Digital Economy and Improving Business Performance - May 2022

Digital Economy and Improving Business Performance – May 2022

IoT security hots up as the threats become apparent

The pressure is on IoT to change tack and treat security as a top priority – but there is still no silver bullet in sight

The number of attacks against IoT devices doubled in the first six months of 2021, according to honeypot telemetry analysis by IT security firm Kaspersky. According to the data, hacked IoT endpoint devices were typically used in botnets to mine cryptocurrency, launch DDoS attacks or steal confidential data.

Thankfully, until now IoT has escaped the attention of major threat actors. Although US security company Ordr’s 2021 report Rise of the Machine estimated that 46 per cent of all IoT devices are vulnerable to medium- and high-severity attacks, IoT networks so far have rarely been in the crosshairs of cyber-criminals as primary targets.

As early as 2016 we already got a taste of how far-reaching the ramifications of an attack against IoT networks could be, when domain name system provider Dym was targeted through its IoT devices, leading to 175,000 sites going offline.

Why has IoT been so lax about security until now?

When IoT technology was in its infancy, manufacturers of the most diverse devices – from household appliances to facilities management equipment to street furniture – were indiscriminately connecting whatever they could to the internet, irrespective of whether connectivity had any added value or a strong use-case.

Meanwhile, end-users who find news stories of hacked devices amusing rather than upsetting, and who are convinced that no hacker would bother to breach their systems, have thrown caution to the wind and installed an ever-increasing number of connected products. Despite the vulnerabilities of smart home devices on these marketplaces, their sales keep rising.

But the promise of quick profits hasn’t been the only reason for IoT developing a much more fragile security posture than IT in general. Thanks to memory and CPU limitations, traditional endpoint security doesn’t work with IoT, as devices by themselves can’t accommodate so-called security agents that are designed to log, process, aggregate and send security data.

Although IoT security has made great strides in the past decade, approximately 40 per cent of devices are still agentless, with IP (internet protocol) phones, printers, video surveillance tools and badge readers posing the highest risk.

In the absence of security agents and logging, devices in an IoT network won’t be seen by security professionals and network monitoring systems. A considerable amount of IoT vulnerability can be traced back to the roughly 20 per cent gap that exists between what can be seen and what in fact exists on a network.

IoT devices also have a longer life cycle than PCs and laptops, and therefore often get exposed thanks to running on unsupported legacy operating systems. The Rise of the Machines survey, for example, found that 19 per cent of IoT networks, many of them connecting medical equipment, were running on systems that are no longer supported, such as Windows 7 and 8.

New agentless and agent-based solutions for strengthening IoT security

One avenue cyber-security providers are going down is taking agentless devices as a given, and develop alternative ways of creating visibility and detecting anomalies on a network. This is what Forescout’s agentless visibility and control solution offers for all types of assets (IT, OT, IoT and IoMT – the Internet of Medical Devices) that rely on its device cloud – one of the world’s largest device depositories. Armis’s “giant behaviour crowdsourcing engine” is also based on observing device behaviour and detecting anomalies against a master model built with statistical and machine learning tools.

Meanwhile, Microsoft’s agent-based in-device security solution for IoT enables manufacturers to incorporate security from the earliest stages of development and create managed devices that are secure by design.

Both agentless and agent-based solutions have their pros and cons. The former, for example, takes less time to deploy but requires large amounts of bandwidth and a centralised host. Agent-based systems, on the other hand, enable in-depth scanning, can be used as a firewall and provide security controls, but cost more and take more time to set up.

Which system is a better choice depends on the deployment environment. However, the two methodologies can work best and provide the highest level of IoT security in combination.

SentinelOne’s discovery, during research conducted at the end of March 2022, that Microsoft Azure Defender for IoT had five vulnerabilities with a severity core of 10 also suggests that IoT security is a hard nut to crack, and there may be a long wait before we’re offered a cure-all.

Until then, the main principle that players in the IoT space need to follow is defence-in-depth. Not only will IoT adoption suffer if the industry doesn’t get its security act together but also progress towards more advanced and automated IoT systems, such as the economy of things (EoT), where machines can carry out transactions without human participation.

You can read more about M2M transactions and smart contracts in last week’s Payments issue.

Zita Goldman

Zita Goldman covers digital transformation with a focus on demystifying digital technologies and showing how they fit into a broader sectoral, macroeconomic, legislative and societal context. She has a passion for connecting the dots of current business and financial news and explaining inconsistencies, for giving hype a reality check and looking behind buzzwords for fresh meaning.

For workers in Africa, the digital economy isn’t all it’s made out to be

Today more than half of the world’s population is connected to the internet. In Africa, there are over 590 million internet users and over 800 million mobile phone subscribers.

Some observers note that such diffusion of digital tools and connectivity is bringing political, economic, social and cultural transformations on the African continent.

One such change is that workers from Lagos to Johannesburg to Nairobi are carrying out various forms of digital work. These are activities which involve manipulation of digital data using tools such as mobile phones, computers and the internet.

Examples are transcription, article writing, image tagging, search engine optimisation, and inbound and outbound customer services, which can be done for clients anywhere.

As a result, governments, development organisations and civil society look towards digital work as a fix for African countries’ development problems, including unemployment, poverty, and inequality.

For our new book, The Digital Continent, we conducted a five year study to investigate call centre work and the remote gig work and its implications for workers in five African countries: South Africa, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Ghana.

We argue that job quality in digital work remains questionable.

We show that while digital work can bring some forms of freedom and flexibility into the lives of workers in the five countries, it can also contribute towards their precarity and vulnerability.

Employment insecurities

We conducted in-depth interviews with call centre workers and remote gig workers to understand their experiences of digital work, income, working hours, employment relations, and algorithmic management of their labour and body.

A majority of those we interviewed noted new digital jobs as one of their important sources of income. But this should be read with caution.

Call centres are notorious for contingent employment relations – that is, flexible and short-term contracts.

Firms’ use of temporary staffing agencies to cut labour costs is also common. Call centre agents can be hired and fired easily. For example, an agent in Nairobi told us that in April 2016 his firm fired 70 workers.

Companies also relocate with relative ease. Though in South Africa call centre operations have grown in recent years, several have closed down in Kenya, Nigeria and Ghana. Some companies moved to destinations with cheaper labour. Unfortunately exact data on this is hard to come by.

Similarly, workers on the continent see the digital gig economy as a new opportunity. While technological barriers may have been reduced, they face various hurdles to earning a living in the global gig economy. A worrying trend is that few actually earn an income on platforms where flexible digital work is made available.

Upwork is the world’s largest platform in terms of registered workers and the most popular among workers on the continent. But our estimates suggest that less than 6% of the Africans registered on it ever earn a single US dollar. In the case of Ghana and Uganda, these figures are as low as 3.1 per cent and 2.7 per cent respectively.

There is an oversupply of labour on the gig economy platforms. Respondents also told us that some clients do not want to give contracts to workers on the continent.

On platforms, work is primarily short-term. Some tasks (like image tagging) take as little as a minute to complete; others can last longer (like virtual assistant work). The short-term contracts mean that workers have to constantly search for work on platforms to earn an income. Yet compensation can be low.

Because some platforms pay as little as $0.10 per task, workers resort to working on multiple contracts, which means longer and unsociable hours. Some of those in our study spent up to 80 hours a week working.

Platforms also give employers access to a planetary workforce, so workers have become more expendable than ever. Workers we spoke to noted that clients preferred lower-cost labour destinations, such as India and the Philippines.

