Clients ask me what industry should they invest in or set up a business in. For pure opportunity and profitability I used to think financial services as I worked in and saw the profitability. However more recently I would say technology services as I think it is booming and will continue to do so!
Financial services is getting squeezed by regulation at the point of contact with the retail clients as commissions that mortgage brokers, superannuation funds, financials planners and insurance agents are allowed to charge get eradicated or reduced. The reduction in these fees flows through to the big end of town where all these customer funds are aggregated and deals are done; check out the movie ‘The Big Short’ to get a feel for aggregation of housing loans; this is not a good and happy example of course! From this graph you can see financial services despite these pressures are still making good $$ and profit. My colleagues in the sector have been aware for years that the profitability is getting squeezed though they are still in it and seem to still be financially happy at least!
This graph illustrates IT or Technology services is below average profitability which surprises me as the people who run these businesses are usually well organised, good planners and consequently monitor the business and profitability. There is plenty of disruption happening in the sector with Cloud technology that many of the larger and incumbent technology firms were slow to adapt to which may mean these firms loss of profitability has had a large bearing on these statistics. The disruption here will continue which will create great opportunities for start ups and small business that can be nimble and act and capitalise on ideas quickly.
Ultimately the best business to set up is the one you can be passionate about and be committed too for the long haul! Do your research and understand what you are getting into and work smart and hard.
(You can check out our previous blog post regarding the technology services boom to get a greater insight into the technology industry)