This document discusses how digital technologies are impacting businesses globally. It highlights 10 practices that successful organizations embrace when thriving in a digital world, such as having a comprehensive digital strategy and developing analytical skills to extract insights from data. The document also provides examples of how digital is changing industries like financial services, retail, airlines and media by requiring new skills and ways of engaging customers. Overall, the document examines the challenges businesses face in harnessing the disruptive and transformative power of digital technologies.
The first global Digital Gap Survey conducted among 100 C-level executives in the US, LATAM, and European regions focus on 3 industries: pharmaceutical, consumer goods, and technology.
Get profound insights on the maturity of digital transformation, digital ROI, consumer data usage, marketing tools & automation, artificial intelligence, and automation.
Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Societyrun_frictionless
TAKUMI surveyed over 3,500 consumers, marketers, and influencers across the UK, US, and Germany to uncover the latest trends in the sector. The report ‘Into the mainstream: Influencer marketing in society’, uncovered divided opinions on what consumers want to see and what brands are willing to engage with influencers on.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Google's guide to innovation: How to unlock strategy, resources and technologyrun_frictionless
Organizations are facing unprecedented change and challenges stemming from a confluence of natural and artificial conditions. These forces are driving many to rethink the tools and technologies they use, and the places they need to be, to grow, and to innovate.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
The document discusses the changing role of the CMO and challenges facing advertising agencies in a digital age. CMOs now expect integrated digital platforms, technology-driven innovation, and solutions rather than just campaigns. This is redrawing the relationship between clients and agencies. Traditional agencies need to transform and expand their digital capabilities, bringing in new skills and ways of working. A digital integrator can help agencies make this transformation by providing strategic digital skills and expertise in areas like technology, innovation, analytics, and agile processes. This would allow agencies to better meet CMOs' new expectations and bridge the gap between traditional and digital marketing approaches.
- Demographics alone are not enough for effective marketing as many consumers' behaviors do not match typical demographic profiles. Intent and behaviors are better signals to prioritize.
- Not all impressions are equal in programmatic advertising. Brand safety, viewability, site/audience alignment, and proper measurement are important considerations. Premium content on quality sites provides better results.
- International travel continues rising globally and is an important market for DMOs to focus on given rising incomes in countries like China, India, and Mexico that will drive more international visitors. Metrics like room nights and economic impact resonate best with elected officials.
Travel Planning 2020: The Journey Toward Market ProsperityCognizant
By harnessing Code Halo thinking, travel and hospitality companies can transform their business models by offering an automated and customized trip planning experience, ushering in a new era for the travel industry.
The document summarizes the key benefits of partnering with Brandwatch for social media intelligence and listening. It highlights that Brandwatch provides customizable tools and support to help companies listen to social media conversations, analyze large amounts of social data, and act on insights to control noise and inform strategies. One third of Fortune 100 companies use Brandwatch's platforms and services.
The first global Digital Gap Survey conducted among 100 C-level executives in the US, LATAM, and European regions focus on 3 industries: pharmaceutical, consumer goods, and technology.
Get profound insights on the maturity of digital transformation, digital ROI, consumer data usage, marketing tools & automation, artificial intelligence, and automation.
Into the Mainstream: Influencer Marketing in Societyrun_frictionless
TAKUMI surveyed over 3,500 consumers, marketers, and influencers across the UK, US, and Germany to uncover the latest trends in the sector. The report ‘Into the mainstream: Influencer marketing in society’, uncovered divided opinions on what consumers want to see and what brands are willing to engage with influencers on.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Google's guide to innovation: How to unlock strategy, resources and technologyrun_frictionless
Organizations are facing unprecedented change and challenges stemming from a confluence of natural and artificial conditions. These forces are driving many to rethink the tools and technologies they use, and the places they need to be, to grow, and to innovate.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
The document discusses the changing role of the CMO and challenges facing advertising agencies in a digital age. CMOs now expect integrated digital platforms, technology-driven innovation, and solutions rather than just campaigns. This is redrawing the relationship between clients and agencies. Traditional agencies need to transform and expand their digital capabilities, bringing in new skills and ways of working. A digital integrator can help agencies make this transformation by providing strategic digital skills and expertise in areas like technology, innovation, analytics, and agile processes. This would allow agencies to better meet CMOs' new expectations and bridge the gap between traditional and digital marketing approaches.
- Demographics alone are not enough for effective marketing as many consumers' behaviors do not match typical demographic profiles. Intent and behaviors are better signals to prioritize.
- Not all impressions are equal in programmatic advertising. Brand safety, viewability, site/audience alignment, and proper measurement are important considerations. Premium content on quality sites provides better results.
- International travel continues rising globally and is an important market for DMOs to focus on given rising incomes in countries like China, India, and Mexico that will drive more international visitors. Metrics like room nights and economic impact resonate best with elected officials.
Travel Planning 2020: The Journey Toward Market ProsperityCognizant
By harnessing Code Halo thinking, travel and hospitality companies can transform their business models by offering an automated and customized trip planning experience, ushering in a new era for the travel industry.
The document summarizes the key benefits of partnering with Brandwatch for social media intelligence and listening. It highlights that Brandwatch provides customizable tools and support to help companies listen to social media conversations, analyze large amounts of social data, and act on insights to control noise and inform strategies. One third of Fortune 100 companies use Brandwatch's platforms and services.
Powered by AI: Communications and Marketing in the Algorithm AgeMSL
MSL partnered with research firm Toluna to survey 1,846 marketing and communications leaders from Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, UK and US. We partnered with our colleagues at sister agency Publicis.Sapient who are experts in counselling companies and brands on the AI revolution.
Given that in 2013 the industry drove some 10% of the
UK’s eCommerce traffic and commanded a marketing
spend of £1bn according to the PwC / IAB OPM study
(see page 6), it’s a permanent (and growing) feature
of integrated digital marketing programmes. In
fact it’s a channel that exemplifies just how digital
is merging marketing and sales channels.
Affiliate Marketing is not a ‘channel’. Rather it’s an
advertising objective. Affiliate campaigns deploy
most digital advertising and marketing disciplines
including email, display, content, search, social
media and audience targeting. It works across mobile
platforms, uses programmatic methods and is now
establishing exciting offline opportunities for digital
marketers. Affiliate data is packed with audience
and customer insight providing marketers with
customer journey and point-of-sale perspectives
that enrich standard advertising analytics.
This handbook, the work of the IAB’s Affiliate Marketing
Council, exposes the industry’s diversity and even
if you thought you knew affiliate marketing, you’ll
probably be surprised by some of the marketing
opportunities mapped out in these pages. If
you’re new to digital or haven’t used affiliate
marketing before, this handbook will help you
understand the industry’s value and mechanics.
Overall, this handbook represents one of the fastest
growing digital marketing channels which many of
the UK’s top advertisers recognise as highly effective
and are thus increasing their investment in. This
isn’t simply because its yields are extraordinarily
high (14:1 ROI); it’s also because it’s a flexible
and creative space to work within that touches
customers throughout the marketing funnel.
The State of Always-On Marketing StudyIshraq Dhaly
This document summarizes the findings of a study on "Always-On Marketing" conducted by Razorfish and Adobe. The study surveyed 685 executives and found that:
1) Very few businesses (under 5%) have the capabilities to deliver personalized, real-time marketing across channels, despite many executives believing they do.
2) There is a large gap between perceived ability and actual ability, especially in France and Germany.
3) Company size and industry affect capabilities, with larger companies and retailers/tech companies more likely to be leaders in Always-On Marketing.
The CPG Digital Revolution: Moving from Analog to Digital Operating Modelaccenture
The digital revolution is blurring the boundaries between consumers, stores and brands and forcing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to rethink their digital operating model. Accenture identified six ways CPG companies can prosper. View our infographic for more info: http://www.accenture.com/redefineCPGdigital
The document discusses how Capgemini helps fashion companies transform their business to adapt to a changing industry. It highlights several challenges fashion companies face, such as changing customer behaviors driven by digital technologies, complex global supply chains, and expanding into new markets. Capgemini provides services across the fashion value chain to address these challenges and enable transformation, including solutions for all-channel customer experiences, demand-driven supply chains, and accelerating the process from concept to market. With over 2,000 fashion industry experts globally, Capgemini partners with leading technology companies and has experience transforming over 30 major fashion brands.
CMOs: Time for digital transformation or risk being left on the sidelinesruttens.com
CMOs: Time for digital transformation or risk being left on the sidelines. Digital Transformation checklist for marketeers.
Based on the Accenture Interactive 2014 CMO Insights Survey, CMOs are selling themselves short. The question isn't whether CMOs can effectively take advantage of digital channels – they are proving they can – but whether they can be more visible change agents for digital transformation across the organization.
As every business becomes a digital business, C-suite executives will need to collaborate to drive successful digital transformation. No CMO wants to be left on the sidelines.
Millward Brown 2015 Digital and Media PredictionsKantar
Since 2009, Millward Brown experts from around the globe have offered annual predictions for the coming year - forecasting the hottest digital and media trends and providing recommendations to help advertisers move confidently into the coming year... - See more at: http://www.millwardbrown.com/global-navigation/insights/articles-and-reports/digital-predictions/2015/2015-digital-and-media-predictions#sthash.0lE3FZhU.dpuf
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) present us with novel and efficient ways to solve challenging and persistent problems, particularly when it comes to predictions. Retail, due to its fast moving, trend powered, and fluid nature coupled to an extended logistics chain, relies heavily on making smart predictions. As improvements in AI/ML over the last several years have proliferated, not only in performance advances but deployability, there are exciting openings for experimentation in many domains of the retail value chain
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Consumer trust has become the new battleground for digital success. To win, organizations need to master the fundamentals of data ethics, manage the "give-to-get" ratio and solve the customer trust equation, our recent research reveals.
This document provides an overview of marketing technology (MarTech) trends in Indonesia. It discusses how MarTech has grown significantly in recent years due to digital transformation and increasing smartphone usage. Major trends discussed include the influence of super apps, the impending removal of third-party cookies, the rise of point solutions, and the convergence of tools across categories. The document recommends that marketers adopt a customer experience and data-driven approach using technologies like customer data platforms, data management platforms, and marketing analytics to deliver personalized, cross-channel experiences. It emphasizes focusing on first-party data collection and optimizing collaboration between marketing and customer experience teams to capitalize on emerging MarTech opportunities.