Managed by algorithms

Increasing use of algorithmic management for surveillance and control of workers and the labour process is making digital workers even more vulnerable.

In call centres, technological tools like customer relationship management and workforce management are used to maximise workers’ time on call. Call centres are known as “assembly lines in the head” for this reason.

In the gig economy, workers face similar pressures with algorithms keeping track on them by taking a screenshot of their laptops.

While some platform workers can schedule the time and place of work the way they want, this flexibility isn’t available to everyone. Only experienced gig workers were able to achieve some form of flexible working.

Surveillance and algorithmic control result in loneliness and social isolation. Complaints about mental and physical stress, including sleep deprivation, were common among our respondents.

Some gig economy platforms openly state that clients do not have to pay if workers fail to meet the target or if clients are not satisfied with the work. There were dozens of stories of workers in our sample who never got paid for work done. Wage refusal or withholding pay is considered forced labour by the International Labour Organisation.

Lack of career opportunities

Call centres are considered flat organisations with very few opportunities for internal progression within a firm. A majority of the agents we interviewed did not consider their work at call centres as a long-term career option. We met workers who had been in the sector for over five years with no real progression in salary or working conditions.

Platform companies and organisations such as the World Bank have built a rhetoric around the gig economy as enabling self-employment or entrepreneurship. Our book shows a less positive reality. Digital work opportunities don’t always translate into good quality jobs, and may not be sustainable.

We see a need for research and activism that exposes how digital work is done. We also call for government action to uphold worker rights. And we advocate for building worker solidarity in digital economy networks.

Mohammad Amir Anwar, Lecturer in African Studies and International Development, University of Edinburgh

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

How to realise the potential of a hybrid work model

Making the most out of an efficient hybrid work model in the post-pandemic era

The pandemic has irrevocably changed office culture, rapidly evolving a trend for remote working into a core part of the mainstream employee experience. While remote working is here to stay, the consensus from employees themselves is that a return to some regular office-based interaction is important. In fact, Barco hybrid meeting research shows that eight out of ten office workers are in favour of a hybrid work model, with most, on average, willing to work from home just one and a half days per week.

Understanding this, most businesses have already started to implement various kinds of long-term hybrid systems, which can offer a mix of office-based and remote working.

This is, of course, great news, not only for the employee experience, but also the overall performance of businesses. Such hybrid models should, in effect, offer white-collar workers the best of both worlds – that is, more time to work productively and stress-free from home, as well as an opportunity to catch up with colleagues and make use of the professional backdrop of the office for important meetings.

Hybrid working: the challenges

However, as with the implementation of any new system of working, there are challenges to overcome. If hybrid business models are to be productive and successful – if their potential is ever to be truly realised – then meeting room technology issues must first be acknowledged and resolved.

CIOs and IT decision makers must, in the first instance, work out how to ensure widespread user adoption of meeting room technologies. Despite the general enthusiasm for hybrid collaboration, most white-collar workers have little to no inclination to give up their new-found laptop-centric approach to meetings, with 71 per cent preferring to host hybrid meetings from their own laptops.

Since they started working from home, employees have been able to avoid complicated meeting room set-ups and easily host and join meetings from their laptops, using their preferred video conferencing platforms. More to the point, according to the latest Barco research, they now see no reason to do things differently, with a remarkable 70 per cent of 800 white-collar workers surveyed from across the globe insisting they would rather use their own laptops than in-room systems.

Disillusioned with current office technology infrastructures, 65 per cent admitted to struggling with different meeting room set-ups, and a further 48 per cent with connecting to AV peripherals such as displays, cameras, speakers and microphones. Alarmingly, these challenges have caused a stunning 71 per cent of workers to experience stress during hybrid meetings.

Bring your own meeting (BYOM) solution

The widespread adoption of hybrid meetings, it would seem, will ultimately hinge on the roll-out of a more inclusive and intuitive meeting technology solution. An overwhelming 81 per cent of white-collar workers across every age group agree that easy-to-use technology facilitates better meetings. Most would agree that the very process of ideation and innovation depends on making real connections during a meeting, with over one third (42 per cent) believing in the necessity of having personal conversations to generate ideas.

For a successful digital workplace strategy, businesses will therefore need to support hybrid meetings that are as seamless and intuitive as face-to-face collaborations. One way to achieve this is by offering, for in-person as well as virtual environments, a “bring your own meeting” (BYOM) experience. With BYOM, users can host and join video meetings and share content using their own preferred conferencing platform in any existing meeting room or space from their own device.

A high-quality audio-visual experience

Wireless presentation and conferencing systems such as Barco’s ClickShare harness the power of BYOM, enabling employees in the office to join meetings from their laptops with just one click. Instantly connecting employees to the meeting room display and its AV peripherals, such solutions boost productivity and collaboration, allowing for a more deeply immersive, high-quality audio-visual experience.

Thanks to their universal compatibility with most in-room systems, peripherals, UC&C platforms and agnostic collaboration tools, ClickShare is easy to integrate into most existing meeting room set-ups, offering a much more inclusive and familiar meeting experience for users.

Safe and future-proof hybrid collaboration

Of course, the successful transition to a hybrid style of collaboration will depend on the implementation of future-proof, secure technology. ClickShare is an IS0 27001-certified enterprise-ready solution, safeguarding against future cyber threats and enabling data to be shared safely. As well as ensuring privacy and confidentiality online, such tools are now able to offer ongoing support, and include warranties of up to five years in addition to a continuously enhanced user experience with an ever-increasing range of features and functionality.

To facilitate the digital transformation of workplaces, CIOs and IT decision makers must also monitor adoption as well as productivity and engagement. The best way to do this and prove return on investment is to look for conferencing systems that offer advanced data and analytics.

After nearly two years of remote working, work culture has been transformed. And while many of us have returned to the office, the role of the office and office etiquette are still evolving. The future of hybrid working is already starting to take shape, but to reap the benefits of all the advantages that it brings, workspaces will have to be reimagined with intuitive, flexible and familiar meeting room technologies that employees are able – and willing – to use.

At the beginning of the year, we launched the ClickShare Hybrid Meeting survey, which revealed the attitudes and preferences of modern workers as business leaders adjust operational models, workspaces and organisational cultures in alignment with evolving professional dynamics.

For more information on the full report, and for a full download, click here.

By Anthony Wright, Sales Director UK/IRE/Nordics, Barco

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM BARCO

The office revolution: get flexible or get left behind

Hybrid work is taking over the world – is it time for your business to get on board?

With Covid-19 still lingering and the advent of the work-from-home movement, our workplaces are inevitably shifting. Whether you’re a fan of remote work – blissfully taking video calls in your jogging bottoms – or hate being stuck at home, we can all agree that the past few years have upended everything we knew about the workplace.

The remote work concepts that many businesses have sworn by for years have risen to the surface and gained dominance in the workplace management sphere.

Flexible work is a workplace management system that allows employees to choose when to work. Research from HSBC found 61 per cent of companies that implemented flexible working schedules saw an improvement in productivity.

This can include changes such as a four-day vs a five-day working week or setting a time when everyone must be in the office but allowing flexibility at other points in the day. Allowing the team to rest longer means they are more productive when they are working.

With remote work becoming more prominent, many companies are choosing to downsize their office space. However, sometimes in-person collaboration is needed. Workplace management software, such as deskbird, allows employees to see who is in the office and book desks on the days they choose to come in. They can opt to sit next to teammates for a meeting or to book a single desk in a focus area to concentrate. Companies can then analyse occupancy and decide how many desks they actually need on a given day.

