Well, that's done then.  2020 - dead and hopefully buried in the particularly nasty shallow grave it undoubtedly deserves.  A brand new, shiny 2021 beckons, full of promise backed by vaccines and a UK economy set to bounce back stronger than ever.  Or so we all hope.

End-of-year look-back reviews have always been quite the thing at this point of any other 'normal' period but I, for one, do not intend to dwell on the misery visited upon us all by justifying 2020's miserable experiences.  It's clear that we're still some considerable way away from a genuine end to the COVID-19 nightmare but - whisper it - that hypodermic needle pin-prick of light at the end of this long, dank, frustrating tunnel does show signs of growing larger and more visible.  As someone for whom the glass is perpetually half full rather than half empty I have to believe that the end of 2021 will look and feel substantially different to what we have all been subjected to over the past few weeks of holiday festivities.

I began writing about the digital ways and means the Retail & Hospitality sectors could adopt in their ongoing efforts to transform back in June.  Data and the insight they contain, latent signposts to achieving transformative business outcomes, formed the basis of many of the articles. Unsurprisingly, this is because I have worked with so many Retailers to identify business value from leveraging data and how they underpin cohesive strategies for Digital Transformation.  I wrote about how Supply Chain data needs to be continually refreshed to take account of new trading patterns accelerated by changing consumer purchasing behaviours.  In June I started by examining the critical importance of Customer Segmentation in better understanding how to deliver a meaningful CX.  And throughout I have espoused the importance of interconnectedness, the fact that, within data, one finds how seemingly innocuous numbers impact and correlate to often seismic disruptions in otherwise unexpected areas of operation once the analytics have been run.  Retail was already all-but consumed with the exponential shift in consumer interaction brought about by digital online commerce before the pandemic but the increase in momentum towards truly Omnidigital customers has still taken some parts of the sector seemingly by surprise.  At the very end of November I highlighted the dichotomy between sustainability and the massive increase in home/other delivery predicated by online commerce, an operation which by its very nature generates additional CO2 emissions - a trend which was plain to see but is being glossed over for the sake of (literal) convenience.  And yet, the naivety of certain stakeholders pivotal to the growth of online still managed to beggar belief - the UK Post Office Communication Workers Union I'm looking at you:

'According to the online retail trade body the IMRG, sales for the first two weeks of December jumped by just over 50% compared to the previous year.

"We could not possibly have anticipated this level of packets and parcels, it seems to be intensifying every day," said Terry Pullinger, deputy general secretary of the Communication Workers Union.'

(Source:  BBC News - December 18 2020)

You "could not possibly have anticipated this level of packets and parcels"?  Seriously?

As I began by saying: 2020 has passed, gone for good - dead and buried.  Onwards to 2021 and with it, a personal request to one and all.  I have been gratified and humbled in equal measure by the response to my articles and the numbers of people who have read them.  Following the parting of ways with Hitachi at the end of May I have striven to maintain a public profile by continuing to comment upon our industry's sterling efforts to survive and, through the use of digital, to thrive.  In seeking a new position I have spoken with and interviewed for a number of organisations large and small, involving substantial in-depth preparation and emotional investment, all ultimately falling frustratingly fallow at the last moment for a variety of equally frustrating reasons.  As we start 2021 may I ask you to bear me in mind and to contact me should you know about or hear of any roles for which my skills and experience would be valuable?  I'm afraid that, with all the paintwork finished and the garden looking immaculate, I really do need to find a new challenge...

Happy New Year.