Pharma Marketing: Get Started on Creating Great Customer Experiences with Jou...run_frictionless
A well-defined customer journey strategy is critical to customer experience management (CEM) initiatives.1 Yet most pharmaceutical companies have not followed the lead of industries like consumer packaged goods, retail, or travel and hospitality, which pioneered and mastered the art and science of personalized, cross-channel customer journeys. While recognizing that customer journeys are often more complex for pharma than for other sectors, it’s imperative for life sciences to develop and apply journey strategies similar to those of other industries when transforming customer experiences.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
The quest for digital skills is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Cognizant, on the supply and demand of digital skills across four industries: financial services, healthcare, retail and manufacturing.
The document summarizes trends in digital media spending and advertising in 2011. Key points include:
- Razorfish ad spending grew over 25% in 2011, marking the third year of over 20% growth.
- Spending was distributed across search, display, mobile, social networks, and ad exchanges. Ad exchange spending grew over 60%.
- The number of publisher partners declined as focus shifted to fewer, more strategic partners accounting for 80% of spending.
- Investment in paid social media like Facebook increased as platforms grew massively in scale and marketers engaged in two-way dialogue.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & DISRUPTION 2016 - Understanding digital landscape &...Lassi Nummi
Brief overlook on digitalization and digital marketing trough statistics and forecasted trends in 2016 and 2017, focusing on EU area. Data gathered on various sources. Sources mentioned on presentation.
capgemini research on cmo responsibilities with changing times in 2021Social Samosa
The latest Capgemini research highlights the need for CMOs to transform their skills with the evolving times and reimagine the customer journey with real-time engagement for a data-driven marketing environment.
Social media in the enterprise has predominantly been a haven for marketers, who use its power to engage target audiences along multiple points of the conversion funnel, while being able to track the eicacy of messages and content in a very precise way.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Digital transformation involves realigning technology and business models to better engage digital customers at every touchpoint of the customer experience lifecycle. While gaining momentum, digital transformation is still in its infancy as a formal process for many organizations. Disruptive technologies like social media, mobile, and real-time analytics are catalyzing businesses to undergo digital transformation and integrate customer touchpoints that were previously managed separately. Mapping customer journeys reveals how consumer habits and expectations now outpace traditional organizational structures, driving the need for transformation.
A Digital Future - Transforming NSW Government [Presentation]Martin Walsh
This is the Digital Strategy I developed for NSW Government in 2012. This is the presentation version of the document which I presented to Premier & Cabinet. It must be read in conjunction with the Word Version document which includes all the narrative - http://www.slideshare.net/martinwalsh/a-vision-for-a-new-digital-future-v8
Library Leaders Digital Strategy Summit - Computers in Libraries 2016Pam Ryan
The document summarizes Edmonton Public Library's (EPL) efforts to establish digital literacy as a core public library service from 2011 to 2015. It discusses how EPL transitioned from inconsistent technology help to on-demand help in every branch through investments in staff training and new digital literacy programs and services. This included the creation of a Digital Literacy Initiatives unit to develop programs, provision of staff training and technology resources, and championing digital literacy. As a result, EPL received an ALA Presidential Citation in 2015 for its innovative model of digital literacy as a core public library service.
The Edmonton Public Library opened its first makerspace in October 2013 which provides resources and programming for creative making and digital literacy. It has since expanded makerspace programs to additional branches with the goal of having them in 13 of its 19 branches by 2016. The makerspaces offer equipment like 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines for creative projects along with training programs to build digital skills. The main makerspace has been popular with over 25,000 visitors in its first year and has expanded its facilities and programming.
Powered by AI: Communications and Marketing in the Algorithm AgeMSL
MSL partnered with research firm Toluna to survey 1,846 marketing and communications leaders from Brazil, China, France, Germany, India, Italy, Poland, UK and US. We partnered with our colleagues at sister agency Publicis.Sapient who are experts in counselling companies and brands on the AI revolution.
Given that in 2013 the industry drove some 10% of the
UK’s eCommerce traffic and commanded a marketing
spend of £1bn according to the PwC / IAB OPM study
(see page 6), it’s a permanent (and growing) feature
of integrated digital marketing programmes. In
fact it’s a channel that exemplifies just how digital
is merging marketing and sales channels.
Affiliate Marketing is not a ‘channel’. Rather it’s an
advertising objective. Affiliate campaigns deploy
most digital advertising and marketing disciplines
including email, display, content, search, social
media and audience targeting. It works across mobile
platforms, uses programmatic methods and is now
establishing exciting offline opportunities for digital
marketers. Affiliate data is packed with audience
and customer insight providing marketers with
customer journey and point-of-sale perspectives
that enrich standard advertising analytics.
This handbook, the work of the IAB’s Affiliate Marketing
Council, exposes the industry’s diversity and even
if you thought you knew affiliate marketing, you’ll
probably be surprised by some of the marketing
opportunities mapped out in these pages. If
you’re new to digital or haven’t used affiliate
marketing before, this handbook will help you
understand the industry’s value and mechanics.
Overall, this handbook represents one of the fastest
growing digital marketing channels which many of
the UK’s top advertisers recognise as highly effective
and are thus increasing their investment in. This
isn’t simply because its yields are extraordinarily
high (14:1 ROI); it’s also because it’s a flexible
and creative space to work within that touches
customers throughout the marketing funnel.
The State of Always-On Marketing StudyIshraq Dhaly
This document summarizes the findings of a study on "Always-On Marketing" conducted by Razorfish and Adobe. The study surveyed 685 executives and found that:
1) Very few businesses (under 5%) have the capabilities to deliver personalized, real-time marketing across channels, despite many executives believing they do.
2) There is a large gap between perceived ability and actual ability, especially in France and Germany.
3) Company size and industry affect capabilities, with larger companies and retailers/tech companies more likely to be leaders in Always-On Marketing.
The CPG Digital Revolution: Moving from Analog to Digital Operating Modelaccenture
The digital revolution is blurring the boundaries between consumers, stores and brands and forcing consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to rethink their digital operating model. Accenture identified six ways CPG companies can prosper. View our infographic for more info: http://www.accenture.com/redefineCPGdigital
The document discusses how Capgemini helps fashion companies transform their business to adapt to a changing industry. It highlights several challenges fashion companies face, such as changing customer behaviors driven by digital technologies, complex global supply chains, and expanding into new markets. Capgemini provides services across the fashion value chain to address these challenges and enable transformation, including solutions for all-channel customer experiences, demand-driven supply chains, and accelerating the process from concept to market. With over 2,000 fashion industry experts globally, Capgemini partners with leading technology companies and has experience transforming over 30 major fashion brands.
CMOs: Time for digital transformation or risk being left on the sidelinesruttens.com
CMOs: Time for digital transformation or risk being left on the sidelines. Digital Transformation checklist for marketeers.
Based on the Accenture Interactive 2014 CMO Insights Survey, CMOs are selling themselves short. The question isn't whether CMOs can effectively take advantage of digital channels – they are proving they can – but whether they can be more visible change agents for digital transformation across the organization.
As every business becomes a digital business, C-suite executives will need to collaborate to drive successful digital transformation. No CMO wants to be left on the sidelines.
Millward Brown 2015 Digital and Media PredictionsKantar
Since 2009, Millward Brown experts from around the globe have offered annual predictions for the coming year - forecasting the hottest digital and media trends and providing recommendations to help advertisers move confidently into the coming year... - See more at: http://www.millwardbrown.com/global-navigation/insights/articles-and-reports/digital-predictions/2015/2015-digital-and-media-predictions#sthash.0lE3FZhU.dpuf
Artificial intelligence and machine learning (AI/ML) present us with novel and efficient ways to solve challenging and persistent problems, particularly when it comes to predictions. Retail, due to its fast moving, trend powered, and fluid nature coupled to an extended logistics chain, relies heavily on making smart predictions. As improvements in AI/ML over the last several years have proliferated, not only in performance advances but deployability, there are exciting openings for experimentation in many domains of the retail value chain
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Consumer trust has become the new battleground for digital success. To win, organizations need to master the fundamentals of data ethics, manage the "give-to-get" ratio and solve the customer trust equation, our recent research reveals.
This document provides an overview of marketing technology (MarTech) trends in Indonesia. It discusses how MarTech has grown significantly in recent years due to digital transformation and increasing smartphone usage. Major trends discussed include the influence of super apps, the impending removal of third-party cookies, the rise of point solutions, and the convergence of tools across categories. The document recommends that marketers adopt a customer experience and data-driven approach using technologies like customer data platforms, data management platforms, and marketing analytics to deliver personalized, cross-channel experiences. It emphasizes focusing on first-party data collection and optimizing collaboration between marketing and customer experience teams to capitalize on emerging MarTech opportunities.
Pharma Marketing: Get Started on Creating Great Customer Experiences with Jou...run_frictionless
A well-defined customer journey strategy is critical to customer experience management (CEM) initiatives.1 Yet most pharmaceutical companies have not followed the lead of industries like consumer packaged goods, retail, or travel and hospitality, which pioneered and mastered the art and science of personalized, cross-channel customer journeys. While recognizing that customer journeys are often more complex for pharma than for other sectors, it’s imperative for life sciences to develop and apply journey strategies similar to those of other industries when transforming customer experiences.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
The quest for digital skills is an Economist Intelligence Unit report, sponsored by Cognizant, on the supply and demand of digital skills across four industries: financial services, healthcare, retail and manufacturing.
The document summarizes trends in digital media spending and advertising in 2011. Key points include:
- Razorfish ad spending grew over 25% in 2011, marking the third year of over 20% growth.
- Spending was distributed across search, display, mobile, social networks, and ad exchanges. Ad exchange spending grew over 60%.
- The number of publisher partners declined as focus shifted to fewer, more strategic partners accounting for 80% of spending.
- Investment in paid social media like Facebook increased as platforms grew massively in scale and marketers engaged in two-way dialogue.
DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION & DISRUPTION 2016 - Understanding digital landscape &...Lassi Nummi
Brief overlook on digitalization and digital marketing trough statistics and forecasted trends in 2016 and 2017, focusing on EU area. Data gathered on various sources. Sources mentioned on presentation.
capgemini research on cmo responsibilities with changing times in 2021Social Samosa
The latest Capgemini research highlights the need for CMOs to transform their skills with the evolving times and reimagine the customer journey with real-time engagement for a data-driven marketing environment.
Social media in the enterprise has predominantly been a haven for marketers, who use its power to engage target audiences along multiple points of the conversion funnel, while being able to track the eicacy of messages and content in a very precise way.
https://runfrictionless.com/b2b-white-paper-service/
Digital transformation involves realigning technology and business models to better engage digital customers at every touchpoint of the customer experience lifecycle. While gaining momentum, digital transformation is still in its infancy as a formal process for many organizations. Disruptive technologies like social media, mobile, and real-time analytics are catalyzing businesses to undergo digital transformation and integrate customer touchpoints that were previously managed separately. Mapping customer journeys reveals how consumer habits and expectations now outpace traditional organizational structures, driving the need for transformation.
A Digital Future - Transforming NSW Government [Presentation]Martin Walsh
This is the Digital Strategy I developed for NSW Government in 2012. This is the presentation version of the document which I presented to Premier & Cabinet. It must be read in conjunction with the Word Version document which includes all the narrative - http://www.slideshare.net/martinwalsh/a-vision-for-a-new-digital-future-v8
Library Leaders Digital Strategy Summit - Computers in Libraries 2016Pam Ryan
The document summarizes Edmonton Public Library's (EPL) efforts to establish digital literacy as a core public library service from 2011 to 2015. It discusses how EPL transitioned from inconsistent technology help to on-demand help in every branch through investments in staff training and new digital literacy programs and services. This included the creation of a Digital Literacy Initiatives unit to develop programs, provision of staff training and technology resources, and championing digital literacy. As a result, EPL received an ALA Presidential Citation in 2015 for its innovative model of digital literacy as a core public library service.
The Edmonton Public Library opened its first makerspace in October 2013 which provides resources and programming for creative making and digital literacy. It has since expanded makerspace programs to additional branches with the goal of having them in 13 of its 19 branches by 2016. The makerspaces offer equipment like 3D printers, laser cutters, sewing machines for creative projects along with training programs to build digital skills. The main makerspace has been popular with over 25,000 visitors in its first year and has expanded its facilities and programming.
Tom Sawyer had to paint his aunt's fence as punishment. He convinced his friends that painting the fence was actually fun by eating an apple to make it look enjoyable. As a result, Tom's friends offered to trade him small items to let them paint sections of the fence for him, allowing Tom to avoid work while his friends painted the fence without realizing it was a chore.
This document is a summary of the children's story "The Tale of Peter Rabbit" by Beatrix Potter. It describes how Peter Rabbit disobeys his mother by going into Mr. McGregor's garden, where he gets caught trying to escape. Peter manages to flee the garden, losing his clothes in the process. He returns home exhausted to his mother, having learned a lesson about not disobeying instructions.
O. Henry, whose real name was William Sidney Porter, was an American writer known for his witty short stories featuring twist endings. Some of his most famous works are "The Gift of the Magi", about a young couple who sell their most valuable possessions to buy each other Christmas gifts, and "The Cop and the Anthem", about a homeless man's unsuccessful attempts to get arrested so he has a place to sleep in jail for the winter. Porter lived from 1862 to 1910 and wrote under the pen name O. Henry while working as a pharmacist in Texas. He is renowned for his vivid depictions of life in New York City and other locales.
Tom Sawyer tricks his Aunt Polly into looking behind her while he steals fruit from the cupboard. When caught, Tom runs away and climbs over the fence. The summary takes place in St. Petersburg, Missouri in 1844, where the mischievous 11-year-old Tom Sawyer lives with his Aunt Polly after the death of his parents. As punishment for stealing fruit and misbehaving, Aunt Polly makes Tom promise to paint the fence on Saturday when he has no school.
William Sidney Porter, who wrote under the pen name O. Henry, was born in 1862 in Greensboro, North Carolina. He had a daughter with his wife Athol who died of tuberculosis in 1897. Porter worked as a bank teller but was convicted of embezzlement in 1898 and served three years in prison. He supported himself through short story writing, publishing over 600 stories in his lifetime. Some of his most famous stories include The Gift of the Magi and The Ransom of Red Chief, known for their surprise endings and depictions of ordinary people. O. Henry died in 1910 but his stories continued to be popular collections after his death.
Mark Twain, whose real name was Samuel Langhorne Clemens, grew up along the Mississippi River in the 19th century. He had a variety of jobs throughout his life, including journalist, printer, and riverboat pilot on the Mississippi. Twain is renowned for his classic works like The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, which use humor and irony to tell stories about childhood adventures along the Mississippi River. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer follows the story of a mischievous boy named Tom Sawyer and his friend Huckleberry Finn as they get into humorous antics and trouble in their small town.
Rabbits come in 43 recognized breeds by the ARBA. Some common breeds include New Zealand Whites, used for meat production, Florida Whites which are smaller, and Himalayans which originated from mountain regions. Rabbits are also bred for fiber like Angoras or as pets like Lionheads. Domestic rabbits were first bred by French monasteries in the 1500s. Today China has over 500 million rabbits, mostly farmed for meat. Rabbits can be profitable to raise on small farms for their rapid reproduction rate and efficient feed conversion. Some challenges are lack of processing infrastructure and that they are seen as cute pets by some.
Mark Twain, born Samuel Langhorne Clemens in 1835, wrote the classic novel The Adventures of Tom Sawyer about a mischievous boy growing up in St. Petersburg, Missouri in the 1840s. Tom Sawyer gets punished with the chore of painting a fence on a Saturday after skipping school, but manages to convince other boys to do the work for him by making it seem like a privilege. The book follows Tom's adventures and his growing affection for his friend Becky, but has faced challenges from some who view elements of the story as promoting inappropriate behavior, racism, or other issues.
An Executive's Guide to Reimagining the Enterprise in the Digital AgeArmanino LLP
This document discusses how enterprises are reimagining their business models in today's digital age where information is available anytime from any device. It emphasizes that businesses need to foster a culture of innovation across all functions like marketing, finance, HR, and sales through modern technology platforms. The key is building a flexible technology foundation that connects enterprise systems and enables seamless data flow. This allows for personalized customer experiences, an empowered workforce, and the ability to rapidly sense and respond to changing market needs.
A forecast of what's shaping the digital era with insight from marketing executives. Interested in learning more? Check out our website at www.Mondo.com.
This document provides a process and checklist for developing an effective digital strategy. It outlines common barriers to digital strategy such as alignment, skills, silos, metrics, resources, culture and regulations. The process involves identifying a catalyst, building leadership support and a team, conducting research, co-creating a strategy, synthesizing it, gaining alignment, and implementing the strategy. Following this process can help brands adapt to digital disruptions and remain relevant.
Organizational Change Management: A Make or Break Capability for Digital SuccessCognizant
To realize the full benefits of digital transformation programs, businesses must manage the impact of digital change on their operational structure, culture and employees.
In the second article of the series, sponsored by Avanade, we look at how many business leaders don't view digital as central to their organisations and are avoiding partaking in a business makeover that would empower employees to utilise data analysis. What does it take to compete with those who have made the organisational change?
Are you a Digital Transformation leader? Can you create a high-performance strategy in the digital age? Have you got what it takes to avoid the tumbling barrels of distracting digital tactics, over hyped technology or the belief that your market is immune to disruption? Have you allocated the right resources to deliver a focused plan of transformation?
Digital innovation leadership: How to master digital transformation in the fa...3gamma
In the new digital economy, long-established ways of doing business are quickly becoming obsolete and disruption is taking place across every sector. But what separates the digital frontrunners from the laggards and how can organisations stay ahead in a digitally transformed future?
Digital innovation leadership: How to master digital transformation in the fa...Jesper Nordström
- Digital disruption is occurring across all industries as new digital technologies change business models and customer needs. Incumbents are often slow to respond to disruption while digital leaders embrace innovation.
- To successfully transform, companies must have leadership that champions digital strategies, develop new digital products/services, improve customer experience, transform processes, and leverage data analytics. Initiatives should start small and test hypotheses through prototyping before large-scale implementation.
- Anticipating disruption involves scanning for digital trends, observing competitors, understanding unmet customer needs, collaborating through open innovation, and continuously questioning assumptions about the business model.
The Boston Consulting Group conducted a survey of over 1,100 marketers at 57 companies in the UK and Germany to assess their digital marketing capabilities. The survey found that on average, companies scored 57 out of 100 on BCG's Digital Capabilities Index, indicating significant gaps in their digital skills. The biggest shortfalls were in capabilities related to mobile, video, testing, partner management, and developing marketing platforms. While senior leadership recognizes the importance of digital, companies received lower scores for prioritizing investment in new digital capabilities and talent development. Most marketing organizations will need to transform their approach to close these gaps through improved training, a focus on skills like mobile and data analytics, and developing a more agile culture.
2 building capabilities_in_digital_marketing_and_sales_vfKate Morphett
This document discusses seven imperatives for consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies to systematically build digital marketing and sales capabilities:
1. Integrate digital activities into the overall marketing and sales strategy rather than treating them separately.
2. Create new roles focused on digital skills and develop digital skills among current staff through training and hiring experts.
3. Rethink how digital activities are organized, whether through centralized, localized, or hybrid teams.
4. Establish rapid response mechanisms to address customer issues and emerging threats online quickly.
5. Leverage big data and analytics to drive innovation, develop customer insights, increase sales, inform pricing, and collaborate with partners.
6. Measure and
Digital transformation can be defined as a process whereby an organization shifts their business models, processes, and organizational culture with digital technologies to adapt to changing customer behaviors. They adapt to meet ever-changing customer expectations and engage with consumers in innovative ways. Transformational journeys require acurate assessments, learning, growth, and monitoring of:
1) People and Culture;
2) Capacity and Capabilities;
3) Innovation; and
4) Technology.