Hybrid work gives you the best of both worlds. A hybrid work environment allows employees to work from home or from the office, depending on their preferences, schedule and the needs of the organisation. A recent study found that 97 per cent of employees do not want to return to in-office work full-time.

By giving your team control over where they work, you’re giving them the best opportunity to succeed. We all know where we work best and what makes us most comfortable and motivated. That’s why the work-from-home debate has taken up so much space. The truth is, whether a company chooses remote work or in-office work, one is not better than the other. So why not give employees the freedom to choose?

It may seem like this shift towards greater flexibility in the workplace only affects some companies and not others. But really, we are seeing a cross-industry trend that supersedes both traditional and modern workplaces.

So, why should you care?

Company culture has become an increasingly important differentiator for those choosing a place of work. While a competitive salary is important, so is a good office environment. People want to work in a place that makes them feel happy, comfortable and motivated. Greater flexibility lends itself to a better overall company culture.

As most managers know, the way to retain employees is to keep them happy. Sometimes a day off or a work-from-home day is needed. Having the ability to do that improves mental health and overall wellbeing. No one likes sitting in rush-hour traffic for hours if physically being in the office that day is unnecessary or if life throws a curveball and work is the last thing on your mind.

The world and the workplace are constantly evolving. Those who do not keep up will fall behind. The workforce is becoming dominated by Millennials and Generation Z, two technologically advanced generations who can easily integrate technology into their work. An article by Entrepreneur explains how Millennials and Generation Z are also pushing back against the traditional 9 to 5 and would rather have flexibility in their work life.

The truth is, hybrid work needs more coordination than fully remote work, with the need to manage a team both online and offline. Here are some ways to make your transition easier:

Consult your team

Being employee-centric should be your number-one priority. During a transition, it’s easy to forget that every change you make directly affects your team. Begin by consulting with them to understand what they think is working well and what isn’t. Maybe they are itching for more hours in the office or they need more flexibility – you might be surprised at what you’ll learn.

Hybrid work scheduling

As we shift away from working in-office all of the time to a more hybrid model, it’s crucial to align the schedules of your team. It’s important to know who’s working in the office when and for how long so that meetings can be planned accordingly. Hybrid work scheduling allows employees to plan their week day by day. With workplace management software such as deskbird, team members can follow each other and see their schedules for seamless coordination. Having these analytics at your fingertips allows for better space allocation and data to help with downsizing decisions.

Take advantage of technology

One of the main reasons for this massive shift towards greater flexibility in the workplace is the ubiquity of technology and specifically workplace management and communication tech. Technology helps foster a greater employee experience. Embracing it means much more than simply optimising your processes – it makes the lives of your employees better. To aid in this transition, utilise the incredible emerging technologies that are humanising remote work and bringing synchronicity back to online communication.

The shift towards greater flexibility in the workplace is greater than any individual company. This is a phenomenon that was catalysed by the pandemic, but it has now been invigorated by the many companies putting it into practice. Don’t miss out on the opportunity for evolution.

To learn more about making your business more flexible, check out the deskbird workplace management solution at deskbird.com

By Annabel Benjamin, Hybrid Work Expert at deskbird

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM DESKBIRD

The rise of cross-training in the post-pandemic marketplace

How cross-training could be the solution to the growing skills gaps in tech, healthcare, manufacturing and beyond

Long before the pandemic and the major workforce shifts it caused, the US labour market was already in the grip of a major skills shortage, across a range of sectors.

As far back as 2017, analysis of the US skills gap had already revealed some major pipeline issues, with the healthcare, education and technology sectors experiencing skills shortages nationwide. The McKinsey Global Institute estimated that as many as 375 million workers (14 per cent of the global workforce) may have to acquire new skills by 2030, due to automation and artificial intelligence replacing manual labour.

Since then, the rapid shift to online services and remote working brought about by the pandemic has only exacerbated the problem. COVID-19, global lockdowns and the existing skills gap created a perfect storm – and one that added huge pressure to an already strained labour market, as many companies tried to pivot or undergo digital transformation that would allow them to keep up in the new, post-pandemic marketplace.

The pandemic accelerated the skills gap to such an extent that, by May 2020, another McKinsey survey showed that 87 per cent of executives either acknowledged a current skills gap in the workforce or expected one to arise in the next few years. And yet, less than half of those executives had an actual plan to reskill or upskill their workforce to overcome it.

Cross-training as a solution to the global skills gap

In candidate-short markets such as tech, healthcare and manufacturing, it is clear that innovative approaches are needed to tackle the skills gap and ensure businesses have the in-house skills they need to compete in the modern marketplace. One of the best and brightest of these new approaches is cross-training.

Cross-training, when done correctly, can be an extremely powerful tool for organisations looking to solve internal skills gaps. At an organisational level, it starts by identifying any major tasks or skills that are lacking in a particular department and training an employee (or employees) from a different department until they can effectively support this area of the business.

This can work across any number of departments within an organisation – from accounting to administrative duties or even building or maintaining online infrastructure. It not only allows your company to flexibly respond to rapid changes in demand or fluctuating workflows but also enables organisations to repurpose redundant resources, meaning they’re less likely to lose people as marketplace demands change. In both cases, cross-training can be extremely beneficial to any organisation, as a whole.

Beyond that, reskilling and cross-training can also help organisations future-proof their workforce against skills gaps, which is critical for both global economic recovery and the long-term sustainable growth of any sector or company facing a skills gap.

The ability to future-proof workforces will be of vital importance to businesses that work in sectors where skills demands can shift so rapidly. And with Gartner research highlighting that an alarming 33 per cent of the skills listed in the average job posting in 2017 were no longer necessary just four years later, it’s clear this could impact a lot of sectors.

A solution to the skills gap in tech

In the age of the internet and remote working, the tech sector is perfectly placed to benefit the most from cross-training.

Online training platforms have the potential to be a real game-changer. They allow individuals to learn much-needed skills that could land them sustainable and reliable work, while simultaneously increasing the talent pools of people trained to wield these in-demand services. While this may be enough for some organisations to cross-train their teams, there are also companies that specialise in offering customised training programmes for teams and will handle everything from recruitment to training and certification to your exact specification.

Revolent takes existing IT professionals and cross-trains them into in-demand cloud technologies, before placing them with organisations that have a skills gap in that area. The companies it works with have access to the skilled professionals they need to undergo digital transformation or keep up in online-first marketplaces. Individuals get to start a new career in a rapidly growing technology or sector, with great job security and financial rewards. It’s a win-win.

And it’s working: Revolent’s business model has allowed it to flexibly plug skill gaps for companies around the world, as and when they need it. And that flexibility has come directly from its ability to tap into wider IT talent pools, underrepresented groups and people from diverse backgrounds and cross-train individuals into emerging cloud technologies.

Cross-training is set to play a huge part in closing skills gaps across multiple sectors as more and more organisations begin to adopt the practice. It’s truly an exciting prospect.

To learn how Revolent’s cross-training career programmes are closing skills gaps for its partner organisations, visit revolentgroup.com

Nabila Salem

President, Revolent

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM REVOLENT

Digital procurement transformation creates a powerful competitive advantage across industries

Long considered a transactional, back-office function responsible for minimising organisational spending in the acquisition of goods and services, procurement is on the verge of a dramatic reformation.

