Each member of the LSA/Localogy analyst team has their own backgrounds, areas of interest, and expertise. So we’ve each independently developed our own set of predictions for 2020 — developments we believe will unfold that impact the worlds of local, small-business, SaaS, the gig economy, emerging technologies, and more.

Below are my four predictions for our coverage areas in 2020. My colleague Mike Boland posted his predictions last week.

No. 1: 2020 is the year of BIY

B2B sellers have many reasons to want to automate the sales process for SaaS products across the small business enterprise (martech, fintech, etc.). Not only does it hold out the promise of reducing sales costs, and thus improving margins. Sales automation also has the potential to improve retention, customer satisfaction, and average order value. Human sales reps perform unevenly, while a well designed BIY platform, at least in theory, will reduce variability in sales performance and match needs and products more effectively. We expect to see this idea move much closer to reality in 2020. BIY is the subject of an upcoming LSA/Localogy white paper commissioned by Mono Solutions. 

Check out related posts from 2019

• The Buy-it-Yourself Model Makes Landfall in Local TV
• #LSA19: BIY, DIY, DIFM: Which Model Makes Sense and for Whom?

No.2: Food Delivery Wars Will Rage

The crowded food delivery app space will spin-off multiple conflicts in 2020, many of them foreshadowed this year. Increasingly, dining establishments that partner with food delivery services will see the apps as competition. They may seek alternatives like Olo or native apps that allow them to maintain a direct relationship with their customers. The delivery apps will counter with increasing reliance on cloud kitchens to create a 100% delivery based dining ecosystem, disintermediating many restaurants. Finally, we expect at least one city to go to bat for beleaguered delivery drivers this year, requiring wage guarantees, insurance, and other protections.

Check out related posts from 2019

• The Lesson for DoorDash? Transparency is Inevitable
• Are Food Delivery Apps the Chain Restaurants’ Trojan Horse?

No. 3: WeWork Fades as the Co-Working Ecosystem Flourishes

The fundamental flaw in WeWork’s business model will be too much to overcome, and the company will falter further and perhaps even go bankrupt in 2020. In its place will rise a distributed co-working ecosystem, at least in urban centers. Health clubs will be remodeled to include co-working space. Urban hotels will increasingly encourage laptop jockeys to hang out in newly fashioned co-working space in or near their lobbies. Every new or refurbished high rise apartment or condo building will include a co-working component, for both residents and potentially outside guests. The difference is none of these entities rely on co-working as a primary revenue source. It will be a benefit to attract more gym members, diners, hotel guests, and tenants, potentially at higher rates. 

Check out related posts from 2019

• Have the Unicorns Jumped the Shark?
• The Future of Co-working? It’s Gyms, Hotels & Apartment Buildings

No. 4: The Yellow Rollup Redux

We don’t talk about Yellow Pages very much on the blog these days. Yet a number of substantial legacy Yellow companies continue to operate around the world, and they continue to be attractive partners for solutions providers looking for resellers. We predict that in 2020, at least two of the world’s remaining legacy Yellow companies will combine. And they will do so for the usual reasons — scale and cost savings.  

Stay tuned to hear our analysts discuss their 2020 predictions in an upcoming episode of the LSA’s Above the Cloud podcast.