This document provides an overview of the IMI Diploma in Digital Business & MBS in Digital Business program. It discusses how digital transformation is impacting all businesses and the need to develop digital strategies. The program aims to help organizations understand digital business models and challenges through exploring topics like the mobile/social web, digital product development, marketing/sales, business intelligence, and governance. Participants will complete projects to apply the skills in transforming their own organizations. The program directors have extensive experience in innovation and digital technologies.
Stepping Up to the Challenges of Digital MarketingCognizant
"The advent of digital has dramatically impacted how CMOs run their marketing operations. By identifying and employing the processes, business models and technologies required in today's digitally intensive business environment, companies can strengthen their brand, enrich their relationships with customers, and manage an increasingly complex mix of partners, processes, and technologies.
The document summarizes the key findings of a study on digital M&A conducted by EY between November and December 2017. Some of the main findings are:
- Many companies face challenges in building an effective digital ecosystem and introducing new deal processes to capitalize on digital acquisitions.
- 90% of companies are considering digital priorities in their capital allocation planning but value is often eroded due to flawed integration strategies.
- The study identifies three levels of digital M&A maturity among companies: leaders, adopters, and aspirers. Most companies (57%) are currently aspirers.
In today’s business environment, digital transformation has turned into a necessity to cope with persistent business needs of customer acquisition and brand building. However, the prospect of revamping is an opportunity offered by Digitalization and successfully transformed businesses can become industry leaders to dominate the market.
Also, companies should know that disruption is at the core of such a change and the only way to succeed is to create and follow a comprehensive plan. Moreover, the disruptive technologies can be adopted smartly to propel strategic growth.
As the future is all about innovative technologies such as Augmented Reality, IoT, Virtual Reality, etc., digitalization would eventually become the way of life, and the firms that can keep abreast with the digital macrocosm have better chance to succeed.
How digital is impacting market strategyMANSI DHINGRA
This document provides a literature review and research report on how digital marketing is impacting marketing strategy. It includes an introduction, literature review covering past research on topics like digital marketing strategies, impact on consumer behavior, and importance of an integrated marketing approach. It also discusses the objectives, research methodology, data analysis, findings, limitations, and conclusions of the research project. The literature review finds that digital marketing has significantly altered the marketing landscape and companies must adapt their strategies to engage with consumers in new online and interactive ways.
accelerating_digital_transformation_understanding_and_setting_up_a_digital_se...matthew perry
The document discusses setting up a Digital Services Unit (DSU) to establish strong governance over a company's digital transformation efforts. It describes three models for a DSU governance structure: IT-centric, marketing-centric, and integrated. An IT-centric model hosts the DSU within the IT department, while a marketing-centric model houses it within marketing. An integrated model pools all digital resources into a single unit. The document recommends selecting the model based on a company's resource allocation and coordination needs to accelerate its digital transformation through a DSU.
How digital technology is reshaping marketing organizationsTim Nagels
The document summarizes how digital technology is reshaping marketing organizations. It discusses how new skills, organizational structures, and partnerships are needed to adapt to changing customer expectations and the faster, more data-driven environment. Specifically, it explores how the roles of the CMO and marketing are being redefined and how marketing is extending across the entire business and overlapping with other functions like IT, HR, operations, and sales.
Emerging technologies: A transformative force of the new digital economy (ide...3gamma
In the new digital economy, driven by emerging technologies transforming how business is being done, IT is moving from being a reactive cost-centre to become a proactive business partner. IT is no longer just about servers and networks – it’s about delivering customer value across multiple internal and external touch-points.
Ericka pionin digital transformation – definedEricka Pionin
Digital Transformation – Defined
To be successful, companies must focus on customer experience and to remain sustainable, they must invest in digital technology.
Similar to PageTalent 3.0: Solving the digital leadership challenge — a global perspectives (20)
Us tmt social software for business_031011Óscar Miranda
This document discusses how social software can improve business performance if implemented correctly. It summarizes two case studies that showed significant performance improvements through social software use: a 22% reduction in issue resolution time at OSIsoft and a 61% reduction in compliance time at Alcoa. However, most social software implementations to date have focused on adoption metrics rather than measurable performance impacts. To succeed, companies need to focus social software efforts on clear objectives that demonstrably improve business metrics and outcomes.
Us tmt social software for business_031011Óscar Miranda
Social software has the potential to drive measurable business performance improvements by addressing operational challenges like handling exceptions. Two case studies found significant benefits - a 22% reduction in issue resolution time and a 61% decrease in time spent on compliance activities. For social software implementations to succeed, companies need to focus on using the tools to achieve specific performance goals rather than vague collaboration objectives.
The 10th HON survey on health and medical internet use collected responses from 524 participants in July-August 2010. 65% were citizens seeking health information for themselves or others, while 35% were medical professionals. Most common searches were for disease descriptions and medical literature. Both citizens and professionals discussed internet search results with doctors, but professionals were more skeptical of the influence on patients. Information quality remained the top barrier to online health information. The results support continued efforts to guide users towards trustworthy sources and educate on quality evaluation.
The survey summarizes the results of an online survey of 524 respondents from 60 countries regarding their use of the internet for health information. Some key findings:
- Respondents were mostly aged 30-39, female, from Europe or North America, with a university education.
- People spend 2-4 hours daily online and commonly search for health information multiple times a week, mainly for themselves or their children.
- Disease descriptions and medical literature are most frequently searched, but healthcare providers rarely recommend specific health websites.
- Search engines are the most commonly used source for health information, followed by specialized search tools and portal websites.
This document discusses drug pricing strategies and the challenges of balancing patient access to medications with funding for pharmaceutical innovation. It notes that drug pricing is highly complex globally and subject to political and public scrutiny. Governments in many countries feel the need to control drug pricing and have instituted price controls and international price referencing laws. The document aims to explain the complexities of global drug pricing and different market access approaches.
El documento presenta cuatro proyectos emprendedores en diferentes áreas como medicamentos, seguridad, construcción y tratamiento de efluentes. También resume los resultados positivos del proyecto Emprendedores de Solvay, con varios proyectos aprobados y una empresa en marcha, lo que contribuye al crecimiento de la compañía.
El documento presenta tres ideas innovadoras de empleados en España que han merecido reconocimiento en 2001. La primera idea, de empleados en Barcelona, consistió en incluir una nueva indicación médica en la ficha técnica de un medicamento. La segunda idea, de empleados en Torrelavega, permitió aumentar la producción de un producto químico en un 25% utilizando equipos existentes. La tercera idea mejoró el proceso de fabricación de otro producto químico para eliminar vertidos contaminantes.
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Este documento discute el uso de redes sociales en la Organización Panamericana de la Salud y su beneficio para la salud pública. Explica que las redes sociales son una herramienta importante para compartir información sobre temas de salud con el público. La Organización Panamericana de la Salud busca utilizar las redes sociales para mejorar la comunicación con las audiencias y lograr resultados positivos en materia de salud pública en las Américas.
The document summarizes feedback from stakeholders on AstraZeneca's submission to the FDA regarding social media engagement in the pharmaceutical industry.
Key discussion points included that social media is important for advancing public health, and pharmaceutical companies have a responsibility to engage more in social media. Stakeholders provided feedback on the FDA's role as regulator, noting social media requires a tailored approach, and companies can help address misinformation online. They also covered pharmaceutical companies' role, emphasizing the need for ongoing dialogue and mutual agreement with patients/caregivers.
Este documento describe el objetivo y método de trabajo del informe. El objetivo es establecer recomendaciones sobre el papel que debería jugar la industria farmacéutica para garantizar la calidad y sostenibilidad del sistema sanitario español. El método incluyó reuniones con varios grupos de expertos para recopilar sus opiniones y perspectivas. Los grupos incluyeron asociaciones de pacientes, enfermería, médicos, farmacéuticos, gestores y políticos. Las conclusiones de cada grupo se usaron
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Leveraging social media for pharmaceutical companiesÓscar Miranda
The document discusses how pharmaceutical companies can leverage social media. Millions of online conversations about health provide an opportunity for companies to better understand customer needs. However, the highly regulated environment for pharmaceutical marketing limits digital initiatives. The document provides best practices for using social media to participate in "super focus groups" and gain insights from customer feedback to inform marketing strategies.
El documento describe la evolución del uso de Internet para fines relacionados con la salud, desde la Web 1.0 hasta la actual Web 2.0. Explica que los pacientes ya no solo acceden a información en línea, sino que también crean y comparten contenido en blogs, videos y redes sociales. Asimismo, señala que aunque las nuevas tecnologías pueden mejorar la colaboración entre pacientes y profesionales, también plantean desafíos éticos como la difusión de información privada sin consentimiento. Por último, anticipa que los continu
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The document is a comparative price report from 2010 by the International Federation of Health Plans comparing medical and hospital fees between countries. It provides data on the costs of various medical scans, procedures, hospital stays and total costs for physician and hospital services for conditions like childbirth, appendicitis, hip replacement and bypass surgery. Across all categories, the US has among the highest costs, often 2-3 times higher than other countries at the average and even more so at the 95th percentile of actual payments made.
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3. AREAS OF ACTIVITY
3.1. MARKET REGULATION AND GOVERNMENT RELATIONS
The Technical Department of FARMAINDUSTR
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El documento habla sobre el sistema sanitario público español y el papel que pueden desempeñar las empresas de consultoría. Explica que el sistema sanitario público se enfrenta a retos como el envejecimiento de la población, las enfermedades crónicas y la insostenibilidad financiera. También menciona que las empresas de consultoría pueden ayudar a desarrollar un nuevo modelo de sistema sanitario a través de su experiencia en áreas como la planificación estratégica y la optimización de recursos.
2. about the study
In light of the growing importance of digital technologies to our clients
globally, Spencer Stuart set out to learn more about the evolving role digital
plays in business strategy across industry sectors and its impact on opera-
tions and, especially, the implications for building digital executive leadership
and talent. For the purposes of this study, “digital” refers to a broad range of
Internet-based and mobile technologies enabling an evolving set of communi-
cation, collaboration, sharing, marketing, e-commerce, research and informa-
tion platforms.