Covid-19 has revealed deep inefficiencies in the global supply chain, highlighting the fact that procurement remains among the last functions to undergo full digital transformation. Governments pointed to antiquated operational processes and technology as the cause of widespread shortages of consumer goods, record price increases on basic necessities, and subsequent inflation spikes around the world.

Was this a smokescreen to deflect criticism of deeper, systemic problems in global commerce? Perhaps, to an extent: many variables contributed to the inflation rates we see today. Regardless, this criticism acted as a wake-up call for businesses, governmental bodies, and non-profits of all types. Digital procurement transformation is no longer an option, it’s a business imperative.

Compelling incentives and key considerations

Digital transformation is a complex undertaking that must be executed with precision. If done properly, the rewards far outweigh the cost and effort involved. It’s critical to remain focused on the benefits and not get lost in the process because digital transformation is a marathon, not a sprint.

Factors defining digital procurement transformation and the future of business spend management include:

Process automation and reduced project expenditure. Cloud-based procurement and spend management solutions automate time-consuming, manual processes such as approval routing, freeing up time to focus on relationship building and strategy. These solutions also capture loads of data, generating actionable insights that reveal inefficiencies, increase productivity, cut costs and reduce overall project spend.

Data-driven decision making that depends on correct data usage. Despite data’s transformative power, poor data usage continues to plague many procurement organisations. “If procurement was scrutinised to the same extent as other internal functions, there would be lean consultants crawling all over it,” said James Meads, leading procurement technology expert and digital transformation consultant. “Much of the waste caused by poor data and manual administrative processes in procurement often goes overlooked, generating an invisible cost to the business.” Digital procurement transformation facilitates better data usage, which eliminates wasteful spending and leads to smarter business decisions.

Improved communication, collaboration, and transparency in the post-Covid era. Procurement solutions illuminate any blind spots in the supply chain, leading to improved transparency, easier communication and better collaboration at each touchpoint along supply routes. All the above flows through one centralised system. The best solutions integrate with an organisation’s other IT systems, creating one source of data truth for all internal teams. Moreover, with more employees now working remotely, digital solutions bridge the physical divide with built-in requisition capabilities that improve cross-functional collaboration with procurement teams.

Diversifying supplier networks and sourcing closer to home. Many procurement teams were burned in the early days of the pandemic – in some cases, all their suppliers were in a country that was locked down. Diversifying supplier networks will minimise the risk of shortages and ensure dependable consistency in the flow of goods and services in the future. Working with suppliers closer to your centre of operations further minimises risk and allows you to form strategic ordering partnerships with peer organisations.

Focusing on sustainability and environmental and social governance (ESG). Younger generations now represent the majority of global consumers and, in many cases, the stakeholders that businesses and nonprofits answer to. Younger consumers often have a strong sense of environmental and social responsibility and increasingly demand sustainable and socially responsible sourcing practices. This represents a major opportunity for procurement to evolve from a cost-centre into a strategic revenue engine.

Procurement that shifts from transactional to strategic. In the coming years, we expect procurement to become an indispensable strategic function with considerable decision-making power. By partnering with sustainable, socially responsible suppliers and leveraging transport routes that minimise environmental damage, procurement will play a major role in maintaining a strong, positive brand reputation. We’ll see procurement collaborating closely with marketing and human resources to spread the word about the positive impact they deliver to the communities they serve. This will generate loyal consumers and attract top tech talent.

Easier compliance with government regulations. In the wake of Covid, there’s a high probability that governments will introduce new, stricter purchasing regulations. Digital procurement management software lets organisations implement formal procurement policies with built-in workflows that hold teams accountable for adherence. This, in turn, ensures compliance with any new regulations that appear.

The financial gains from digital transformation

When you combine the factors above, you begin to see the distinct advantage digital procurement creates. Current data tells us fully digital companies enjoy a 1.8x increase in annual earnings growth and a 2.4x increase in overall enterprise value.

This alone underscores the need to begin digital transformation today. Organisations that continue to delay will inevitably fall behind the competition and may ultimately fade into the background. Furthermore, there’s no valid reason to delay any longer: technology will continue to advance and open up new opportunities for procurement to drive revenue and deliver value, not simply reduce costs.

Global changes call for a new era of procurement management

The changes Covid has forced upon us, such as social distancing, were temporary, not a “new normal”. But history shows us that new threats to supply chains are never far from emerging. Over the past two decades, we’ve seen outbreaks of SARS (a coronavirus), avian flu and swine flu. HIV showed up in 1981 and Ebolavirus in the 1970s. Moreover, natural disasters are a constant threat to supply chain fluidity.

Procurement enters the era of customer and employee experience

Customer and employee experience have never been as important to business success as they are today. But what about supplier and partner experience? It all matters in a post-Covid context where human interaction has taken on increased importance. And with procurement poised to take centre stage across industries, “procurement experience” will soon become a commonly used phrase.

Final thoughts and next steps

The procurement organisation of tomorrow will look quite different than it does today, assuming a strategic decision-making role in organisations across industries. The procurement and business spend management tech space is forecast to experience “massive growth” over the next seven years, due to increased demand as more organisations kick off transformation initiatives. Organisations that further delay digital procurement transformation will fall quickly behind the competition. The writing is on the wall: the time to start your procurement transformation is now.

Need some guidance to help kick off your digital procurement transformation? Our free guide to digital procurement transformation can act as a roadmap to keep your efforts on track. Get your copy of the guide today.

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM TRADOGRAM

The CFO playbook: Unlocking the power of finance through technology in 2022

Matt Benaron, Director at VantagePoint, shares his thoughts on how finance can become a strategic asset if CFOs unlock the power of technology

How are the expectations placed on CFOs and finance functions changing in 2022?

CFOs and finance functions are now essential to more company-wide initiatives than ever before. For some, this can result in a daunting number of priorities and goals set out at the start of a year.

It’s impossible to cover everything here, but the three areas we see as being incredibly topical for the year ahead are ESG (environmental, social and governance) and its impact both socially and financially; XP&A (cross-functional planning, not just limited to finance) and its ability to truly connect the entire organisation; and AI and machine learning (technology spotting the trends and forecasting, rather than you doing it) finally being given real applications in finance.

A CFO has a significant impact on all three areas, so there’s an increasing requirement to provide strategic leadership. This means putting these three areas into action and guiding the organisation so they don’t just become buzz-phrases and trendy topics. They need to be used to start enabling strategic advantage.

What are the obstacles preventing CFOs from providing strategic leadership?

Many organisations have a knowledge gap in applying concepts such as ESG, XP&A and AI, and may not possess the tools needed to take the first step. Today’s finance professionals are often buried in manual data processing and reporting. They spend their time on tasks such as cutting and pasting across different Excel spreadsheets, which doesn’t allow teams to do the essential thinking needed to realise their true value.

With XP&A, CFOs often miss the opportunity to provide a unified view of key metrics due to numbers coming from a variety of places, rather than one source.

Another significant obstacle can be a lack of up-to-date knowledge of the technology available, which makes it incredibly difficult for finance professionals to understand what the right solution is for their business. The result, in the meantime, is the finance function continuing to use manual, difficult-to-control spreadsheets and legacy systems.

The good news is, with a variety of low-code solutions now available on the market, a finance function can truly own the technology solution purchased and avoid a heavy reliance on IT.

What added value can a CFO supported by digital technology bring to the organisation?

We believe that finance should be seen as an enabler of growth. A CFO who is collecting, analysing and visualising data effectively will be able to explore different scenarios to identify risks and uncover new opportunities.

