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Patrik Stoopendahl: Culture Construct and The Trends of Consumer Behavior

With consumer behavior shifting rapidly, chief marketing officers (CMO) and customer experience (CX) executives are always in search of ways to help bridge organizations toward digital transformation and ensure their business remains competitive in today’s market.

Patrik Stoopendahl, Ph.D. Candidate & Business Anthropologist of consumer trends share a business anthropologist’s role in assisting CMOs and CX executives through culture construct and how consumer behavior is expected to change in a post-pandemic world.

 
Who is a business anthropologist?
The function of a business anthropologist has evolved over the years but essentially, it is the discipline of applying theories and methodologies of social anthropology to understand and investigate organizations and their ecosystems.
 

Integrating Culture Construct and Data in Consumer Behavior.

Business anthropologists have been around since the 1980s, but the role has changed significantly in today’s modern landscape. Could you elaborate on the roles you take as a business anthropologist in 2021?

 

The biggest change as a business anthropologist today is the need to work with multiple data sources. Previously, they would have to enter the marketplace with a qualitative culture and a critical-oriented perspective. 

Today as an anthropologist, you need to be able to include many more different types of data to help businesses adopt a strategic mindset, an understanding of the business to create opportunities.

One other major change is the need to understand the relationships between humans and technology. Back in the 1980s, Lucy Suchman a social scientist who worked for Xerox (known as PARC then) hired business anthropologists to discover the company’s “Big Green Button“, the origin of the machine’s copier button. 

This is the role of an anthropologist in the business world. To act as a broker between technology and humans and the way it works. In addition, to understand and broker the perspective of a marketeer, a CX director, or a CMO. 

 

Has there been any pushback from companies or businesses that are stuck in their old ways and trying to adopt new technologies? And how do you bridge them?

 

There are two camps with how companies deal with emerging technology. 

You either have companies dealing with it head-on or try to implement as many new technologies as possible. Or, as some retailers in Europe have done, pick and choose specific technologies and digital transformation into their business, based on the consumers’ wants and behaviors.

However, by adapting too much new tech into your business, you will end up with a lot of apps and digital functionality that are never used. 

As such, retailers do not have to necessarily give the consumer a hundred different digital options. Instead, focus on what should be your “Big Green Button”, and make the process smooth for the consumer.

By doing that, you can then create business opportunities and satisfy more customers.

 

Culture construct is a key element in business anthropology. What are the key benefits of a cultural construct for marketers and how should CMOs and CX Directors integrate it into their organization?

 

To include the idea of culture construct, or to even think about customers and their culture, can be a challenge.

As a marketer, to think about cultural construct, you need to approach it with two thoughts. You need to think about the consumers and your organization being in the cultural setting because, for the retailer, the marketplace is also a cultural setting. 

When you adopt that mindset, of placing your company in a cultural setting, you will enable yourself to become more dynamic in your way of thinking. Allowing you to dare to be a bit more intuitive in your choices when it comes to business decisions.

However, there is currently a culture clash in the marketplace between being data-driven and adopting a qualitative approach.

In retailing today, the current global phenomenon is to be data-driven. The need to collect data to find solutions, to help with decisions, and the strategic approach to move forward as a retailer should always be data-driven.

There are reports that mention the need for both approaches, adopting a qualitative culture setting and being data-driven. The reason is, that as your department of data analysis grows and becomes more important, the anthropologist aspect needs to grow at the same rate to maintain balance. 

Otherwise, you will end up with blunt instruments whereby the consumer experience will not be as optimized as it could be, especially when you’re trying to build a connection to your brand.

 

Talking about data and its technologies, how do you feel about the state of data analytics and how much data is available to businesses?

 

As part of the Ph.D. research that I am conducting, I have managed to spend one year in the field in 2020 during the pandemic to study 10 consumers and their customer journey.

With so much of the consumer behavior placed on the smartphone or tablet, I partnered up with RealityMine, a permission-based data collection company in England, to keep track of the consumer’s behaviors through those devices. 

During a full month, I was able to see the commercial behaviors of consumers in addition to interviews and observations I have conducted. And when you sit with that much data, you become very humbled, with understanding how people behave on their phones and the insights that you can draw for CMO and CX directors.

The obvious one is that content is still too sparse, as consumers today want so much information, either to read up on or watch through videos. And while content has been abundant, from the consumer’s perspective it is still too little that is relevant to their interests.

From the retailer’s perspective, we understand the customer journey and the actual purchase decision moment, more known as the “Zero Moment of Truth”. We know a lot about how to reach consumer satisfaction because there is so much research about it.

However, there is almost no information on the post-consumer phase. And if we come to the issues of sustainability, which is a major topic in Europe, we know very little about sustainable consumer behavior with how people purchase online and digital purchasing behavior.

 

The Change in Consumer Behavior

2020 has seen seismic shifts in consumer behavior as more and more are embracing digital channels. How do you see consumer behavior change (or remain) in 2021?

 

The obvious behavior that will change is when consumers are freed from restriction, which will see a massive amount of consumption for experiences.

During the pandemic, we had a massive rise in the consumption of products from categories that are related to the home. Industries such as furnishing, gardening, decoration, and retailing, companies within those industries have reaped economic gains during the pandemic.

Assuming that we eventually beat the virus through the increase of vaccination. When people are allowed to go out, the service industry will grow from it. As a retailer, you would need to consider the post-purchase effect and the services you can connect to the consumers. 

If you were to keep sending discount coupons based on data analysis that you bought in 2020, you’re going to lose in that race. You will need to get innovative and service-focused in 2021. That is the major adaption you need to prepare for the changing consumer behavior.

 

Given the surge in consumption that will happen in 2021, are businesses afraid or prepared for the rapid changes in consumer behavior?

 

The mindset in organizations today is quick to adjust to the rapid changes in consumer behavior. However, when it comes to infrastructure, the process, and the divisions, that will be much slower.

Nevertheless, we have had companies in Sweden who were successful in responding to the sudden change in consumer behavior. They shifted their internal organizational structure to be able to quickly focus on developing the necessary processes that they had in the pipeline for eCommerce. 

For me, the most successful companies are the ones that have organizational flexibility. And the companies that I interviewed were still very administrative and inflexible, they were kind of pulling their hair in trying to respond to the rapid changes in the market.

Think fast, act fast. You cannot only do one of them. You need to do both. 

And of course, you will be making some people upset in the process, but that is the name of the game. When you have to move from a long-term, strategic customer experience perspective into a very hardcore data-driven, sales-driven, and tech-focused phase, you will see people struggle with that change.