We held extensive interviews with 50 senior general management, marketing
and e-commerce leaders. These executives crossed geographic boundaries,
with half of the participants from North America, 34 percent from the U.K.
and Europe, and 16 percent from Asia Pacific. They also represented a wide
range of industries, including retail and consumer products, agencies and
other professional services firms, financial services, telecommunications and
cable, media, travel and hospitality, life sciences and industrial.
3. ten suggestions for thriving in a digital world
Our discussions with digital leaders around the globe highlighted 10 surprisingly consistent practices that
successful organizations embrace. These include:
1 Building a comprehensive digital strategy that is shared broadly and repeatedly across the
organization. In other words, you will never reach your destination if you do not know where you are
going, how you are getting there and who is on the bus. A well-articulated digital strategy that sup-
ports the core strategic drivers of the business will assist the organization in identifying and prioritiz-
ing new business opportunities and anticipating emerging competitive threats. Board, CEO and
senior executive-level commitment to a defined strategy will facilitate alignment and resourcing.
2 Embedding digital literacy across the organization. Digital is about much more than marketing
campaigns. It is also about internal communications to employee groups; external communications
to vendors, suppliers and shareholders; product and market research; and multi-regional, 24/7 real-
time collaboration. Digital success ultimately will be measured by the seamless integration of Web
2.0-and-beyond technologies across most business activities and processes.
3 Renewing focus on business fundamentals. The Internet and digital technologies provide a plat-
form for new competition — which can come from anywhere at any time. Your company, your em-
ployees and your product or service are fully exposed, for better or for worse. The best digital
strategy will not compensate for poor product quality or frustrating customer service.
4 Embracing the new rules of customer engagement. The customer is in control, now able to buy
products or services online anytime and anywhere, with more information than has ever been read-
ily available. Marketing is becoming less about pushing brand messages and more about brand inti-
macy through ongoing dialogue with customers. Organizations should strive to listen and inspire
and ensure that digital interactions with customers are respectful, relevant and responsive.
5 Understanding global differences in how people access and use the Internet. There are significant
distinctions in access, adoption and consumption of digital across regions of the globe. Winners
will prioritize geographic opportunities when executing digital initiatives and building teams, and lo-
calize programs to account for differences in culture, competition and lifestyle needs. Local dynam-
ics will increasingly inform global strategies and serve as a source of experimentation and
breakthrough creativity.
6 Developing the organization’s analytical skills. Data is becoming the currency of success in a tech-
nology-driven world. Tomorrow’s winners will be those able to extract and apply insights from data
to stake out a distinctive market strategy, find the best customers and charge them the right price,
provide exceptional customer service and create relevant marketing programs that drive customer
behavior.
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4. 7 Focusing on the customer experience. Placing the customer at the center of strategic and tacti-
cal decision making allows companies to break down organizational silos and overcome per-
sistent operational and resource issues that can impede technology-driven initiatives.
8 Developing leaders with skill-sets that bridge traditional and digital expertise. Adding a suc-
cessful digital dimension to your business is hard work, requiring intense attention to detail and
operational excellence. Experienced senior executives who did not grow up in a digital world
must be willing to invest the time to learn about digital technologies and the opportunities they
present, while up-and-coming digital leaders need to broaden their experience and build classic
business management capabilities.
9 Paying close attention to cultural fit when recruiting digital leaders. Web-centric and web-en-
hanced cultures are becoming more similar, yet are still worlds apart in many organizations. Or-
ganizational cultures that promote innovation and collaboration, minimize functional and
business silos, and focus on the customer are more likely to thrive in a digital world. Compa-
nies need to find and empower leaders who can advance digital objectives, given the pace, val-
ues, intensity, structure, decision-making process and role of digital in the business, and are
willing to jolt an entrenched culture when necessary.
10 Understanding the motivations of top talent. The simple reality is that the best digital talent is
still in short supply and much more mobile than other functions. Organizations optimize their
ability to attract top digital talent with: a clear digital strategy; overt C-level sponsorship; an en-
trepreneurial culture that values experimentation and creativity; and a reporting structure that
empowers leaders with digital skills.
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5. the past year represented a watershed moment for digital,
marked by a dramatic increase in digital activity in markets around the world, innovations in
mobile technologies and social media, and significant shifts in media spending. Advancing
technologies are spurring the development of a wave of collaboration and information-shar-
ing tools, as well as exciting new mobile applications to feed the rapid adoption of smart-
phones and 3G devices. The global economic slowdown further accelerated investments in
digital infrastructure, as companies redirected spending to more cost-effective and metrics-
driven digital initiatives.
With more and more consumers embracing these technologies, few companies are willing to
risk being on the sidelines without a robust approach to digital. Digital today is a key pillar of
the commercial strategies of a growing number of companies, regardless of industry. And the
fate of digital initiatives is no longer in the hands of a few evangelists; digital has become a
priority at the very highest levels of corporate leadership with the growth in investments in
digital platforms, media and personnel.
Conversations with senior general management, marketing and e-commerce leaders from
companies around the world revealed several themes:
> The rapid growth in digital adoption overall masks wide variations among indus-
tries and geographies. Global differences in how customers and potential cus-
tomers access and use the Internet have implications for how companies execute
digital initiatives and build teams in different markets.
> As digital becomes a more important component of strategy, organizations will
need leaders who possess classic business management and leadership capabili-
ties that will enable them to lead the organization through cultural and structural
shifts. Organizations will also need to make a conscious effort to develop future
leaders with the ability to operate in technology-driven environments.
> Traditional “from the center” brand-building and communications approaches are
losing their effectiveness, with dramatic implications for the way markets are
reached and nurtured. The skill-sets required for marketers of the future are un-
dergoing significant evolution as a result. Quite simply, observed former Unilever
global CMO Simon Clift, “We’re on the cusp of a massive change in how brands
work and how advertising works.” The model of the future will require brands to
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6. engage consumers with useful information and entertainment, such as spon-
sored content, mobile applications, gaming and social networking applica-
tions, where and when consumers want. Marketers and marketing agencies
also will need to proactively develop “new norms” and new processes to fully
exploit the opportunities presented by digital.
> The rapid pace of change and the organizational challenges digital presents
suggest that companies will need to rethink traditional roles or create new
roles in the future. For example, as marketing evolves to become more of a
conversation with key customer groups, the role of brand leader or product
marketing leader may give way to leadership roles responsible for specific cus-
tomer sets. Companies may also experiment with new senior-level digital posi-
tions responsible for developing and coordinating digital practices across the
corporation and staying abreast of advancements in digital technologies. In ad-
dition, many boards are beginning to boost their own digital IQ by recruiting
directors with digital expertise.
> The macro challenge for organizations is to successfully harness the disrup-
tive power of digital (i.e., innovation of superior business models and modes
of customer interaction and engagement) and the transformative power (i.e.,
enhancement of existing processes such as purchasing and internal commu-
nications and collaboration). “Organizations need to have a mindset that is
open and ready for change, and be willing to rethink and re-invent parts of
their business. Enterprise is no longer constrained by time, space and geogra-
phy. An aggressive test-and-learn mentality is very helpful,” said Shafiq Khan,
senior vice president of global e-commerce for Marriott International. “Man-
aging very rapid obsolescence is a key challenge, as is working with legacy in-
frastructure. Overall, today’s digital is at the pre-Ford Model T stage, with its
best yet to come.”
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7. Global Internet Use
Global Internet use has increased by 400 percent in the past 10 years. Today, there are approximately 1.8 billion Internet users
around the world. Here is how Internet use breaks down around the world: 1% 5%
10%
Africa 5%
Asia 43%
14%
Europe 24%
Middle East 3%
North America 14%
43%
Latin America/Caribbean 10% 3%
Oceania/Australia 1%
Source: Internet World Stats, as of December 31, 2009
24%
embracing digital: an industry snapshot
The rapid adoption of technology and the proliferation of digital channels and platforms are profoundly changing
the operations of individual businesses and the dynamics of whole industries. Digital is remaking the way com-
panies sell to and serve customers and how they market to and communicate with consumers — often requiring
very different skill-sets than companies needed in the past. How far companies have progressed in their digital
evolution can vary significantly depending on their industry, geography, business model and strategy. Here is a
snapshot of some of the ways digital technologies are changing the operations of companies.
Financial Services: Having seen the potential of digital early, the financial services industry has a well-
evolved use of online channels for customer acquisition, account management, mobile alerts and mobile
banking. The banking industry recognized the disruptive power of the Internet in the mid-1990s, as pure-
play companies like E*Trade Financial Corporation arrived on the scene, offering lower-cost stock trades
via the Internet. Banks quickly embraced multichannel strategies because of the value of cross-selling to
customers between channels. Multichannel bank customers have half the attrition rate of other cus-
tomers, and online bill pay is very “sticky,” according to Sona Chawla, former executive vice president of
Internet services at Wells Fargo & Co. and now senior vice president of e-commerce at Walgreen Com-
pany. Furthermore, multichannel bank customers grow their balances faster and consolidate accounts in
their primary bank, she said.
Information Services: At IBM, digital technologies continue to transform operations, improving produc-
tivity, supporting collaboration and self-service offerings, and connecting the large number of employees
who work at client worksites and other non-traditional workplaces — a group that represents 40 percent
of the company’s 400,000 employees. In the future, digital technologies will be a primary driver of three
key business priorities for IBM: geographic growth, especially in emerging markets; broader customer
reach, especially to smaller businesses that have been difficult for IBM to serve in the past; and the intro-
duction of new offerings. “We see digital being vital to all of our growth initiatives. The economics of digi-
tal is such that it gives us a lot of firepower with the same amount of resources,” said Jon Iwata, senior
vice president, marketing and communications, IBM.