CFOs supported by digital technology will be able to treat new requirements in data and its application to AI and machine learning, ESG reporting and XP&A, as opportunities. Their focus as the leader of the finance function is to transition time away from “doing” and shift that time towards “thinking and analysing”.

Finance teams will be able to find ways of boosting profitability through cost savings and more efficient operations.

Also, they will have an enhanced ability to compare performance with previous years, and begin to offer more detailed insights on opportunities that exist for their business, instead of focusing on a highly manual month-end.

What can get in the way of transforming finance through technology?

Many of the problems we see originate from technology and transformation initiatives not being linked to wider business objectives. CFOs may try to solve a pressing issue by buying some new technology. However, this can often overlook a missing link, where people fail to understand the real business reasons behind a transformation journey, and instead paper over the cracks with various tools and quick fixes.

A second problem is a failure to develop the right team. CFOs need access to business-savvy finance professionals who are not afraid of data or technology. Building these skills and the confidence to use them can take time. But they are necessary if the finance team is to become the driving force behind change across the business.

Finally, a reluctance to take that first essential step can be very limiting. It’s hard for a busy finance team to lift their heads up from a demanding budgeting cycle and allocate time towards a new technology implementation. However, that upfront investment in change management will pay dividends.

How can we make digital transformation real for finance?

When working across our diverse range of clients, we find that taking the first step towards transformation is often the hardest part. The marketplace is crowded with technology and consulting organisations. We advise that any business, regardless of size, should start by thinking about its strategic objectives, and how any technology or transformation initiatives align with those objectives. It might be appealing to jump into buying new technology or “just get started” but the first step is critical and will provide a far more solid foundation for real digital transformation.

From there, it’s about laying out and putting into action an incremental journey towards a compelling future state with strategic objectives in mind. This vision should be easy to communicate and comprehend, clearly highlight the benefits for everyone involved, incorporate quick wins and provide a flexible roadmap for the organisation to follow.

We completely understand that taking this first step, or finding the time to do so, can be difficult in an ambitious business. Although everything that we mention can be done in-house, our clients choose VantagePoint to ensure every initiative provides tangible business value. With us, businesses have a partner that helps them demystify the jargon-filled technology and transformation world.

What makes the VantagePoint approach different?

Our key point of difference is the ability to walk our clients through the process, from concept to end solution. By way of an example, one of our clients tasked us with the following: “We’re going on the M&A warpath – give us a finance function to support that”. From this high-level objective, we gave the organisation a realistic view of its current state – the “where are we today?” question. Next, we communicated a compelling and value-focused future state to the wider business, allowing everyone to join the journey and answer questions such as “how will change help us?”. Finally, we provided an incremental list of change initiatives which included a new system-selection process. This gave the client that important first step and broke down future projects into bite-sized chunks. All of this was done inside ten weeks, while the client’s finance team maintained a hectic everyday schedule.

With VantagePoint, unlike larger, more traditional consulting options, we are fully focused on CFOs and the office of finance. We are experts in two things: how the finance function can be a strategic asset to the wider business, and how the right mix of great people, processes and technology can enable this. Our experience allows us to assess, plan and implement solutions faster and more cost-effectively, enabling us to prove our value every step of the way.

How do you see the role of the CFO evolving over the next few years?

A CFO’s willingness to embrace the opportunities technology presents will have a huge bearing on how the role will change over the coming years. Finance professionals will be able to spend more time thinking and less time doing, allowing them to be seen completely differently by their colleagues.

New technology, if deployed correctly around the focus points of XP&A, ESG and AI and machine learning, will transform them from overly hyped topics to areas where CFOs and their teams can really lead the charge.

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM VANTAGEPOINT

Networking online: how to make professional connections remotely and why it matters

On paper, networking is a relatively simple task. Mingle with like-minded professionals while sipping wine and you greatly increase your chances of landing a coveted role, or building your dream career.

Pre-Covid, gearing up for a networking event, you would probably have walked into a venue, thinking, “Smile. Remember your elevator pitch. If all else fails, talk about the weather.”

Now though, many of us are faced with a slightly different predicament: how to network while working remotely. Operating out of makeshift home offices, with children demanding tea or pets stepping on keyboards, we have collectively become BBC Dad, AKA Robert Kelly. The Busan-based political scientist famously went viral in 2017 when his children interrupted a live interview he was doing on television, and his wife had to scramble to get them out of his office.

As tricky a proposition as it might be to meet people in such circumstances, research shows that rising to the challenge is worth it. According to one online survey, networking accounts for up to 85 per cent of all filled vacancies. It can also lead to substantial pay rises, as evidenced by the recent story of how one employee secured a £24,000 pay rise solely through networking.

My research shows that in early 2022, 44 per cent of young people used social media to look for career information – up from only 19 per cent a decade ago – and 42 per cent consulted their social networks when looking to make a career decision. Online networking, even before the pandemic, was a crucial tool for career development.

How to network online

Remote working has of course seen videoconferencing become the norm. Online networking events are now routinely held on platforms including EventBrite, Slack, Yammer and Instagram live.

So first, do your research: identify the organisations, associations, and causes of most interest to you. Find the blogs and forums that are relevant to your field of work, and sign up to as many mailing lists as you can efficiently handle. Find your people and follow them on social media.

The goal of this first step is to increase the volume of information that you receive passively. This creates what is known as environmental affordance: the possibility for action afforded to you by your environment. The more regular updates about relevant events that you receive, the more likely you are to attend them.

Second, be strategic. In a world where conference dinners and impromptu water cooler conversations have been replaced by Zoom catch-ups, things aren’t as spontaneous as they were before. Scheduling is key.

Create a personal networking plan. Decide how much time you are going to devote to online networking and note down your goals: how many people you want to speak to; which companies you want to find out more about; which specific people you need to seek out to discuss specific topics. Make sure to schedule in time to maintain your online presence. And opt for a variety of engagements such as webinars, online recruitment fairs, one-to-one Zoom meetings, and online conferences.

Third, research shows that the most prolific networkers possess proactive personality traits, and are likely to score high on extroversion – a trait associated with being outgoing and seeking out new experiences – in personality tests. That does not mean, however, that you have to be an extrovert to succeed at networking. You just need to be proactive: proactive behaviour is the strongest predictor of networking success.

If there is a specific person or a group of professionals that you would like to build a relationship with, get in touch with them directly. Email them, message them on Twitter, set up a Zoom meeting, or research the online networking mixers they might take part in.

Why networking is critical to success

Networking underpins two key aspects of professional advancement: employability and self-directed career development.

The first, employability, pertains to what economists refer to as the human capital of a potential employee: their external marketability and the relative value of their educational background, technical skills, and soft skills – such as communication, time management and creativity – on the job market. Networking makes your human capital readily apparent to employers and prompts hiring decisions.

Self-directed career development, meanwhile, is an ongoing personal development project, whereby you seek career information and take action towards longterm career goals. Here, networking is a crucial means for obtaining career information. This both helps you raise your personal aspirations and figure out whether a particular job, company, or sector is right for you. The firsthand experiences of other people working in a given profession can be helpful in gauging whether you too would be a good fit.

Networking also helps to build relationships with mentors and role models, and gives access to peer support communities and professional groups. This is about more than just securing a job. It creates a sense of belonging and of professional identity, and in doing so develops what social scientists term “social capital”: shared norms, values, and beliefs in professional communities.