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4 Methods To Utilize Clubhouse For Your Business

Since its launch in 2020, Clubhouse has steadily been gaining influence as a viable platform for CXOs to explore. However, businesses are still trying to figure out how exactly they can use the platform as part of their strategy.

During Management Event’s weekly Transformation Thursday, expert speakers and industry leaders share their thoughts on how businesses or brands are exploring ways to use Clubhouse. If you missed out on the session, read on to find out the 4 methods that you use to utilize Clubhouse as part of your business strategy.

 

1. Creating Authentic Business Connections

 

While Clubhouse is currently the hottest social media app, it is still just a social media app and doesn’t necessarily guarantee success for your business goals. However, it can be a valuable tool for creating (or rekindling) business connections that will help as part of your overall marketing funnel.

Given the intimate setting of the app, whereby live conversations are happening, it’s easy for executives or business owners to spontaneously reach out to new connections during or after a session. This spur-of-the-moment connection can lead to possible business opportunities or even act as lead generation, on top of your planned marketing strategies.

One of the points raised during Transformation Thursday was the fact that Clubhouse has the ability to deliver real-time authentic conversations, something that no other social media platform is capable of doing.

 

2. A Direct Platform To Collect Data

 

Data is a powerful tool that companies can utilize to further improve their product/service and strengthen their organizational efficiency. With Clubhouse, you have a powerful platform that allows you to collect real-time data for your business.

Instead of expensive focus groups, you can attract the specific audience that you want into your session and communicate directly with them to get feedback on your products or services. The approach itself can be as organic as setting up a room to chat and just talk with the people in the room on what they think about your company’s products or services.

Companies can use Clubhouse to extract data, entrepreneurs can also use it to collect valuable feedback on business ideas. All you need to do is just set up a room and invite people in your industry to chat with and get instant input to refine your ideas in real-time.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

3. Crafting A Tailored Brand Image

 

Cultivating a strong brand image is key to a company’s success in today’s socially aware market, and Clubhouse as a platform allows you to create a tailored brand image where you can control your message.

Compared to other platforms such as email marketing or Instagram where it is a “one-way” communication, Clubhouse allows for “two-way” communication where you can immediately hear feedback from your audiences.

This offers direct access to the audiences that you want to connect and better tell the story of your brand. And with the numerous sessions available in the app, it’s easy to join a room relevant to your business, get on stage and deliver value to build a relationship with the people.

 

4. Building a Community Around Your Business

 

One of the big potentials highlighted during Transformation Thursday is the ability to build an engaged community that will help grow your business sphere of influence. 

For example, Nike can create a room for the running community where users can talk about running equipment and share their thoughts on Nike products. Management Events can create communities that focus on business networking and sharing industry insights.

By creating rooms or topics that are relevant to your product and providing valuable conversations, you can quickly establish yourself as an industry expert. Through those sessions, you will then be able to build a community of potential customers that you can talk to directly.

Despite being around for less than a year, Clubhouse has proven to be quite the popular platform for influencers and executives alike. With the points we’ve outlined, your business will able to take your presence in Clubhouse to the next level.

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Lars Aasulv Løddesøl: Building Storebrand Into a Sustainable Pillar in Society

As a key player in the Nordic market for long-term savings and insurance, Storebrand has consistently pushed the narrative of sustainability for financial organizations. With leadership that is acutely aware of environmental, social, and economic aspects in decision-making, Storebrand aims to achieve business growth while contributing to saving the planet.

We sat down with the Group CFO, Lars Aa. Løddesøl talks about Storebrand’s journey towards sustainability, the challenges they faced, the roles of CFOs, and their commitment to companies.

 

Driving Towards The Path of Sustainability

 

Storebrand’s journey towards sustainable investment began more than 25 years ago with some leading investment pioneers who wanted to invest in a new field that should end up being very interesting for their customers and the company.

More importantly, Løddesøl iterated the fact that investing in sustainability was “the right thing to do” for any organization, more so for Storebrand as a life- and pensions company where their investments go beyond the next quarter or the next year, but rather 40 to 50 years ahead.

“We want to invest in the future, both for a better world and for a better return,” notes Løddesøl. This vision for sustainability has attracted many of its current employees who believe and share in the same purpose for creating a better future.

As a purpose-driven organization, Storebrand prominently communicates its driving force to “help create a future worth looking forward to”. Løddesøl points out that the company, at its core, pushes the vision of “delivering financial security and freedom by being a courageous pioneer and by leading the way in sustainable investments”.

Løddesøl believes that this helps motivate their employees and the organization as a whole to be leaders in sustainable investments and to become founding members of sustainable-focused groups such as Principles For Responsible Investment and Net-Zero Asset Owner Alliance.

 

Taking a Leap in Sustainability and Facing The Challenges

 

With strong management support since 1995, there was a senior commitment in Storebrand to develop a position as a leading company in sustainable investments on a global level.

As such, the leap towards sustainability for Storebrand was not an arduous jump as the culture was ingrained early on within the company’s DNA.

Add to the fact that a number of board members have strong sustainability competencies requiring Storebrand to be operating in an environmentally conscious manner, the motivation was there on both sides to be sustainable on all levels.

Transitioning into a green company, however, does come with its challenges. One of the early challenges that Løddesøl recalls is the criticism and skepticism on whether sustainable investments would give competitive financial returns. As time has passed and data has improved, there is now little doubt that sustainable investments give better risk-adjusted returns.

A more recent challenge for Storebrand is to differentiate itself from “greenwashing” in the competitive market. To overcome this, Løddesøl points out the importance of using and capturing data on sustainability to be able to objectively and transparently report on objectives and progress in sustainable investments.

 

Adding “Value” To The Role of CFO In Sustainability

 

The role of the CFO has always been to ensure stable financial growth in a company, but for Løddesøl, the term chief financial officer doesn’t accurately reflect the roles he takes in a sustainable-focused business.

Løddesøl believes a more accurate term for CVO (Chief Value Officer) would better represent the role as “values are broader than the short-term financials but is also part of the financials.”

In terms of defining the focus of CVOs, Løddesøl explains that hitting the triple bottom line of profit (financials), people (employees and customers), and the planet (environment and climate) should always be the main factors in making business decisions.

Nevertheless, the role of CFOs as guardians and guarantors of a company’s financials still remains important for Løddesøl.

“As a CFO, I have an important role of having dialogues with regulators, financial markets, investors, and many other stakeholders, to communicate why sustainability is good for shareholders, customers, society at large, and the world.”

 

Competitive Edge in Sustainability and Zero-Sum Game

 

In a competitive market such as the financial industry, staying ahead of the competition requires great planning and a clear vision.