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8. Airlines: Other companies and industries find themselves at more of a midway point in their digital evo-
lution. These companies already have established an e-commerce presence or are leveraging digital to re-
duce operating costs or improve customer service, but see the opportunity to do much more. The airline
industry is one example. Internet sales already represent a profitable and sizeable share of airline ticket
sales in some markets; for example, 60 percent of Air France-KLM’s air travel sales in the U.K. are done
online, according to Maartijn van der Zee, vice president of e-commerce for Air France-KLM. Digital tech-
nologies also enable popular customer service offerings such as self-service check-in and Internet check-
in, which also reduce the airline’s costs. However, airline executives state that they are building for a
future in which they will better leverage their direct access to consumers via their e-commerce sites, re-
quiring a new way of thinking about the business and new skills. “We’ve been transforming our market-
ing function from an airline marketing area to a retail marketing area. Truthfully, we’ve under-appreciated
that cheap flights actually draw people into our online shop. We ought to be offering customers more
things when they come. It’s a very different mindset from the past,” said the head of sales and marketing
for a major European airline.
Retail: Retail pure-plays such as Amazon.com, now a $24.5 billion company, and other Internet innova-
tors like Dell Computer understood early the potential of the direct-sales model through the Internet
channel and addressed the early-adopter market. Today, new retail “membership” models such as
Gilt.com and Shoedazzle.com continue to rewrite the rules of customer engagement. But digital is be-
coming increasingly important to all retailers. Online sales already represent the fastest-growing segment
of retail, but, more and more, retailers also view digital as a way to drive sales in other channels and learn
more about customer behavior and preferences. As they look to the future, retailers are focusing on pro-
viding a more seamless experience across channels and improving online merchandising. “A key priority
for us is to combine Internet technology with the emotional experience the consumer has in a store — to
focus on the shopping experience as a social, personal and inspirational event,” said Paul Nijhof, CEO of
wehkamp.nl, the largest Dutch online store. Barnes & Noble signaled the importance of digital and multi-
channel strategies to its future when it named Bill Lynch, the former president of its fast-growing e-com-
merce business, as the corporation’s CEO in early 2010.
Companies like Nike view digital to be as much a communication channel to engage customers as an
e-commerce channel. The company is using digital to develop new offerings and new communities of
users through initiatives such as Nike Plus, an RFID chip within certain shoes that links to a consumer’s
iPod and logs mileage to training programs; and Nike ID, which allows consumers to custom design a
shoe for fit or style, said Chris Shimojima, vice president of global e-commerce for Nike. “Nike has
adopted digital as a very important enablement of our future growth, in terms of how we do business,
how we communicate with consumers and how we actually create products for customers,” he said.
Automotive: Automotive consumers want access to accurate information about vehicle fuel economy,
pricing, reliability, space requirements, horsepower and color, and most are coming into dealerships well-
armed with this information. “Consumer research has confirmed that more than 70 percent of buyers are
doing research online, typically looking at seven or eight different websites in the research process,” said
Charles Sullivan, former director of interactive for Chrysler and now senior vice president of global online
for Hilton Worldwide. This provides carmakers with the opportunity to influence consumers at key points
during their decision-making process, he said. Digital also is lowering advertising costs for dealers, from
$370 per vehicle sold to $110 or less per vehicle sold, and reducing the amount of time car purchasers
spend in the dealership by half, he said.
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9. Media: Traditional media companies are responding to a radical transformation occurring in the delivery
and consumption of media content and marketing messages. This has eroded the profitability of tradi-
tional channels and created a slew of new competitors in the digital world, including Huffington Post and
The Daily Beast, which both generate new content and aggregate content from other sources. Erik Hug-
gers, director of future media and technology for the British Broadcasting Corp., explains the challenge to
traditional media companies like this: “The BBC is the largest news-gathering organization in the world.
It employs more journalists than any other company in the world; yet in this country, 10 percent of online
news consumption already happens on Google news. Google news is seen as a trustworthy news
provider, yet they don’t write a single word.” The key challenge for media companies in the future, said
James Bilefield, president of Condé Nast International, is to leverage effectively the strength of their
brands, as well as their extensive editorial and commercial relationships, across a range of digital and
other new platforms and channels.
Marketing Services: Advertising, public relations and marketing agencies face a similar challenge, as con-
sumers increase their use of digital platforms and channels. “The continuing challenge is that the agency
model has a lot of moving parts, not the least of which is the whole area of content and the creativity that
is needed to fill those channels. How do you start to create content and creative ideas that are as com-
fortable in an online digital environment as they are in a more linear broadcast environment? That is the
next stage in the journey,” explained Maurice Levy, chairman and CEO of Publicis. Agencies must keep
pace with the rapid advances of technology, understanding both the technology’s potential and its rele-
vance in targeting consumers. At the same time, they face pressure to keep down costs and provide
more accountability for results. These changes have significant talent implications for agencies, both in
client management, where the traditional relationship-based model is becoming less relevant, and in the
technology and creative areas, where firms have to invest in new applications and prototypes, even with-
out a specific client assignment. “In a business where change is happening so quickly and, literally, what
we do today is very different than what we did even months ago, the talent and the development of talent
become central to remaining at the forefront of the industry. Rapid industry change puts great focus on
ensuring that we are recruiting the right kinds of people, that we are developing them, and that we are
working to create a culture that embraces the pace of change,” said Laura Lang, global CEO of digital
marketing agency Digitas.
Consumer Packaged Goods: Many CPG companies are at an earlier stage in implementing digital strate-
gies, viewing digital channels as playing a complementary role in their marketing efforts, depending on
the brand and target customer base. Some CPG companies have successfully used digital channels to
launch new brands to younger consumers or deepen ties with a product’s target demographics. Unilever,
for example, leveraged digital to launch Axe men’s product line in the U.S. and made news with the Dove
“Campaign for Real Beauty” viral videos. Nevertheless, most CPG marketers admit to having a conserva-
tive approach to digital. “Our aim is not to be at the forefront,” said one CPG marketing executive. “Our
aim is simply to find the most appropriate way to communicate with our customers and people inter-
nally. When you look at it that way, you are not worried about whether you are doing the latest thing.
From our experience, the first-mover advantage can really be just an ego advantage, not a commercial ad-
vantage.” But many predict digital will be vastly more important for the future, as marketing and advertis-
ing models continue to evolve and the benefits of integrating digital tactics become clearer. One CPG
company has found that marketing initiatives that include a digital component achieve double-digit incre-
mental sales gains. Similarly, comScore’s Consumer Package Goods Ad Effectiveness Study found that
online campaigns have generated an average lift of 18 percent in brand sales in retail stores among those
consumers exposed to online ads.
7
10. Life Sciences: Life sciences leaders, too, are trying to determine what role digital should play in their busi-
nesses. The consumer’s ability to access online health information to learn about diseases and the latest
treatments is changing the nature of conversations with physicians. This has implications for how phar-
maceutical and medical device companies market to consumers. To help satisfy this thirst for medical
knowledge, pharmaceutical companies, for example, are using the Internet to educate consumers about
certain disease states, while maintaining separate product websites. The life sciences and healthcare are-
nas are examples of business sectors that are expected to undergo substantial transformation due to dig-
ital technology and the continued digitization of medical records and tracking of outcomes.
preparing for a digital future: three broad themes
Digital already is driving significant changes in customer behavior, the competitive landscape in many industries
and the operations of many businesses. What will the future bring? Several trends seem likely.
Organizations will have to get comfortable with unprecedented levels of transparency and embrace new ways of
interacting with their customers.
The Internet has transformed the way customers make purchase decisions through the power of personalized prod-
uct recommendations, product rankings, comment boards and reviews, blogs and price comparison sites. Con-
sumers now have the tools to control the agenda — to weed out the information that is not relevant to them and
find the information that is — and the platforms to share praise or criticism for the brands they use. “If you’ve got
something really great, you’ll have advocates and influencers who are speaking on your behalf. On the reverse, if
you’re not doing something
well, that will show up very
quickly through features like
In the U.K., shoppers will spend £7.2 billion buying groceries online by
user-generated ratings and so-
2014, nearly double what they did in 2009. Institute of Grocery Distribution cial web capabilities. This will
accentuate the winners and the
losers when it comes to prod-
uct quality,” suggested Randall Beard, general manager for Nielsen’s global CPG business and former head of
global marketing for UBS Wealth Management.
The gatekeeper role of traditional media, in which news organizations decide what is news and communicate it to
viewers and readers, is eroding and, increasingly, “what’s news” is being defined by the users of digital. As a result,
companies need to adopt new ways of getting information to their target audiences and, importantly, adopt a will-
ingness to listen to what those audiences are saying. Even beyond the quality of products or services, consumers
are broadcasting views on a host of other concerns, ranging from workers’ rights to how ingredients are sourced or
disposed of, through blogs, social networking sites and even company websites.
“You have got to be part of those conversations that are taking place around your products and services and have
your employees and even your customers be out there as experts in those conversations,” said Alan Scott, former
CMO of Dow Jones & Company’s Enterprise Media Group. “If every transaction and interaction that you have with
the marketplace is a positive, valuable one, you’re going to be seen as expert and trustworthy.”
Companies have to decide how to participate in those conversations, what skills they need to do it and who should
be responsible for responding, including the extent to which employees throughout the organization should be em-
8
11. powered to engage in social media on the company’s behalf. For many companies, this could require dramatic cul-
tural change. “If you’re really going to engage your customers or your employees and ask them questions or say
that you want to hear from them, you better be prepared to do something with what you hear. Culturally, that re-
quires the organization to be much more transparent and much more conversational,” said one digital leader.
This new model is less about “pushing people to action than inspiring people to take action,” marketing leaders
say, and brands will increasingly have to provide content that delivers utility, information or entertainment relevant
to target customers. As a result, classic brand marketing roles, traditionally linear and functionally driven, may give
way to more fluid and customer-centric roles that look more like community marketing or client management roles.
“Three to five years from now, the brand manager will have to be the ‘conversation leader,’” predicted Carla Hendra,
chairman, Global Strategy & Innovation, Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide.
Companies will need to understand the many flavors of digital around the world and build an organization to
support geographic differences in Internet use.