Networking involves a number of skills – approaching others, finding common ground, maintaining relationships – that can be practised and learned. Of these, listening –- not talking – is perhaps the most important. Express an interest in other people’s work and ask them questions, and you’ll be well on your way to making meaningful connections that benefit not only you as an individual. Because they bolster knowledge exchange and collective problem-solving, they benefit your community too.

Marina Milosheva, PhD candidate in Social Informatics, Edinburgh Napier University

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.

Succeeding from anywhere – avoiding The Great Frustration

If new modes of working are not to become frustrating and unproductive, businesses need to ensure their workers have a seamless connected experience, wherever they’re working from

McKinsey called it a “quantum leap” and said business has been transformed forever. An article for Time declared that it “has become a moment to literally redefine what is work”. And Scientific American noted that since work takes up a lot of people’s time, talent and potential, “workers are increasingly demanding that it offer a sustainable and rewarding quality of life in return”.

There’s no doubt that the way we work has changed post-pandemic. The challenge: how to keep workers connected wherever they choose to do their job, which can be trickier than many businesses imagine.

Expectations have shifted

Workers’ expectations of post-pandemic routines are very different to what went before. When faced with a return to commuting, the noise of open plan offices and the inflexibility of employers, many decided to quit – a phenomenon dubbed ‘The Great Resignation’ by Anthony Klotz of Texas A&M University. Apple CEO Tim Cook experienced this shift in expectations first-hand when he laid out his proposals for a new hybrid work regime, with some Apple employees openly expressing their frustration. Desperate to hold on to their talent, other tech companies approached things differently. Twitter CEO Parag Agrawal, for example, tweeted that while Twitter was open for business, and travel was back on the agenda, “decisions about where you work, whether you feel safe travelling for business and what events you attend, should be yours”.

Of course, not all workers have this luxury. Bricks don’t get laid virtually, and robots are still not sophisticated enough to care for elderly patients or drive taxis in busy city centres. But hybrid working is high on the business agenda precisely because it’s the most valuable workers in the biggest skill shortage areas that are the ones most likely to want to redefine the way they work. With more than 70 per cent of knowledge workers expecting a hybrid workplace, according to research by Harvard Business School, there’s no turning the clock back. And, as Mark Lobosco, VP of Talent Solutions at LinkedIn, noted, having invested in the tools required to facilitate home working, “there’s no real reason to turn back”.

Dealing with the complications

The global telecoms industry responded admirably to the massive surge in data traffic and the huge shift in demand that resulted from the pandemic. Overnight telcos had to cope with workers connecting to the cloud and corporate systems via suburban broadband rather than from offices sitting on dense fibre networks in city centres. When face-to-face meetings became virtual, the scramble to adopt digital collaboration tools and video conferencing applications fuelled demand for data, higher quality of service and assured availability. The situation was exacerbated and complicated by competition for network resources. Working parents struggled to balance their needs with those of their children who were studying via video lessons or streaming media and gaming for entertainment.

Although workers were initially relieved just to be connected, their expectations and their frustrations quickly rose. With hybrid working now here to stay, businesses are challenged with ensuring a quality network experience in order to retain key staff and maximise their productivity wherever they’re working, whatever network they’re using and whenever they need to connect.

Delivering premium, any-network support

Successfully addressing the new hybrid working paradigm requires telcos to shift their business model and rapidly evolve the support they provide. Today, they sell data volumes, one-size-fits-all connectivity based on tiered speeds, best-efforts service quality and standard (often frustrating) customer support. In future, they’ll need to provide guaranteed outcomes and premium omnichannel support. Making this transition requires them to have far greater visibility and control over the real-time experience of individual workers so that they can adapt network capabilities to their changing needs. But it’s what they do when things don’t work as expected that will largely determine whether they’re able to attract and retain business customers.

In the hybrid working era, both workers and businesses are going to expect a step-change in the way they’re being supported. It will no longer be good enough to deal with customer complaints and enquiries efficiently. With business productivity increasingly dependent on network quality and availability, telcos must become more proactive with regards to support and more communicative with their customers.

Not only will they need to pinpoint and fix faults faster, but they will also need to prioritise what gets fixed according to how it’s affecting customers. At the same time, they need to keep customers informed. But they need to do better than generic updates that are irrelevant to many customers. In future, communications will need to be both accurate and up-to-date, as well as targeted at customers affected. Helping customers identify what’s causing their problems – even if this isn’t the network itself but an application, device or service conflict – will be part of the premium support that telcos will need to deliver.

Delivering this type of premium support to hybrid workers requires telcos to have easy access to a level of real-time network performance data they haven’t had in the past for both broadband and mobile networks. Real-time data about all the networks workers are using – whether those are 2G, 3G, 4G, 5G, broadband or full-fibre – is the key to telcos delivering the quality network experience and premium support services business customers will come to expect. This will ensure hybrid working doesn’t turn into The Great Frustration and has the best possible chance of success.

To find out more, visit subtonomy.com.

By Fredrik Edwall, EVP Sales & Marketing, Subtonomy

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM SUBTONOMY

Hybrid work doesn’t have to be emotionally exhausting

We have an unprecedented opportunity to combine the flexibility of remote work with the collaboration of the office

Hybrid work – a model of working partly at the office and partly remotely – gives us a chance to radically upgrade the workplace. However, going hybrid is a complex undertaking and most companies are still figuring it out as they go.

For now, what we do know is that a successful move to hybrid requires a delicate balance between company goals and employee needs. That’s why we believe that flexibility, personalisation and collaboration should be at the heart of this new work paradigm. In other words, we should try to blend the best of office work (collaboration and networking) and remote work (flexibility and personalisation).

There’s no universal recipe for making that happen, but we can lay a few fundamental ground rules. Some of these are already embraced by huge companies, while others are based on our experience as a company powering flexible work for years. On that note, here are our top pillars for making hybrid work a success.

Encourage flexibility and personalised schedules

Hybrid work doesn’t have to mean the same schedule for everyone, e.g., three days at the office a week. One of the biggest perks of hybrid working should be the opportunity to tailor your work schedule to your professional and personal needs.

That’s why companies such as Amazon allow important decisions about hybrid scheduling to be made at a team level. Others, such as Salesforce and HubSpot, have created various work options that individuals can choose from.

Besides wellbeing, such flexible options are also crucial for productivity, as they let people choose how to work based on their job’s requirements, rather than conforming to everyone else’s.

Promote in-person collaboration

Community is the biggest benefit of coming to the office. Having face-to-face contact with others is invaluable, so it’s vital to encourage in-person collaboration in an organisation.

Companies can do that by letting team members decide which days to come to the office, based on when their colleagues are there. Everyone can collaborate in person and then work from home when they need seclusion to get their tasks done. Face-to-face collaboration happens naturally, when people decide it’s necessary, instead of being forced through policies.

And again, no one has to commute every day or feel trapped by a top-down enforced schedule.

Manage app overload

We all know about Zoom fatigue – the feeling of tiredness or anxiety induced by the overuse of video conferencing tools. However, video conferencing is only part of the bigger app overload issue.

If you’re managing a hybrid workplace, you’ll likely need a desk booking app, especially if you have more employees than desks. You can manage desk booking in spreadsheets, but as your company grows, the process becomes increasingly time-consuming and tedious – and most of us are already drowning in spreadsheets.

In short, it’s better to use a specialised desk booking app. However, no one wants yet another app just to go to work.