For Løddesøl and Storebrand as an organization, maintaining the competitive edge with sustainability comes from “purpose-driven employees, excess returns, and as part of our contract with society, our mission as a company in society.”

“Companies can no longer survive in the long term just by bringing in the extra dollars the next quarter,” notes Løddesøl. “It is now a requirement to take a responsible role in the market and contribute to society, which in turn will bring financial values.”

While Løddesøl believes that companies should be adopting sustainable efforts to ensure long-term financial returns, he also points out how sustainability is not a zero-sum game.

“In order to save the world from the climate crisis, we need to do the right thing ourselves and also motivate and engage with others to do the right thing.”

Being a relatively small Norwegian company in a global context, Løddesøl is aware that Storebrand can’t save the world alone. However, he hopes that Storebrand’s contributions can push other companies to commit to sustainable efforts and contribute to making the necessary action to make the green shift before it is too late.

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Clubhouse Concerns: Privacy And Security Issues

As entrepreneurs, influencers, and c-level executives (CXO) flock to Clubhouse in a bid to harness the app, the security and privacy shortcomings are becoming evident, forcing businesses to re-evaluate their approach to the social media platform.

The app’s fast rise to fame also came with a price as security issues within the platform came to light, posing the question of whether users’ data are fully protected.

In this article, we take a quick look at the recent data breach that Clubhouse experienced and what concerns it raises.

 

Data Spillage and Security Leaks

 

Stanford University Internet Observatory first raised concerns about a Shanghai-based start-up that supplies Clubhouse’s back-end infrastructure and that they would have access to “users raw audio, potentially providing access to the Chinese government.”

Another report by McAfee’s Advanced Threat Research team also highlighted similar security issues in both hardware and software due to Clubhouse’s reliance on the Shanghai tech company.

Both reports seem to indicate that the platform was working on an infrastructure that was poised to be hacked or breached.

In February, Clubhouse confirmed that chats were breached from the invite-only app. The company claimed that an unidentified user was able to stream Clubhouse audio feeds from “multiple rooms” and streamed it on their own third-party website.

A spokesperson for the company has stated that the user was permanently banned and that new safeguards were being installed, which pushes the app a step towards securing and protecting user data even more.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

Differing Impacts of security issues

 

Responses from cybersecurity experts on whether Clubhouse is safe for users varied widely with some claiming it should be a serious concern for anyone who uses the app for sensitive conversations.

On the other side of the coin, experts highlighted that the security issues raised by the reports were hypothetical and that the risks were mainly concerned with users in China, where the app is already banned.

Nevertheless, certain parts of the world are taking a serious look at Clubhouse’s shortcomings when it comes to data protection and consumer law with countries such as Germany taking court action against the app due to its failure to meet GDPR requirements.

Whether or not Clubhouse security measures are compliant with data and privacy acts, it’s important for businesses and CXOs to be aware of the potential security risks involved with the platform.

 

Prioritizing Cybersecurity Investments 

 

Despite Clubhouse’s meteoric rise to unicorn status with a reported valuation of $1 billion, for them to remain as a viable platform for businesses and industry leaders, the company must invest in and strengthen its cybersecurity measures immediately.

Given the vast increase in digital communications due to work-from-home initiatives and our own report on cybersecurity trends among CXOs and businesses, the onus lies on Clubhouse to ensure that their users’ data are protected.

While the recent security issues do not pose any serious threats or risks, for now, they still serve as a reminder that users need to be vigilant when using the app and that Clubhouse needs to improve its security measures sooner than later.

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Can CxOs Harness The Power of Clubhouse?

Clubhouse, a social media platform, is currently making waves around the world as the latest silicon valley success with everyone from Mark Zuckerberg to Oprah making their appearance on the app.

For c-level executives (CXOs), Clubhouse can be a powerful tool for business growth when used effectively. There’s potential for it to be a platform to learn about emerging technologies, fringe strategies, solutions, and even learn new skills.

In this article, we’ll go through some tips to effectively use the platform and ensure that you’re not missing out on the hottest social media app.

 

Clubhouse: A Quick Recap

 

If you’re well-versed in Clubhouse, then go ahead and skip this part. If you do not know anything about Clubhouse, here are some important points to be aware of:

  • It’s a voice-only social platform that lets users create rooms and start conversations.
  • Users can join rooms and participate in conversations.
  • Each room will have moderators to oversee conversations.
  • It’s an invite-only app, which means you need to be invited to join.
  • It’s only available in iOS but an android version is being developed.
 
Join US NOW: Be part of Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) and gain exclusive access to deep-dives from industry experts and key decision-makers.
 

How To Harness Clubhouse

 

Now that you have a basic understanding of Clubhouse, how or why should you use Clubhouse?

While it is still in its infancy, Clubhouse does offer tangible short-term and long-term business gains that other social media platforms do not. As a business or organization, it’d be wise to take advantage of what the app has to offer, especially now with people such as Elon Musk being part of it.

 

Expanding Your Business Network

 

At face value, Clubhouse might not guarantee success for your business goals, however, it can be a valuable tool to expand your network and open up opportunities for growth and potential partnerships.

Once you’ve secured an invitation, experiment with the platform and follow different clubs, join rooms and connect with people that could be cultivated into networking opportunities for your organization or a source for valuable insights and inspiration.

The app has seen high-profile figures joining and engaging consistently, making it a vibrant platform for decision-makers to network with peers, work with visionaries, and maybe even be inspired by like-minded leaders.

 

A Place For Knowledge Sharing

 

At its core, Clubhouse is about sharing. Be it sharing information, ideas, or insider knowledge, the app provides a great place for insights from industry peers that otherwise might not be easily accessible.

Of course, it doesn’t compare to tailored industry events or virtual networking sessions for businesses, it is still a hotbed for CXOs to share their findings, engage in discussion on industry trends, and gain unique perspectives from other c-levels.

Whether it is about marketing, AI, finance, or even business transformations, there are a wide variety of topics and rooms that you can explore and learn from to help you solve or strengthen your business.

 
Next-level Insights: Gain exclusives insights on industry trends from experts at Management Events’ Clubhouse (@Managementev) sessions.
 

Huge Pool of Talent and Recruitment

 

As you visit rooms and join in discussions relevant to your industry, you’ll come across people with the skills and experience that your business might need. Given the exponential growth of Clubhouse’s userbase, this makes it a valuable platform for talent resources and recruitment.

