Top 2009 Trends – “The Collapse of ‘09″… There’s Time to Prepare!

I was a little intrigued by a post news blogger Alan Gray published recently citing the insight of Gerald Celente – the World’s Leading Trend Forecaster. In November 2007, Celente predicted “The Panic of ‘08″ as a Top Trend for 2008 and last month he issued his prediction for the Top Trend of 2009… “The Collapse of ‘09″. (Uplifting huh?) I’m about as big a skeptic as there can be and personally, I think his outlook is a bit dark (does he work for the media?), but based on the economic events over the past 12 months and his 2008 prediction, Celente seems has been on queue. Great supporting evidence is when he stated:

“In 2008, Americans will wake up to the worst economic times that anyone alive has ever seen. And they won’t know what hit them. Just as they were in a state of shock on 9/11, they’ll be frozen in fear when the Economic 9/11 strikes at the heart of Wall Street.”

As we are all very well aware, the “Panic of 08″ hit with this year’s Economic downturn. More than 90% of the major financial institutions have gone bust, unemployment is reaching all time highs, the capital markets are a complete disaster and consumer confidence is all but gone. Celente’s forecast came true.

With this said, I believe knowledge in all cases is power and having the knowledge of Celente’s 2009 prediction it can’t hurt to be prepared –whether the ‘Collapse’ happens or not. For myself, consumers and businesses alike there is ample time to do just that — prepare for what is yet to come whether that truly will be Celente’s forecast of the “Collapse of 09″ or who knows… my prediction which is a possible rebirth in Wall Street, the capital markets and the U.S. economy overall. (Yes, I am really an optimist!)

At DocuSign we are helping our customers and partners prepare for whatever 2009 brings.  More specific, we are focused on helping companies prepare for a successful future by improving their paper-based business processes through DocuSign’s on demand electronic signature and online contract execution software services. For companies using DocuSign, this means significantly reducing operating costs, accelerating revenue generation and driving company growth – regardless of what type of economic environment they’re operating in.  Onward and upward!