Although the Internet has always been a global platform, it was dominated by the U.S. in its early years. In 1996,
U.S. Internet users accounted for 66 percent of the total user base; today, 85 percent of Internet users are outside
of the U.S., according to Gian Fulgoni, co-founder and chairman of comScore. Furthermore, digital technologies
are used differently around the world. For example, as many as 30 to 40 percent of Internet users in some Asian
and Latin American countries access the Internet at Internet cafés rather than a home computer, and mobile use
is more prevalent and more sophisticated in Asia Pacific than in North America. “There are big differences in mo-
bile usage around the world, largely due to differences in telecommunications infrastructures. Asia Pacific, for in-
stance, has a well-developed mobile e-commerce market, where you can make purchases with a mobile phone —
even call a vending machine — but that just hasn’t happened yet in North America,” Fulgoni said.
In India, mobile phones are remaking the music business, said Shridhar Subramaniam, managing director of
Sony Music India. Indian consumers are spending $2 billion on mobile music downloads for ringtones or ring-
backs; by comparison, the total value of the Indian music industry through sales of CDs, licensing and perform-
ances is about $120
million, he said. “The mo-
bile phone has been a The top three Internet applications in China during 2009 were online music
game changer for the
(84% utilization), online news (80%) and search engines (73%).
music business in India,”
said Subramaniam. “Some China Internet Network Information Center
450 million people own
handsets. Comparable
ownership levels for other devices are 100 million TV sets, 20 million CD/DVD players, 40 million radio sets and
maybe 5 million to 10 million high-end audio component systems.”
These differences in how and with which devices people access the Internet — as well as differences in lan-
guages and other cultural preferences — mean that a single, global approach to digital initiatives will not work.
“The brand is formed by local interaction,” said William John Harris, marketing director for Nokia U.K. “You can’t
do global virals. Our goal is to have the best digital talent and embed digital in everything we do around our geo-
graphic network.”
This not only requires sophisticated digital talent at headquarters but digitally savvy people, internally and in
agencies, around the world to execute relevant digital initiatives in local markets — and contribute to global digi-
tal strategies. “The best global talent does not want to receive orders from headquarters; they expect to be able
9
12. to innovate on their own terms and inform global strategy from emerging markets,” said Torrence Boone, man-
aging director of agency development for Google. “As an example, some of the best and most interesting cre-
ative work is coming from places like Brazil and Shanghai. The best talent-driven organizations will recognize
this and restructure or build processes accordingly.”
Marketing is becoming a more real-time discipline
Digital provides marketers with exciting new tools and platforms to attract, engage, convert and retain their tar-
get customers, including search engine optimization, website optimization and e-mail continuity, but increas-
ingly marketing is happening on the consumer’s timetable. “People want to be marketed to, but only when
they’re raising their hand and saying, ‘I’m ready to be marketed to.’ The Internet provides everybody the opportu-
nity to opt in when they’re ready to make a purchase decision. Brands still have an opportunity to interact with
them, but the points of influence are completely different,” said Brian Hansberry, CMO of H.J. Heinz Company.
Influencing consumers at those key moments will require a deep understanding of customer behavior and pref-
erences. Furthermore, to improve their ability to deliver the right relevant content to the right customers at the
right time, marketers will have to become increasingly proficient with analytics. As one marketing executive put
it, “Data will be the currency
of creative going forward, and
the challenge will be to extract
Revenue from mobile phone applications is expected to rise to $6.8 billion
insights from the data and do
in 2010 (from $4.24 billion in 2009) and $29.5 billion in 2013. Gartner something with them faster
than competitors.” The role
and compensation of techni-
cally skilled marketing science leaders (i.e., data, analysis and insights) is being elevated to a senior strategic
level, especially for those who bring a high degree of interpersonal and leadership qualities.
While innovative and creative thinking will always be important to successful programs, marketers will have to let
go of their overriding faith in gut instinct. “Digital is challenging the mindset of ‘here’s what we are going to
communicate.’ It’s forcing marketers to look at what customers really interact with and figure out what that tells
them. They may develop all this beautiful creative on their websites, but if the customer never interacts with it,
they’re really just speaking to themselves,” said Nick Bomersbach, vice president of digital marketing and cus-
tomer experience for J. C. Penney Company.
talent guidelines for building a digital organization
Talent remains a significant challenge for most companies’ digital strategies, whether it is acquiring and retain-
ing experienced digital talent, grooming future leaders or developing new skill-sets for the challenges ahead.
Here are our suggestions:
1. Help migrate the digital immigrant.
Very few developments expose the gap between generations as much as the rise of digital. On one hand is the
digital native, in his or her early 30s or younger — who grew up with digital technologies and is entirely fluent in
their use; on the other hand is the “digital immigrant,” who did not grow up with the Internet or mobile phones.
Digital immigrants, many of whom are an organization’s most experienced senior leaders, have had to learn how
to use these technologies and train themselves to see the commercial possibilities and to understand the range
of implications related to the transparency and consumer empowerment that arise from digital.
10
13. Building Digital Capabilities Over Time
Phase of Digital Development
Infancy Adolescence Developed Mature
Required Hands-on, more Able to evolve the Stronger general Broad-based business
Leadership entrepreneurial organizational structure management capabilities leadership
Skill-sets and and talent base
Traits Strong building mentality Able to recruit key talent Top-level credibility
Commercial, marketing into larger functional
Able to influence intellect roles Experience in dealing
resources in a matrixed with complexity in scope
environment Able to prioritize Evolve infrastructure and scale
somewhat limited for more complex future
Resourcefulness funding and investment operations International experience,
decisions exposure
An evangelist for digital, Cross-functional
able to impart a sense of Internal evangelizing influence Increasing financial
excitement throughout acumen
the organization Inspirational leadership Skill in developing
well-supported business Strong ability to relate
Analytical skills Analytical skills cases and plans to across the enterprise at
encourage substantial all levels
investment
Analytical skills
Analytical skills
The Right Structure
The organizational structure of digital and e-commerce operations is continuing to evolve. One of the more significant ques-
tions is the degree to which companies should integrate their digital and e-commerce operations into the broader corporate
structure. There is no “one size fits all” solution.
Organizational structure is determined by the broader commercial strategy and business model, objectives for digital invest-
ment, nature of the product or service being offered, the intended market, physical footprint of the business, dominance of
other channels, and how advanced the current digital effort and capabilities are. The more mature and developed the digital
efforts are, the more integrated they appear to be. The most significant downside of integration is slower response times to
changes in the market and unwanted bureaucracy. This can be especially challenging with web-centric competitors that are not
burdened with legacy organizational structures. There is widespread agreement that global programs need to be driven at the
corporate level and executed locally with the proper level of sensitivity to local practices and cultures via regional pods of
digital talent.
Unilever’s Simon Clift commented that he has observed a “lost generation” situated between the young man-
agers who grew up in a digital environment and those 50 and older who have teenage children and see first-hand
how digital technologies are being used. “Most of our brands are run by people between 30 and 45 and they nei-
ther have kids living in the space nor use it themselves. It’s a bit like asking somebody who’s never seen a TV ad
in the 1960s to make great television advertising.”
11
14. But other executives said the bigger challenge they see is translating the opportunities of digital to the senior
management team. “It’s really difficult to talk to one generation in the vocabulary of another. And for digital to re-
ally take root, at least in the CPG industry, it’s going to require either the natural evolution of leadership or it’s
going to require existing leaders to take a leap of faith and buy into some concepts that they don’t fully under-
stand,” said another marketing executive. “It’s amazing how difficult some things have been to get accomplished
until the children of my senior management tell them the same thing I’m telling them.”
Business leaders have to know enough about digital to understand what platforms the company should be in-
vesting in, based on the brand and customer base, as well as what can be supported by the organization. These
leaders need to make sure they stay up-to-date on digital technologies, using them in their personal lives to bet-
ter understand their potential, reading about and researching new technologies, and taking advantage of training
offered by digital agencies, executives said.
Beyond the technical skills, Google’s
Boone sees a new model of cutting-
Spending on interactive marketing in the U.S. will reach $55 billion
edge leadership emerging for the
by 2014, representing 21% of marketing spending, compared with digital era — a “post-heroic” model
12% in 2009. Social media and mobile marketing will be the in which the leader facilitates an or-
ganization’s ability to find the an-
fastest-growing segments of interactive marketing. Forrester Research
swers rather than dictating the
answers. “You need versatile, open,
collaboration-oriented leaders. In
order to drive aggressive innovation, it’s critical to have leaders who recognize they don’t necessarily have all the
answers, but can create an environment that allows different points of view to come to the table. Leadership
needs to be comfortable in the messiness and uncertainty that allows breakthrough-thinking to happen. That is
how the most successful organizations in this space operate,” said Boone.
Experienced general managers who are willing to invest time in learning about digital can make the transition to
a more digital business, said Bill McDonald, executive vice president of brand management for Capital One Fi-
nancial Corp., comparing the challenge to a surgeon keeping up with advances in medicine. “What we’ve found
over time is that the people who were great managers who dove into the digital space and had a lot of hands-on
experience have done very well. The core managers who have been willing to ‘go deep’ into this channel have
thrived. These individuals have a personal passion for the Internet.”
2. Develop the business knowledge and management fundamentals of digital natives.
Conversely, younger executives who have an intuitive understanding of digital should be groomed to develop
classic business management and leadership capabilities and a thorough understanding of the business and
how decisions impact the top- and bottom-lines. These leaders will have to work fluidly across functions and col-
laborate with people throughout the organization, especially in an integrated environment, to sell programs in-
ternally, get the necessary talent and financial resources and break down the barriers to cooperation between the
channels. To do this, they will need to understand the issues and objectives of other functional areas and find
ways to work together to accomplish common goals.
“The future leadership of our business is going to come from individuals who have bridged both the traditional
and digital retail worlds,” said David Polston, CMO-Services for Sears Holdings Corporation. “The reality is that
in an organization that is historically centered around merchandising, it’s difficult to imagine it ever being suc-
cessfully led by a pure technologist. More likely, future leaders will have had a number of years in the e-com-
merce channel, as well as in the classic retail merchant organization.”