As a company building a hybrid workplace solution, we know that from experience. That’s why our product integrates with Slack, Google Calendar and the Microsoft Suite (including Teams and Outlook). As a result, companies and individuals can manage the hybrid workplace in their everyday apps.

OfficeRnD’s free webinar, How To Simplify Hybrid Work Through Scheduling & Integrations, will discuss how to minimise uncertainty and help everyone in your organisation embrace hybrid work. Find out more about OfficeRnD at officernd.com.

By Evgeni Yordanov, Content Marketing Manager, OfficeRnD

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM OFFICERND

10 micro-trends that will shape the future of marketing technology

Playing the “I told you so” role could be an unforgiving, ungrateful task. But, sometimes, somebody has to do it, and when it comes to the future of marketing technology – we’re 100 per cent up for the challenge.

Why do we feel comfortable to say where things are going? Because from where we’re standing – with more than a decade of working with and consulting to digital marketing teams under our belts – the future of marketing technology seems pretty sorted.

And so, here are 10 micro-trends that will shape the future of the sector – that everyone, from marketers to vendors, should pay close attention to.

PLEASE CLICK HERE TO READ THE FULL ARTICLE

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM OPTIMOVE

How consumer technology and durable leadership can win in a volatile world

The worst of the pandemic may be over in many parts of the world, but business leaders in consumer technology and durables still face a rocky road ahead. But it’s not all doom and gloom. Brands and retail teams that arm themselves with timely, data-informed intelligence and cultivate the ability to evolve can still reach sustainable growth and cater to changing consumer needs. A business intelligence provider for the global consumer products industry, GfK unpacks the macro-trends and challenges of 2022 and shows business leaders what they can do to optimise their offerings.

Macro-trends for 2022

After seeing significant growth in 2021 following the emergence of new living, working and consuming trends on the back of the Covid-19 pandemic, the consumer technology and durables industry faces a number of hurdles in 2022 and beyond. A confluence of challenges, including inflationary pressures, supply chain disruption, declining consumer confidence, environmental concerns and, of course, the war in Ukraine, will put business leaders through their paces this year and beyond.

Deceleration – Against a backdrop of restricted travel, remote working and social distancing, the value of the market grew by a record high of 12.2 per cent in 2021. At-home coffee machines, juicers, tablets and wearable technology – previously seen as luxuries – suddenly became more essential. While the market looks set to continue its upward trajectory this year, there will be an inevitable slowdown, with a forecast value growth rate of just 2 per cent, representing a drop of approximately $110bn.

Inflation – Although the global economic recovery has so far been fairly stable, GfK predicts that the rebound will lose momentum as a result of inflationary pressure that’s pushing up both costs for brands and prices for consumers.

Inflation is being driven by:

Ongoing disruptions in energy, food and commodity markets
Fuel shortages, which are pushing up manufacturing costs
Supply chain disruptions that are causing bottlenecks and shortages of goods

Declining consumer confidence – The picture of global consumer confidence remains fragmented and unpredictable. While an easing of the most acute pandemic restrictions in most regions appeared to temporarily alleviate some consumer uncertainties, inflation, rises in food and energy prices, new Covid variants and the war in Ukraine have dented confidence once again. According to GfK, only 34 per cent of consumers believe their economic situation will improve 12 months from now, compared with 41 per cent in 2019.

Solutions and strategies

However, all is not lost. GfK will offer strategies to help brands and retailers weather the storm during its Decode the Future virtual event in May. Whether revamping lines to include premium and sustainable products or leaning about data to guide direction, bosses who listen and respond to the market can still win big.

Premiumisation – Despite dwindling consumer sentiment, GfK says consumers are willing to pay more for products with perceived quality or added value. Premium lines and stronger, bolder brand identities that connect emotionally with consumers could help businesses elevate price points to alleviate the decline in demand.

Invest in the new normal – A new hybrid work culture has emerged since the start of the pandemic. While many consumers satisfied their need for personal electronics and at-home appliances in 2020, smart brands should create products that tap into the new, more connected consumer personas that have emerged. Appliances with multiple functions and electronics that provide convenience via the internet of things will stand out from the crowd.

Seamless omni-channel – Covid-19 has accelerated consumer migration online, with demands for brands and retailers to provide offerings across multiple channels continuing to grow. GfK advises using AI-powered data, industry expertise and cross-functional collaboration to guide a holistic omni-channel approach for a seamless user experience.

Go early on ethical – Opportunities abound in social and environmental sustainability for consumer technology and durables. Business leaders can put themselves in a leading position by acting first on sustainability, demonstrating added value for consumers and avoiding the potential risks of not acting quickly enough.

Be data-driven and agile – With the war in Ukraine and Coronavirus just two of several unpredictable global factors, C-suites should try to anticipate pressure on the cost of goods, supply chains and consumer finances. Use data and analytics to monitor consumer sentiment and priorities more closely and be ready to switch strategy when the market demands it.

For more insights on how to manage risk and unlock opportunities in today’s ever-changing landscape, watch the replay of Decode the Future 2022, a GfK virtual event that took place on 19 May. The agenda was packed with industry-leading experts who discussed how economic and supply challenges impact brands and retailers and what it will take to adapt to changing consumer needs and win in these unpredictable times.

By Crystal Reid

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM GFK

Applying software’s agile concepts to hardware product development

For more than two decades, software development teams have embraced the Agile work model, which was popularised in part by publications such as the Agile Manifesto.

With the implementation of Agile methodologies, software companies have increased productivity, improved outcome quality and cut time to market in half.

A key difference between the Agile work model and other project management techniques, such as waterfall methodology or the phase-gate process, is a renewed focus on decision flexibility, increased collaboration and quicker feedback loops.

However, while software teams have been able to successfully put Agile processes into practice, the same can’t be said for hardware development.

These teams typically follow waterfall or phase-gate methodologies, causing siloed information, hesitation when suggesting changes and delayed quality assurance processes.

Let’s take a look at the concepts behind Agile methodology and how it can be applied to an Agile process for hardware product development.

Agile concept one: quickening the pace of change

In a waterfall or phase-gate hardware product process, workflows are serialised due to the limitations of the tools needed to get work done. Tools used for hardware design, such as mechanical and electrical CAD, simulation or PDM, are based on files that can only be edited by installed software applications. Typically, only one user can be editing a file, or a set of files, at one time. Only when that portion of work has been completed can it be passed to the next person, still siloed and locked away from the entire team. Feedback has to wait until each portion is complete and files are “checked-in” and copied.

In an Agile product development process, work needs to occur concurrently between teammates, and collaborators should be able to jump right into the project. Quick changes can occur in parallel even as a different segment of the project is being developed.

Today we have an emerging new generation of tools, used for many aspects of hardware design applications such as CAD and PDM that are cloud-native, do not use files, copies or checkout, and don’t require installed applications. These new cloud-native tools enable the high rate of change that is part of an Agile process.

Agile concept two: encouraging higher rates of change and innovation

In a phase-gate process, change is discouraged as it may disrupt the design process at any point and could trigger error-prone or costly release processes.

But change is at the core of the Agile process doctrine as it can produce better results - even save money. An Agile process welcomes high rates of change and iteration of ideas.

Branching and merging – familiar techniques from Agile software development – are now possible to be used with some hardware design tools to increase experimentation and innovation. Modern cloud-native PDM approaches allow users to return to any previous state of editing design data (as opposed to merely going back a few versions of a file, which may not contain a valuable previous state of design).

Designers can fearlessly make changes without worrying about overwriting each other’s work or whether they are viewing the latest version of data. They can work without worrying about triggering time-consuming, file-based release processes.