There have been many cases of recruiters utilizing the app by finding talents through networking in the chat rooms or just setting an impromptu interview on the spot. During Elon Musk’s infamous interview on Clubhouse, he used the opportunity to promote NeuraLink and went on to encourage engineers to apply to his company, highlighting the instantaneous interaction that you can have on the app.

Finding the right people can be as easy as joining a room and mentioning that you are looking for people to help with your business. Within minutes, you’ll be receiving messages from talents and the services that they offer.

 

What The Future Holds For Clubhouse

 

While Clubhouse is definitely the buzzword for many right now, its future as a pillar of business networking is still in question. There are tons of potential within the app, but also numerous issues that still need resolving.

Some of those issues include a better method to filter audiences, a better system to moderate, and most importantly, the security concerns over data and audio leaks.

Whether or not Clubhouse will become a super-aggregator remains to be seen but the potential is there. With the developers looking to improve the platform by adding creator tools and quality-of-life improvements, the app can be a powerful tool in the hands of C-level executives in the future.

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Understanding The Tech Challenges of Retail Giants

With more and more people embracing digital and smart shopping experiences, the retail market is scrambling to adopt new retail technology to remain viable and sustain growth in a rapidly changing landscape.

In this article, we’ll highlight some of the major challenges businesses are facing and the solutions they are looking for. For a more in-depth look at the trends of the retail industry, head over to our Retail Investment 2021 report.

 

Challenge 1: Evolving and Enhancing CX

 

Customer experience is expected to shift even more in 2021 and as consumers become more conscious of their spending, retailers will need to optimize every step of the customer journey to maintain loyalty, and spark growth.

Improving customer journey optimization will involve significant investments in retail technology trends, a key touchpoint of which will be the tech that improves process efficiency such as AI, automation, and customer touchpoints (as well as mapping them out).

A quick view at the core focuses among retail leaders shows that many organizations are prioritizing smart solutions and digital competency to handle customer needs and ensure quality CX.

 
 

What Are They Looking For

 

Improving the experience for customers by delivering fast and accurate responses through CX software which integrates marketing automation, customer service, CRM, CPQ, sales force automation (SFA) solutions, and customer data platform (CDP)

 

Challenge 2: Deciphering The Data

 

Achieving effective customer journey optimization will require targeted investments in retail technology and a high priority tech among retail leaders is data and analytics.

With the influx of data available due to rapid digital transformation, organizations are scrambling to adopt big data and real-time data analytics to better refine their business actions according to customers’ needs and profiles.

As the global big data market is forecasted to be worth $103 billion by 2027, data analytics is no longer just a buzzword, but an important retail technology investment needed for day-to-day efficiency in organizations and individuals.

Given the current talent gap, however, businesses will still look to third-party solutions in terms of building an infrastructure that allows them to utilize data analytics effectively.

 

What Are They Looking For

 

Platforms that implement easy-to-use analytics, data mining, and automated forecasting. Department-specific data such as marketing, sales, and customer analytics will also be a key factor for many businesses.

 

Challenge 3: Digitalizing Stores and Scaling e-Commerce

 

A shift towards improved digital storefront experiences is in line with customer market behavior as globally, 49% of the population is shopping online more now compared to pre-COVID times.

Nevertheless, customers still prefer shopping on-location, with a recent survey done by Shekel showing that 87% of customers prefer to shop in stores, but with touchless or seamless self-checkouts.

As such, improving the infrastructure for businesses’ e-commerce platforms and brick-and-mortar stores has become a race. Those who are able to achieve seamless online shopping experiences and frictionless smart payments will get the lion’s share of the market.

 

What Are They Looking For

 

The ability to transition from an analog business model to a digital, omnichannel model through cloud solutions or optimizing current digital channels such as mobile apps, IoT, and smart shopping.

 

Challenge 4: Improving Digital Security

 

Machine learning and cloud computing continue to be high priorities in tech adoption for retail leaders. Cybersecurity, however, has seen a significant rise due to demands for safer and more secure digital/smart shopping.

The confusion caused by the coronavirus and the massive shift towards digital/remote working has led to cyberattacks becoming frequent with large data breaches increased by 273% in the first quarter of 2020.

 
 

Retailers will face an uphill battle in the “new normal” of post-COVID to assimilate all the necessary digital security strategies, be it upgrading vulnerable software and hardware components or strengthening customer data protection, to ensure customer confidence and loyalty.

However, with the global market for cyber security software expected to grow to $230 billion in 2021, they can expect exponential growth in the practices and solutions for digital security.

 

What Are They Looking For

 

A simplified platform that allows them to reduce security risk through robust privileged access management (PAM) and optimal solutions for customer data storage and protection that comply with GDPR.

 

Overcoming The Challenges

 

At the start of 2021, it’s clear that retail giants are making big investments when it comes to innovative retail technologies. Certain technologies, such as digital transformations, continue to be a major priority for retailers.

The big changes, however, come from renewed interest in improving customer journeys through data analytics and scaling up digital channels via e-commerce or smart shopping experiences.

For any organization, it’s essential to identify which areas of retail technology they are trailing behind, then network with the right solution provider, invest in skilled talents and have the necessary tools to maintain growth in a soon-to-be revitalized industry.

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How to Fully Utilize Data for Improved Customer Experience

Every great business recognizes the importance of customer experience (CX) – a critical strategy in engaging and retaining customers to your brand.

With the e-commerce landscape booming amidst impacts from COVID-19, it’s apparent that CX has transcended through both digital and physical sales channels, and is a key competitive differentiator for brands.

But with the extensive research and analyses on achieving great customer experience, why is CX still an ongoing concern for businesses?

 

THE CX CHALLENGE

 

However, as straightforward as it may sound, it’s becoming harder for companies to achieve the customer experience that consumers expect due to:

 
 

Customer touchpoints are especially significant as these are the areas in the customer journey where the consumer interacts with your brand, and have a direct impact on their overall experience.

 
 

According to customer service provider, Help Scout, “a poor experience at one touchpoint can easily degrade the customer’s perception of multiple positive historical experiences at other touchpoints.” And Qiigo claims that it can take between 13 to 20 touchpoints, or touches, to convert a prospect into a customer. 

Fortunately, as businesses become more digitized, it’s much easier to identify customer behavior patterns and to improve touchpoints in their journey.

However, the amount of raw data available combined with the challenge of analyzing and acting on customer insights are factors as to why organizations are still lacking in quality customer experience.

 

PREDICTIVE ANALYTICS IN CX

 

Unlike prior generations, the consumers of today have higher expectations and a clear idea of what they want and how they want companies to deliver it to them.

But 71% of consumers are still receiving “An offer that clearly shows they do not know who I am” while 41% are seeing “Mistakes made about basic information about me.”