12
15. Digital leaders who allow themselves to become siloed within the technical confines of their roles will narrow
their career paths. “Digital leaders need to develop skill-sets outside their comfort areas and take on added re-
sponsibilities to advance their careers, including branding, mass media and customer service. Many of these in-
dividuals, because they have been focused on the job at hand, have not thought proactively about developing
their careers,” said Marriott’s Khan.
Fortunately, many have the opportunity to gain exposure to broader business issues and different functions
through stand-alone digital businesses. These e-commerce units can provide up-and-coming executives with the
opportunity to take on general management roles sooner than in the traditional business. The head of e-com-
merce for one U.K. retailer described her part of the business as a “mini-management training ground,” where
promising executives can operate outside a single functional area and take on broader general management re-
sponsibilities. “We’re trying to build much more of a general management mindset amongst our senior leaders,
which is quite appealing to executives across the company.”
3. Building highly diverse teams representing digital and traditional business experience is optimal.
Individuals with both the business savvy and the expertise in digital — those who are grounded in the business
and knowledgeable about the rapidly evolving digital environment — are in limited supply relative to market de-
mand. As the talent pool continues to develop over time, organizations should, in the short term, focus on build-
ing a team with the right mix of skills. “The ideal leadership profiles are those who speak both the language of
traditional retail and the language of digital, but those profiles are so rare that you have to compensate by build-
ing such diverse competencies within a team,” said the general manager of a leading French online retailer.
Given the dynamism and the fluidity of the current environment, a primary goal for Lang at Digitas is to build a
strong team with diverse experience and viewpoints who can help the organization think through the opportuni-
ties and challenges before it. “Diversity is
going to be critical. When I say diverse I
mean diversity of thought, diversity of ap-
proach. A really strong senior leadership 400 million Facebook users log on each month and 50
team in an industry that is changing quickly percent of Facebook users log in on any given day. Facebook
is one that includes people who think very
differently and are able to work together.
We need linear thinkers and we need laterally creative thinkers, because too many of either one is not going to
get us where we want to go,” she said.
4. Hire for cultural fit.
Almost universally, the leaders we interviewed remembered their mis-hires as people who could not adjust to the
culture of the organization. For example, many executives of larger organizations said the executives who failed
in their companies had the digital skills, but lacked the experience working within complex organizations.
“The usual ‘startup-guys’ have trouble adjusting to bigger organizations and normally exit after one or two years.
Most of the mis-hires have had problems moving from a free-flowing, highly intense startup culture into a corpo-
rate environment, where they had to cope with leadership challenges, hierarchies, formal processes and slower
decision making,” said the executive of a European telecommunications company. The culture shock can go both
ways. Mis-hires at companies with advanced digital capabilities typically are those from traditional backgrounds
who struggle to adjust to the intense pace and speed of decision making of an Internet business.
13
16. These experiences underscore the importance of assessing candidates’ cultural fit with the organization, which
can depend on factors such as the scale and strategic importance of the digital business, how the business is or-
ganized, the level of resourcing available, how decisions are made, the pace of the activity and the degree of sen-
ior-level support for digital initiatives. At the same time, organizations should identify and address those
elements of culture that impede the kind of collaboration necessary to drive digital initiatives.
5. Retain your digital talent.
The reality is that during boom times, you are at risk of losing a very significant portion of your digital talent. Ex-
ecutives we spoke with said that they receive multiple overtures on a weekly basis. Attraction is only half the bat-
tle in today’s digital talent market. The good news is that if you solve for one (i.e. attraction or retention), you
more than likely solve for the other. In other words, attraction and retention are opposite sides of the same coin.
Executives change jobs
due to lack of resources,
limited growth opportuni-
China’s 51.com has 14 million average weekly unique browsers, and 150 ties, or lack of communi-
million Qzone users actively update their accounts at least once a month. cation and clearly
Asia Pacific Digital Marketing Yearbook 2009
articulated strategies. Ex-
ecutives stay because of
the opportunity to make
an impact, job content
and compatibility with senior management. A strong and healthy corporate culture, the caliber of leadership at
the top and a clearly articulated vision are also important. Proactive career pathing, compensation and quality of
life are further considerations for many digital executives.
6. Develop the organization’s analytical skills.
Leaders able to accurately analyze the mountains of customer data that are now available through digital technolo-
gies will find valuable insights to help the organization stake out a distinctive market strategy, find the best cus-
tomers, develop appropriate pricing models and understand the effectiveness of marketing initiatives. Used
effectively, this information can help companies recognize and respond to competitive and market developments
that could threaten the business model. This same data also can facilitate critical decisions about product en-
hancements, marketing promotions and assortment planning, and improve understanding of how customers in-
teract with brands across channels. To ensure the organization leverages this wealth of information, leaders must
be willing to go deep into the data and be familiar with the technology advances that can enable these initiatives.
Senior leaders will need to be passionate advocates for customers and help the organization overcome the
strategic and operational challenges that can arise when instituting analytics initiatives. These can include the in-
ability to integrate data, either because of technological silos or cultural resistance, and the need to build consen-
sus on what data to collect and analyze. These leaders must help define the meaningful issues for the business
and ensure that the organization has the infrastructure to organize, analyze and interpret valuable customer data
in a timely manner to inform decision making.
concluding remarks
We heard repeatedly from the executives we interviewed about how challenging it is to find the talent their com-
panies need as they expand their investments in digital. There are a number of reasons for this. First, the de-
14
17. mand for these executives is still significantly greater than the supply of proven talent. Additionally, the desired
skill-set for these leaders tends to be quite broad — encompassing traditional management and leadership
skills, digital and technical expertise, strategic vision, emotional intelligence and communication skills. On top of
this, the right mix of skills required for any one position depends on many factors, which can include the scale of
business, the digital strategy, the company’s culture, the nature of the product or service, and the degree of tech-
nical knowledge within the business.
Successfully recruiting these valuable executives requires a concerted, focused and well-informed approach. Such
an effort is greatly facilitated by broad knowledge of the sources of talent and the ability to skillfully assess candi-
dates for the specific requirements of a position and cultural fit within the organization. The business returns
from doing this artfully are great and the costs of not doing so are painful. How can companies improve their
chances of successfully recruiting the digital talent they need? We offer several considerations below.
Carefully define the requirements of the role, based on the organizational strategy as well as the business’ techni-
cal and cultural needs. Be certain that you have alignment from key executives on the position specification.
Prioritize. An expansive list of criteria can limit the size and quality of the candidate pool. Work closely with your
internal recruiters or external search firm to understand the talent universe and prioritize the “must-have” versus
the “nice-to-have” capabilities for the specific position.
Make a strong, appropriate investment in building an experienced and savvy internal digital recruiting capability.
The executives we spoke with tended to rely more on well-resourced executive search firms for senior-level needs,
where the business cost of a mis-hire is more pronounced. Proven search firms were felt to be more broadly
knowledgeable about the digital talent market, more creative in identifying solutions and experienced in assess-
ing digital candidates, whether recruiting through internal or external resources. Be open to considering a
broader set of talent in the digital space than you might be in a more traditional search. Exceptional digital talent
can be found in pockets across industries, so consider migrating talent from related sectors or industries with
similar business models.
Recognize that variables such as reporting structure, organizational structure, culture, the degree of senior-level
sponsorship and resource levels all affect a company’s ability to attract talent. The most talented and experienced
executives expect that digital will be central to the business strategy and appropriately funded. Empower these
leaders to make change.
Do not “under hire.” The
Online retail spending in Europe reached nearly £128 billion in 2009
cost of making the wrong
hire is significant consider- and is projected to grow to £153 billion in 2010. Centre for Retail Research
ing the current pace of tech-
nology advancement in
digital and the corresponding opportunity costs and capital/program investment. Be creative with compensation
when necessary to ensure that the organization hires an “impact player.”
Moore’s Law states that the number of transistors placed inexpensively on an integrated circuit has doubled
every two years. This has enabled the capabilities of digital electronic devices to improve at exponential rates.
These enhanced capabilities have increased the usefulness of digital electronics in nearly every segment of the
world economy, indelibly shaping customer behavior. Business, product channels, marketing, advertising, social-
izing and collaboration as we knew them 10 years ago are dramatically different today. How fast does change
15
18. happen? Consider this: Facebook, which was founded in February 2004, amassed 400 million regular users in
less than six years. If Facebook were a country, it would be the third most populous in the world. Google, which
launched in 1999, is today almost a $24 billion company and has reinvented advertising.
In the final analysis, it appears that the only constant in the “digital” space seems to be the pace of change and
innovation. Companies that do not anticipate and constructively respond to the impact of these changes risk be-
coming obsolete. In the face of these dynamics, the key question that organizations must answer is: “Are we pre-
pared to operate in an increasingly technology-driven world?” From there, they must determine whether they are
optimizing the opportunities to utilize technology across the organization for competitive advantage and, most
importantly, whether they have the necessary executive talent, leadership and vision to take the organization
where it needs to be for the future.
Interview Participants
By Function By Industry By Region
Marketing 36% Consumer 28% Asia Pacific 16%
Digital/E-Commerce 32% Services 18% Europe 34%
CEOs 14% Retail 12% North America 50%
Other GMs 14% Financial Services 10%
Other 4% Telecom/Cable 10%
Media 8%
Travel 8%
Life Sciences 4%
Industrial 2%
Participating Companies
Air France-KLM Fnac.com Nike
AT&T Google Nokia Corporation
Birds Eye Foods Grey Healthcare Worldwide Ogilvy & Mather Worldwide
British Airways Hilton Worldwide Premier Farnell
British Broadcasting Corporation H.J. Heinz Company Publicis Group
British Sky Broadcasting IBM Royal Philips Electronics
Capital One Financial Corp. Isobar Sears Holdings Corporation
The Coca-Cola Company J. C. Penney Company Shaadi.com
Colgate-Palmolive Company KPN Sony Corporation
comScore Liberty Medical Supply Sony Music Entertainment
Condé Nast Marriott International Tesco
Deutsche Telekom McDonald’s Corporation Unilever
Digitas Nationwide Mutual Insurance Co. Visa
Dow Jones & Company The New York Times Company Walgreen Company
E-Plus Mobilfunk Nielsen wehkamp.nl
E*Trade Financial Corporation Zurich Financial Services
16
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