In his interview with the Texas CEO Magazine earlier this year, the former general manager of IBM’s Watson project, Manoj Saxena, identified four big inflection points in human history – the alphabet, the printing press, the internet and machine learning.

The internet has truly been a paradigm-shifting presence in our lives and among other aspects of reality it has transformed irretrievably; it has turned the world of business into something truly different. Of course, it isn’t only the internet that has influenced all the huge changes in the world of business and they have been huge, do not be fooled.

For one, today, budding entrepreneurs can start small businesses that didn’t even exist as concepts just 10 years ago.

1. Data Analytics Services

If there is one concept that has marked the last couple of years in business, it has to be big data and data in general. Everywhere you look, it’s all about data, data-driven business and data analytics. The only problem is that the vast majority of companies has no idea how to collect data and even less what to do with it. This is why data analytics companies are thriving today, offering their services to companies who know they could benefit from the various insight data can provide for them, but do not know where to start.

2. Anything App-Related

Mobile phones and apps that inhabit them have become such an inseparable part of our reality that most of us do not even remember a time before them. Believe it or not, but the iOS App Store and Google Play have only came to life in 2008, or eight years ago. Since then, the number of apps has grown dramatically, as has the need for companies that operate in the industry.

If you have the know-how, you can always start an app development agency of your own. Or, you may become an app builder reseller, where you find an app builder service and create codeless apps that you sell on to your clients. There are even companies that make a great living testing other developers’ apps.

3. Educational Consultant Agency

It is difficult to figure out why educational consulting has become a perfectly viable business idea in the last 10 years, but the fact is that it has. Perhaps parents simply became more panicked under the influence of innumerable articles about the importance of getting super-involved in their children’s education. In case you haven’t heard of it before – educational consultants put their experience, connections and expertise to action in order to handle a child’s educational needs by taking care of all the paperwork and finding ways to get a child in the best school that their parents can afford.

4. Cloud Computing Services

The number of companies that are transitioning to the cloud is an immense one and since the “exodus” began, it has created quite a bit of work for people with the right set of skills, i.e. you. Since most companies do not have the people who can handle all the data and services transfer to the cloud, you can make great coin by coming in from the outside and handling the move for them.

The best thing about cloud computing services is that eventually all companies will have to move to the cloud, meaning that there will be no shortage of clients.

5. User Experience Design Agency

User experience (often abbreviated to UX) has become the focal point of companies from all walks of life, especially those that operate on the web. In essence, a UX design agency would help companies modify their products or services so that they provide a better experience to their customers/clients.

You will have to decide on which part of the market you would specialize, because UX design differs greatly from industry to industry and depending on whether this is product or service UX design. The good news is that there is no shortage of demand for either of these.

6. Cybersecurity Consultant Agency

We live in a world where cybersecurity is more important than ever before. Attackers are becoming more skilled and the diversity of targets has grown at an unimaginable rate. These days, no one is secure – hospitals, small businesses, private individuals, everyone. This has especially been the case since the proliferation of ransomware which has become the scourge of the cyber world these last few years and especially in 2016. This is why a cybersecurity consulting agency will always be a good business idea and something that will not run out of work for decades to come.

Closing Word

These are just some of the potential SMB ideas that didn’t exist a mere 10 years ago. Anything connected to digital marketing will also fall into this category, as well as a number of software development categories.

The world of business is changing more rapidly than ever before and that is a great thing. Most of the time.