Such errors are taken as signs that the brands are ‘intentionally’ not placing importance on their customers when actually, it shows that organizations are not using their customer data to the fullest potential.

 

Pre-Purchase, Purchase and Post-Purchase

 

By leveraging data and artificial intelligence (AI), companies can improve all stages of their CX journey.

One example given by Capgemini showed how Amazon used AI and predictive analytics, before the browsing prospects even made a purchase, to:

 
 

Qymatix Solutions also emphasized the cruciality of using predictive analytics in the pre-purchase and purchase stages through predictive lead scoring while utilizing churn and cross–selling predictions in the post-purchase phase.

Micro-Segmentation and Personalization

 

In the past, segmentation was sufficient to deliver an ‘adequately personalized customer experience’, but today, brands need to micro-segment their potential consumers for hyper-personalization.

Using machine learning, predictive modeling and data mining, predictive analytics help to:

 
 

In a use case by Wavicle Data Solutions, a restaurant chain’s consumers were segmented into multiple groups and clusters based on gathered data. Following that, “predictive analytics and machine learning created both macro and micro-segments of customers, with matching customized offers for each audience”.

At the end of their process, the restaurant chain was able to develop personalization and loyalty programs that engage customers with more customized offers and meaningful messages, increase customer retention, and grow revenue.

 

Resource Efficiency For Higher CX

 

Aside from giving consumers exactly what they need, predictive analytics also help in the efficient allocation of your resources. 

For instance, a coffee shop saved 38% of their marketing costs by predicting which of their customers were more likely to churn and sending them targeted offers to convert them into loyal customers.

Other examples, given by MarTech Series, show how predictive analytics can reduce resource wastage and streamline costs by planning staffing levels in advance for smoother and more timely customer experience, and upgrade delivery timelines by conveying transport route adjustments for on-time deliveries.

These efficiency strategies not only lead to savings for the company, but also ultimately improve the interactions and experience of the consumers.

But predictive personalization cannot be made without quality data, and data strategy is where some organizations face roadblocks.

 

MAPPING ORGANIZATIONAL DATA JOURNEY

 

While businesses often map out their customer journey, companies should also map out their internal data journey, which can involve multiple functions and C-suites, to determine weak areas in the sharing of their CX data.

For instance, are there information silos between the business departments? Which function has decision authority over data?

In a CX team proposed by TechTarget, the Chief Customer Officer (CCO) is responsible for the customer experience metrics and research while the Chief Experience Officer (CXO) “creates customer journey maps that use data to predict future consumer actions”.

On the other hand, Dion Hinchcliffe, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Constellation Research and Brian Hopkins, Vice President and Principal Analyst at Forrester Research, both talked about data-sharing and partnerships between different C-suites.

Hinchcliffe mentioned that the Chief Information Officer (CIO) and Chief Marketing Officer (CMO) each have a vital part to play in delivering quality customer experience.

Meanwhile, Hopkins believes that the Chief Data Officer (CDO) and CIO can form a powerful partnership to drive data strategy, where IT supports the CDO to maximize the impact of customer data.

To quote Hopkins, “The bottom line is that control over data is neither a pure tech decision nor a pure data decision.”

With more specialized C-level roles and functions emerging, organizations need to tear down data silos and establish active communication between all business functions for a joint effort towards better customer experience.

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SASE – Netzwerksicherheit Neu Gedacht

Das Secure Access Service Edge (SASE)-Rahmenwerk wurde von Gartner aufbauend auf den neuen Anforderungen an den modernen Geschäftsalltag entwickelt. Im Zeitalter des „Work from Anywhere“ gilt es, User, Geräte und Anwendungen sicher miteinander zu verbinden – ohne dabei auf das klassische Netzwerk zurückzugreifen. Die Sicherheit muss dazu aus dem Netzwerk ans Edge und damit zum einzelnen Mitarbeiter hin verlagert werden. Die Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange hilft dabei.

Heute werden Anwendungen neben Rechenzentren zunehmend in Multicloud-Umgebungen vorgehalten und die Anwender arbeiten in hybriden Arbeitsplatzmodellen. Der Büroschreibtisch wechselt sich dabei mit dem Home Office oder shared Office-Umgebungen ab. Da Anwender und viele Anwendungen das Netzwerk verlassen haben greift die herkömmliche Sicherheit am Unternehmensperimeter nicht mehr.

Die Gartner-Analysten stellen mit ihrem SASE-Konzept den traditionellen Ansatz auf den Kopf. Das Rahmenwerk geht davon aus, dass nicht mehr das Netzwerk in den Mittelpunkt der Sicherheitsbestrebungen gestellt werden muss, sondern die Absicherung des Datenverkehrs zum Anwender. Der Kerngedanke lautet, dass Sicherheit für das Zeitalter des „Working from Anywhere“ ebenfalls über die Cloud bereitgestellt werden sollte. So kann der Datenverkehr während des gesamten Weges vom User zu seiner Applikation geschützt werden, ohne dass der Standort des Anwenders oder der Applikation eine Rolle spielt. Der herkömmliche, netzwerkbasierte Sicherheitsansatz wird durch ein Anwender-zentriertes Modell abgelöst.

Ausschlaggebend beim Secure Access Service Edge-Rahmenwerk ist das „Edge“. Dieser Begriff dient nicht dazu, den Standort des Users zu beschreiben, sondern worauf er zugreifen möchte, denn. die Applikationen können bei unterschiedlichen Cloud-Providern liegen. Trotz der damit einhergehenden Komplexität von Mulicloud-Infrastrukturen hat der Anwender die Erwartungshaltung, mit der größtmöglichen User-Experience auf seine benötigten Anwendungen zugreifen zu können. Im Idealfall bemerkt er gar nicht mehr, wo die Applikationen vorgehalten werden, wenn der Zugriff reibungslos stattfindet.

Das SASE-Rahmenwerk bezieht für die direkt Anbindung ans Internet von jeder Niederlassung deshalb weitere Komponenten für die Konnektivität, wie z.B SD-WAN-Lösungen, mit ein.  Direktes Ausbrechen von jedem Unternehmens- oder sogar Mitarbeiterstandort spart Umwege und profitiert wiederum von einem Cloud-basierten Sicherheitskonzept. Um niedrige Latenzzeiten zu gewährleisten und den Anwender auf dem direkten Weg mit seiner Anwendung zu verbinden können außerdem Peering-Points zwischen Cloud-Anbietern und Cloud Service Providern beitragen.

