one final time.

The 7 Strategic Phases of the Product Development Lifecycle

Before diving headfirst into any of the strategic phases of the product development lifecycle, it’s essential to understand all the steps. While mostly discrete activities, they do build on each other. A faulty foundation can result in a wobbly, flawed future.

1. Product Concept Development

This initial phase might be the most fun and creative stage in the product lifecycle, and it’s the most critical. Businesses come up with lots of ideas. So only the most promising projects must get the traction and resources they deserve.

So, once there’s an initial idea internal folks are excited about, it’s time to employ some of the available tools and techniques for some quick market validation. These tests give the team confidence they’re onto something with real promise.

A key step in this phase is product discovery. This process gives the product team a much deeper understanding of the problems potential customers face and the user personas the solution can target. Without a solid foundation of who the product is for and which of their pain points it solves, there’s little hope of finding product-market fit.

Armed with a good idea and a solid understanding of the key problem, the concept is then fleshed out while gathering additional information.

2. Competitive Analysis

If a company has stumbled onto a great idea, it’s likely they’re not the only ones to have this epiphany. That’s why the next step is surveying the landscape. You do this to see how the product concept compares to what’s already available or under development.

The goal here is to understand the other options potential customers already have. Sometimes there will be a direct competitor with a relatively similar offering. There may be broader solutions that include similar functionality to the product in question. An effective competitive analysis must include completely unexpected, less-than-elegant workaround solutions potential customers use to solve their pain points.

This includes using spreadsheets for building product roadmaps, authoring code in a plain text editor, or building animations in PowerPoint. People often use the tools they already have at their disposal. Changing those behaviors may be just as important and challenging as taking on direct competitors.

3. Market Research

Still not done with homework! Now that the business has a handle on how its solution fits into the scene, it’s time to see if its differentiated approach to solving user problems holds up.

Market research typically involves both qualitative and quantitative research. Surveys and aggregated data can indicate trends, help calculate the total addressable market, and serve as valuable input to the prioritization process.

Meanwhile, qualitative research can help product teams get to the “why” at the heart of the solution. Using focus groups, interviews, and other in-depth research methods. These methods add both color and a sense of humanity to the research and development process. An added benefit is that they challenge assumptions.

4. Minimum Viable Product Development

The tail end of the market research phase may also entail developing a Minimum Viable Product. An MVP is functional for gauging the reaction and interest of likely buyers. It only includes the most vital features and functionality based on the business’s understanding of which user stories customers need most. It is laser-focused on solving core problems.

During MVP definition and development, the team may begin employing prioritization frameworks. MVPs determine which items would deliver the most “bang for the buck” and must be in place for the initial product offering. Frameworks focused on core functionality versus product line expansion are a good fit at this time. Examples include the jobs-to-be-done framework, which ensures the business is building products customers actually want and use.

By getting something to the market quickly, the company can validate its concept and generate user feedback. This is crucial during these early stages. It serves to inform for adjustments to perform key tasks at launch, and the value proposition and messaging matches the offering.

5. Introduction and Launch

With “Version 1.0” about to become a reality, it’s time to take this idea to market. Even if it still bears a “beta” label. The hard work of generating awareness and demand often starts well before the “download” link goes live.

The product marketing team should be generating demand and building some buzz for the offering in anticipation of the release.

Using A/B testing on different messaging and price points to build up a list of interested parties and validate the value proposition’s efficacy. Press and analysts are briefed in advance and given product demos. This seeds the media market with coverage when the grand unveiling occurs.

A robust mechanism for soliciting, collecting, aggregating, and analyzing user feedback must be in place at launch. Asses the first impressions and the efficacy of different campaign messages and tactics. The results inform plans and how to allocate resources for wider promotion and growth.

Employing product analytics and customer research, product teams can begin measuring product-market fit. If gaps are identified, they can be added to the product backlog in preparation for future prioritization and product roadmapping activities.

6. Product Lifecycle

Mature products enter a new phase of existence. Typically, this is a cycle of iterative improvements and modifications. Interspersed with more significant expansions (or removal) of functionality and capabilities.

At this point, the product roadmap becomes indispensable. As processes mature, release cadences are established, and the focus shifts to enhancements and growth. KPIs, goals, outcomes, and objectives will evolve throughout the product lifecycle. It will shift based on both the success and struggles of the product as well as the organization.

While rarely boring, this is the most predictable and routine phase of the product lifecycle. Suppose the product continues to find traction and adequate growth while establishing profitability. This phase may last for years, if not decades assuming the product remains viable and there’s a persistent market for it.

To synchronize strategic objectives with resource allocation and development priorities, structure a product roadmap using themes. Themes are excellent to ensure efforts remain focused on what matters most. This method still gives the implementation team some latitude in an Agile development framework.

7. Sunset

All things must end. For some lucky product management professionals, this never happens on their watch. However, statistically, there’s a pretty good chance they’ll have to say goodbye to an entire product or major component at some point during their career.

This isn’t always a bad thing. In fact, it’s just an inevitable part of the strategic phases of the product planning process. It’s a phase in which you are retiring a product due to a superior offering’s arrival. Another reason is a dwindling need for a particular solution. This is because the problem is no longer acute enough to warrant a product.

But wrapping up a longstanding offering has many implications. Using a checklist can ensure all the aspects are properly addressed during the wind-down period.

https://tinyurl.com/2p8x4w2h