By 2012 companies will be forced by law to sign their workers up to schemes, and the professional services provider believes that the next 12 months should see companies firming up plans over which schemes to use and how to absorb the costs of increased participation.
A survey released last week by researchers BDRC Continental found that almost half of SMEs are unaware of the requirement to auto-enrol their staff.
Paul Macro, a senior consultant at Towers Watson, said: "2011 will be a big year for contribution design and scheme type choices.
"To make it work organisations will have to make some fundamental decisions in 2011, as automatic enrolment is likely to have much more influence on private sector plan design than any post-Hutton move to risk-sharing models in the public sector.
"In fact these changes could be a catalyst for the development of new ways of delivering DC pensions that give members appropriate choice and allow the employer to decide how much of the governance is outsourced and how much retained."
Tower Watson also said they expected the Government to announce a single-tier flat-rate state pension.