 

Damit nun die Sicherheit bei einem solchen Rahmenwerk gewährleistet wird, kommt Zero Trust ins Spiel. Zero Trust Network Access (ZTNA) bietet den sicheren Zugriff für autorisierte Anwender auf ihre Applikationen, ohne die Infrastruktur des Netzwerks zu exponieren. Ein Zero Trust-basiertes Modell agiert auf Basis der User-Identität und ermöglicht granulare Segmentierung, wer auf welche Anwendungen Zugriff erhält. Dies bedeutet das Ende von geteilten Netzwerkressourcen, da jeder Zugriff auf Applikationsebene vor der Freigabe validiert wird. Dem User werden nur die Anwendungen freigegeben, die er für seine Arbeit benötigt und für deren Zugriff er berechtigt ist. Dadurch hat der Anwender nie Einblick in die gesamte Applikationslandschaft im Netzwerk und kann sich auch nicht mit Services verbinden, für die er keine Befugnis hat.

Dadurch werden solche Risiken ausgeschaltet, die Unternehmen derzeit über all die Schwachstellen in der Netzwerkinfrastruktur angreifbar machen. Wenn die Infrastruktur nicht mehr offen im Internet dargelegt wird, besteht keine Angriffsfläche für Hacker. So eliminieren Unternehmen die Möglichkeit, ihre Infrastruktur im Internet zu exponieren und nehmen Angreifern die Möglichkeit, sich ins Netzwerk zu hacken.

Die Migration der geschäftskritischen Systeme in die Cloud erzwingt ein Umdenken, wie Mitarbeiter auf die Services zugreifen können. Angesichts der Allgegenwart günstiger Internetverbindung ändert sich die Erwartungshaltung der Mitarbeiter an die Zugriffsgeschwindigkeit und auch an den Komfort des grenzenlosen Zugangs zu Anwendungen. Die größte Umstellung für die IT-Sicherheit ist die durch die Transformation einhergehende Umstellung von der Kontrollinstanz hin zur Risikominimierung. In der Cloud-basierten Welt muss anstelle der separat betrachteten Netzwerke und Sicherheit ein übergreifendes Gefüge aus Netzwerk, Sicherheit und Connectivity treten, das den einfachen, reibungslosen und komfortablen Zugriff auf Anwendungen ermöglicht, unabhängig davon, wo diese vorgehalten werden. Denn dem Anwender ist nicht vermittelbar, dass die Zugriffsgeschwindigkeit durch die Cloud leidet.

Die Zscaler Zero Trust Exchange basiert auf dem SASE-Modell und hilft bei der Bewältigung der Herausforderungen des New-Work-Modells und der sich wandelnden Arbeitswelt. Neben einer schnelleren Bereitstellung und besseren Nutzung von Cloud-Diensten profitieren Unternehmen durch die hochintegrierte Security-Plattform von höherer IT-Sicherheit bei reduzierten Kosten, weniger Komplexität, geringerem Verwaltungsaufwand und zentraler Durchsetzung neuer Richtlinien auf allen Systemen. Die IT-Abteilung kann damit nicht nur ein sicheres und schnelles Anwendererlebnis anbieten, sie erhält über eine Cloud-Plattform auch wieder den Einblick in alle Datenströme zurück und kann damit das Internet als neues Unternehmensnetz kontrollieren, auch wenn die Mitarbeiter mobil arbeiten.

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Pandora’s CIO Peter Cabello Holmberg: Building A Hub Of Agility And Digitalization

Pandora took the business world by storm this year as the renowned international jewelry retailer successfully drove digital transformation and innovation in the midst of COVID-19 and launched the much-talked-about Digital Hub.

To find out more about the Digital Hub and Pandora’s agile aspirations, Management Events interviewed Pandora’s CIO, Peter Cabello Holmberg, winner of CIO of the Year 2020, who shared the objectives of the ‘Hub’ and its importance in Pandora’s continued digital strategy.

 
(Photo: Mikael Rieck, from Computerworld)
 

THE DIGITAL HUB

 

The Digital Hub, also known as the Hub, opened its doors in Copenhagen in July 2020. But what exactly is the Digital Hub?

 

The Digital Hub is actually a place. It’s a physical location; a full floor in a building next to our global office, where we have room for some 200 headcounts. We initially called it ‘Global Office 2’, but as we wanted to create some hype around digital and our digital strategies, we decided on ‘Digital Hub’.

Also, we were running out of space in our global office, and we had pockets of digital talents – the IT, marketing, and e-commerce teams – sitting in different places globally. That wasn’t optimal so we wanted to consolidate our digital talents in Copenhagen.

We believe that having our digital talents in the same location would help our delivery speed, and our intention was to have a new layout of office space that could facilitate agile ways of working, where people can move around and sit in teams to exchange knowledge on a daily basis.

In the early phases, we discussed building it in New York or Amsterdam, but we decided to build it next to our global office in Copenhagen because there was a need for proximity with the rest of the senior executives there. We were super lucky that we could get the office space next to our global office.

 

How did the idea of the Hub come about?

 

We’ve been working with our thoughts and aspirations on digitizing across our value teams for a couple of years. And what we realized was that we had to orchestrate ourselves differently to deliver faster on our digital aspirations.

We’ve been relying on waterfall approaches, business cases, and other methods that were very slow for us to get things started and signed off, so we needed a different operating model and a different engine room.

It was that realization – for us to deliver on our digital aspirations, have more transactions on our online channels, and improve digital marketing, omnichannel, and in-store technology – that we felt the need to bring the technology, e-commerce, and marketing teams together and implement new, agile ways of working.

 

Projects like the Digital Hub are huge investments, and getting the stakeholders’ buy-in is always a challenge. How was the project presented for the executive buy-in?

 

I went to the CEO and the executive leadership teams a year and a half or 2 years ago and said that we needed to do an IT transformation. I said that I would save money for the company, build new career duties, and introduce agile working. And I got a sign-off on that.

The CEO bought into it because we – on top of the savings – also presented strong business cases for digitalization and data-driven consumer growth that were very attractive with significant incremental revenue.

 

AGILE WORKING AND CHANGE MANAGEMENT

 

After getting the sign off on introducing agile ways of working, how did you start its implementation?

 

We did a number of introduction sessions before we did anything else. We talked about what agile is, its meaning and principles, and the choice of methodology, and introduced the terminology. We also did a few proofs of concepts, small projects that we would normally put into an agile release train (ART), and applied agile ways of working, like scrum meetings.

Other than that, we had meticulous discussions about Spotify and SAFe, and supporting tools for agile ways of working. We initially made a decision to go with both models, which was a mess for us. Now we’re back to the principle of one model.

We made some decisions along the way that were just wrong. So when we went live, we went in knowing that we had to learn if the decisions and changes worked and asked everyone to give feedback so that we could adjust on areas that didn’t work.

 

Major organizational transformations can be difficult to execute smoothly. How did Pandora handle the change management?

 

This was a massive change management exercise, but we knew we had to shift our ways of working completely.

So we gave people a flavor of how this change would look. We started to talk about what an ART should be like and introduced new and different roles to both the business and organizations. We pieced it step by step, presenting increasingly more elements of agile working.

There was change management happening both bottom-up and top-down, but at some point, we came together and communicated to everyone involved that ‘This is how it’s going to look, and here are the members of the Arts’.

We communicated the incoming change to all parts of the organization with 50 to 70 lightning talks about agile working held for all the employees to participate. More than 1,200 people from the entire business signed up to learn about it.

Even when we went live with our first ART, we continued having lightning talks because more and more people wanted to know about it.”

We try to stay as open and transparent along the way so that everybody knows what was happening. It was a lot of communication on where we were, what was happening next, and what to expect.

 

HIRING AND TALENT MANAGEMENT

 

With all the transformation initiatives, what were the responses from the teams and employees?

 

The interesting thing is, as we implemented the agile ways of working, our churn rate of people in IT, marketing, and e-commerce leaving Pandora has gone down. Even though we did this massive transformation, the turnover rate has decreased.

From what I’ve seen and heard, people are actually quite excited to try agile working. They want to see how it works. Some have already tried it and are super happy with it. And those who have always worked in traditional waterfall approaches are keen to learn about agile ways of working because everyone’s talking about it.

 

With about 200 employees working on a collective digital strategy, how does the Hub ensure that decisions and responsibilities are delegated to the right people and teams?

 

We have a number of ARTs now, and the biggest and most mature one is our consumer ART.

Whatever the team does in this agile release train is tied to our business strategy, so there’s a link from the strategy to how we work with agile portfolio, lead portfolio management, and so on. So we can track from strategy to ARTs to APEX to features to use cases.

Since we have defined the ART with all the members and different roles, there’s full transparency on who’s responsible for what. Everyone knows what their role is in the whole process.

Furthermore, the tool that we use holds the overall description of the business strategy, and breaks down into the related ARTs and components, so that we’re constantly updated on the business timeline and deliveries. Hence, I would know exactly what’s going to be delivered and when. It’s pretty amazing.

 

It’s not news that Pandora has been actively hiring digital talents for the Hub. What talents are being seeked, and what hiring strategies are being used?

 

We’re hiring very different types of profiles into the Digital Hub from all over the world – Columbia, Argentina, the US, and Singapore. We want people who are creative, who have an opinion, who want to push things forward and make a difference. And because we also want to set them free with the business, we want them to be self-operating.

What we did with hiring was create hype around the Digital Hub. We had the CEO talk about the Hub when he was interviewed, and we sent out press releases and reached out to different media. We also talked to universities about what we were doing and trying to achieve and spread the word that we wanted to build a digital powerhouse in Pandora and be number 1 in our industry.

So we set the ambition level quite high, which is part of attracting talents while doing features and events and mobilizing all types of channels to spread the word.

 

What challenges did the Digital Hub encounter in terms of recruiting talents and managing the current workforce?

 

One of our bigger problems was that, when we got a ‘go’ for the Hub, it was the time when COVID-19 hit. So we had to hire these positions using Teams and Zoom since we couldn’t meet the candidates face-to-face.

We also had to go about the hiring processes in a different way because everybody was on lockdown globally, and we couldn’t fly them in and bring them to the Digital Hub. From Day One, they had to start from their home office. We sent PCs and laptops to them, and onboard them from their home and whichever country they were in.

 

Now that the Hub is completed, what initiatives is Pandora taking to ensure a functional communicative and collaborative culture?

 

The Hub initially was driven by the CDO, CIO, and our SVP for data analytics. Now that we have consolidated these functions under a CDTO then the Hub is anchored with the CDTO. We’re trying to create a community so that the Hub is seen as one team with one common purpose.

Now, the Digital Hub has its own dynamics, and there are social events, fireside chats, and town halls where people across different organizations can participate. We put these people together in one location, and what this has actually done is broken down the silos that we were experiencing previously.

We’ve been sitting on different floors, in different buildings, in different countries. Now that we have brought the teams together, they talk to each other every day – they literally sit next to each other – so it has broken down the silos between different functions. We’re much more aligned compared to before, and that is a huge improvement for us.

 

DATA AND DIGITALIZATION

 

In terms of technology and innovation, what challenges did you face with the Hub?

 

We didn’t have many challenges with our technologies and choice of technologies when we started the transformation.

We already had a roadmap on what to do with data. We had our online platform, our salesforce, e-commerce, and cloud. Our biggest challenges are with integrations, master data, and a scattered point of sales landscape. But overall, we are in fairly good shape.

 

What stage is the digital transformation of Pandora at the current moment? What other processes are underway to boost the brand’s digital experience?

 

What we have now is a pretty solid digital strategy that has been shaping up over the last 8 months or so.

We’re going all in on our user data for tips on marketing and personalization. We’re also considering communities for people who are interested in our type of jewelry, and planning to introduce a global loyalty program that will hopefully further drive brand loyalty.

The consumer ART is working with data, and working with the marketing team on digital marketing and personalization. In regards to data-driven consumer growth, we also set the teams free to use data to drive sales. By combining the different data sources that we have, such as our transactions and customer browsing data, the ART teams are free to make decisions on their own to allow faster decision-making.

 

What are the biggest differences between the company’s past and present data utilization?

 

It’s two different worlds before the Hub and after the Hub is live. The incremental revenue that is delivered from our data-driven consumer efforts is just outstanding.

We’ve built the integration between different sources in our stack, applied new technologies, and hired Ph.D.-titled profiles to work with data so that we can learn more about our consumers.

We didn’t have that data focus a year and a half ago. I think we had one person in Pandora working with data, but now we have 60+ people working only on advanced data analytics and the use of data.

 

SUCCESS AND THE FUTURE

 

What do you consider to be the key achievements of the Hub?

 
(Image: Peter Elmholt, from ZDNet)

What’s interesting is that the agile way of working that we implemented has really proven its value when the pandemic hit.

Our stock prices have gone up some 100% during 2020 when COVID-19 hit, and that’s quite amazing. It’s actually all down to our technology readiness and the shifts from physical stores to taking advantage of our online channels and digital initiatives.

We were able to step back and look at our priorities and completely change our focus, and now the rest of the business – HR, finance, and other parts of our commercial organization – want to embrace agile working because they see its value. This is just the start and we want to do even more.

Additionally, we see that we can move much faster now. Because the teams are dedicated to the agile release trains (ARTs), they’ve become very efficient and knowledgeable about their role, purpose, and responsibilities. So we’re able to come up with solutions to business strategies at a faster rate.

 

There are always expected ROIs for major projects. What is the anticipated ROI in 2021 due to the Hub?

 

When we first started, my focus, and marketing’s focus, was on revenue-generating and return on investment. It was clear when we went to our CEO that what we proposed was very attractive and that data-driven consumer growth, meaning advanced data analytics alone, would pay for our Digital Hub. And we still have many other initiatives that we’re driving.

In some cases, in terms of ROI, we’re talking about a factor of 10 of the investment. Also, our stock prices have gone up significantly because we took advantage of our online channels and digital initiatives. I think that alone shows the impact of getting digital right.

 

What are the upcoming plans and strategies for the Digital Hub and Pandora?

 

We are in the middle of finalizing our digital strategy for the next 3 to 5 years. We never had a digital strategy before, but now we have it, and it sets the direction for our technology investments across our value chain – where we want to invest our bodies and resources.

Also, we’re focusing on how we can take agile working and our technology operating model to the next level. Yes, we started out with Agile but we’ve only been live for a year or so. Now, how do we bring this further? What do we need to invest in? What kind of profiles, like what agile coaches or release train engineers, do we need to bring on board to further mature our agile ways of working?

 

What commercial goals does Pandora seek to achieve in 2021? What role does the Hub play in achieving these goals?

 

Our key focus right now, and into the next 3 to 5 years, will be on revenue-generating initiatives. We want to drive even more revenue through our online channels.

Aside from that, we’re also focusing on creating an even more seamless customer journey across our different channels. We want to engage with our consumers in a more meaningful way – be more precise in what and when we communicate so that we become more relevant.

Of course, we do all of these to drive revenue, and the Digital Hub is instrumental for us to proceed with the plans.

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CIO Investments: Which Tech Is Your Priority?

As the world crosses into 2021, the distribution of the COVID-19 vaccine has brought surges in global stocks and market optimism.

However, even with great hopes of economic recovery by the end of 2021, organizations still need to ensure that their business growth and plans continue positively. Chief Information Officers (CIOs) are playing a big part in achieving these goals by maximizing information technology (IT) investments and advancements.

 

What IT Investments To Focus On?

 

According to our Executive Trend Survey, 67% of CIOs placed data science as a top priority for 2021 with core focuses on analytics strategy, data management, and big data analytics. 

Meanwhile, cyber security and cloud were named as other top CIO priorities by 59% and 53% of surveyed leaders respectively.

 
 

But what does this mean for CIOs across the industries?

Based on feedback from CIOs and key IT executives, the majority (47%) of them are facing 2021 with slight changes in their goals and a lower budget for their function.

 
 

With limited budgets, CIOs need to pick and choose which goal takes priority over the others and select a solution that will truly give them the return on investment they seek.

Thus, even if CIO trends point towards analytics if their current end objectives don’t correspond with the need for data solutions, they should focus on more pressing investments.

Another key factor influencing their investment priorities lies in the current maturity levels of their technology and operations. For instance, some are still new in forming data strategies while others are more advanced in their data-driven processes, thus their focus areas in the use of data science differ greatly.

 

Investing In Data Science

 

Today, it’s uncommon to find any company that is not taking advantage of their data. From enhancing customer experience to improving predictive maintenance, business leaders are aware that data is critical to their organizational growth.

But which area of data analytics should your organization focus on? Between the different analytics applications and components, what should be the foremost priority?

In recent interviews with CIOs and other IT decision-makers, over 450 of them named analytics as their core focus. Even so, under the analytics umbrella, their interests ranged from big data analytics and predictive analytics to data warehousing and analytics strategy.

 
 

55% of them selected data management as their foremost investment in analytics, naming master data management (MDM) and product information management (PIM) implementation as some of their projects.

 
 

The MDM solution is largely adopted by the banking, financial services and insurance (BFSI) sector to manage massive amounts of transactional data on their customers. PIM, on the other hand, is seeing higher demand by the e-commerce industry and an anticipated fast growth in the media and entertainment sector.

In regards to data analytics strategy, some of the CIOs are investigating how they can make the business work more efficiently through analytics strategy while others are taking the next steps to improve data quality.

On the other hand, a number of the interviewed decision-makers are still setting up and realizing their data strategy, indicating that they’re still in the planning stages and concentrating on becoming a data-driven organization.

 

Investing in Cyber Security

 

Meanwhile, our most recent interviews with CIOs on cybersecurity investments discovered that cloud security is foremost on their priority list followed closely by cyber security strategy.

 
 

From our findings, a number of the interviewed decision-makers expressed interest in implementing security information and event management (SIEM) solutions.

 
 

Another hot spot in 2021 cyber security spending, according to Forbes, is identity and access management (IAM), which is a prime focus for 30% of business leaders investing in cyber security. Some of their projects regarding access and identity management include:

 
 

With uncertainties still forthcoming, some CIOs are worried about guaranteeing a high level of cyber security with a limited budget while facing challenges in approaching the topic of online security to a diversified and remote workforce.

 

Investing in Cloud

 

Based on CIO investment feedback from the interviews, most of them are still in the planning stage of their cloud strategy with cloud integration and migration as their core priorities.

 
 

Microsoft Azure, Amazon Web Services, and Google Cloud are three of the most popular cloud platforms in the market, and interviewed decision-makers are contemplating between the cloud computing services while some are even working with all three of the platforms.

Alternatively, a group of IT leaders and other key C-suites are working towards a hybrid cloud environment, which is commonly used in industries such as:

What is Your Focus Area?

 

As seen in our survey findings and interviews, each of the IT leaders is prioritizing a specific solution that best serves their target goals with consideration to their budget, their available expertise and IT talents, and current processes.

For some, the immediate focus is on surviving the consequences of the pandemic, “which has become the number one objective for most emerging technology investments”, according to KPMG’s research. For others, it’s an opportune time to shift to a more digital business model and accelerate their digital transformation.

Nevertheless, while benchmarking and taking note of emerging IT trends help your organization to measure business performance against other companies, the global situation and market uncertainty are still expected to significantly affect information technology investments.

The important thing is to have a solid focus on your strategic IT priorities, adopting agility and adaptability for business continuity, and making smart investments to prevail in the long term.