Agile concept three: accelerating quality assurance testing

Typical hardware design processes put quality assurance testing towards the end of the workflow. And “quality assurance” of course does not just mean conferring to formal quality standards, but also a broad sense of quality in terms of meeting the needs of customers, the principal product development company, and ideally all participants in the design process. But discovering dire issues at the end of the process can cost a lot of money and heartache. That’s certainly not what the Agile process is about.

In an Agile process, design data is easily accessible to all stakeholders. All parties, including customers, can follow a design’s progress and build confidence in a project’s quality in real-time as the project develops. This concept goes hand-in-hand with embracing change. If teams can see and test new ideas every day or even every hour, they can see and validate what actually is working and not working continually – instead of discovering big problems at the end of a process.

A solution for hardware development teams

The transition to an agile work environment for hardware development teams has been difficult for many reasons – cultural change, the inherent nature of hardware product development, and the non-Agile nature of some of the software tools for hardware design.

While these issues won’t be solved immediately, workflows are improving incrementally.

There is growing cultural awareness of Agile processes in the hardware world thanks to the expanding presence of software development, and its universal Agile process in hardware development organisations.

There is a new generation of cloud-native tools for hardware development such as CAD, PDM, simulation and more, and they are perfect for enabling the Agile process.

Companies that master Agile methodology will have a real competitive advantage over those that rely on traditional workflows. But to become more Agile, you’ll need to implement the right culture and tools into your business.

Onshape can help any hardware development team embrace Agile methodology. The cloud-native CAD platform empowers teams to collaborate simultaneously, share data instantaneously and safely, and alleviate the pain points of file-based work that traps teams in serial processes. As the fastest-growing CAD system in the world, Onshape is already aiding teams to become more Agile.

Try Onshape today to see how it can help your team move to an Agile process.

By Jon Hirschtick, Executive Vice President and General Manager, Onshape

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM ONSHAPE

Helping businesses thrive: payment trends that will transform 2022 and beyond

Covid-19 reshaped the way consumers and businesses approach payments, and fintech innovation is at the forefront of these developments. As we look to the future, what can we expect from the payments industry?

Covid has made consumers and businesses alike more accustomed to doing almost everything online. This has created a significant spike in the demand for e-commerce, making seamless online payment experiences more of a priority than ever before.

Better payments infrastructure will be critical for merchants to ensure a swift recovery from the impact of the pandemic. From cross-border transactions, to introducing buy now, pay later (BNPL) for business-to-business (B2B) transactions, there has never been a better time for tech and payments to provide innovative solutions in unison. As the fintech landscape continues to evolve, here are my top six predictions that will shape payments in 2022 and beyond:

Open Banking paving the way for underserved businesses

Open Banking is increasing the services available to businesses who have historically struggled to compete with big-name brands. Partnering with a financial service provider that offers Open Banking services gives them access to consumer banking, transaction and other financial data from banks through APIs (application programming interfaces). This is a huge benefit to merchants as it gives them ownership and removes unnecessary third-party processes and fees.

Open Banking services will be a must-have for all businesses in a post-pandemic environment. SMEs looking to grow their business in a digital-first market will see undoubted improvements in their internal processes and ability to accept payments.

BNPL creating opportunity for B2B use cases

During the pandemic, one in three UK consumers used BNPL services more often than before it. Now the payments industry is exploring how BNPL can benefit other businesses.

B2B BNPL aims to solve the issue of lack of funds from both buyer and seller. It is less risky than B2C BNPL for both parties as it creates a reliable source for B2B buyers, which ensures that they receive credit while the seller gets paid faster through outsourced funds.

B2B BNPL will allow businesses to purchase the goods and services needed to grow their business, while the BNPL provider pays the seller in full, assuming their customer’s default risk.

Harnessing the power of data

Data, if used in the right way, can transform businesses, with the average person predicted to produce data every 18 seconds by 2025. Data can identify patterns in purchase behaviour and preferences, allowing businesses to produce tailored experiences for their customers.

That’s where technologies such as AI and machine learning (ML), and their ability to analyse large amounts of data, can help. AI will define the future of payments as it enables a thorough analysis of consumer and business transaction histories and spending habits. Merchants that have this at their disposal will generate valuable insights and the ability to create unique experiences catered to individual buyers.

The emergence of B2B marketplaces

A B2B marketplace is similar to e-commerce websites that connect buyers and suppliers, such as ASOS or Etsy. It offers convenience by providing options from various suppliers, an increased number of potential customers, and the ability to provide online services such as trading and payments, all on one platform.

B2B marketplaces are primarily beneficial for SMEs as they help them reach more customers and market their services in a more accessible way. In simple terms, B2B marketplaces offer SMEs in particular the advantage of a wider consumer pool and the ability to offer online services without needing to create an e-commerce site.

The marketplace future is still in its infancy, however, and could take radically different forms. Big-brand B2C marketplaces, for example, could become the dominant, multi-category marketplace for B2B use-cases. Distributors will therefore need to leverage the marketplace opportunity in order to play a key role in crafting what that future looks like.

Creating solutions that will help SMEs thrive

Consumers and other businesses have put more emphasis on supporting local producers and suppliers since the pandemic. There is a strong sense that small businesses have an important role in “building back better”. Cashflows research found that 70 per cent of UK consumers are willing to spend up to 10 per cent more on an item from an independent or local provider than what they would pay for the same item from a chain.

SMEs are the lifeblood of the UK economy and fintechs must operate to support both big and smaller businesses. In separate research, Cashflows found that 71 per cent of UK SMEs say their customers expect optimised online transactions. Strategic partnerships will help merchants gain access to a myriad of payment methods (both online and in-store) and personalised or one-click checkout experiences. The ability to offer these innovative payment solutions will be key to SMEs’ ability to compete against big-name brands.

Cryptocurrency entering the mainstream

During the pandemic, fintechs, banks and governments worldwide have been looking for ways to leverage the growing interest in cryptocurrencies for everyday transactions.

For example, Stablecoin, a fiat-backed digital currency, has emerged as an innovative payment technology that combines the stability of fiat currencies with the benefits of public blockchain networks. Stablecoin is also growing rapidly, with more than $50 billion worth of Stablecoins in circulation that currently power $200 billion of payment volumes each month.

The pandemic has accelerated the shift toward digital and contactless payments, but it has also led to a more mainstream acknowledgement of cryptocurrencies as viable forms of payments. While the industry still has a long way to go, clear regulation that gives people more confidence in the safety of blockchain networks will be key. In doing so, cryptocurrencies will become a form of payment that could benefit the poor and the unbanked, as well as smaller businesses such as street vendors.

The future of payments looks bright

Covid-19 has accelerated innovation within the payments sector, encouraging us all to embrace digitisation. As they look towards the future, businesses must be receptive to inevitable and ongoing changes in both technology and consumer behaviour. This will be key in ensuring success in a post-pandemic environment.

It is impossible to predict precisely what payments innovation will look like in the next five years, but it is clear that the role of payments is now more than a simple exchange of value for goods and services. The pandemic has created a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to rethink how businesses approach their payments strategy. Payments innovation will not only improve the customer journey, but will be imperative for ongoing growth.

To find out about how your business can optimise its payment strategy, go to www.cashflows.com

By Hannah Fitzsimons, CEO, Cashflows

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM CASHFLOWS

Is technology friend or foe to human engagement at work?

Employers are scrambling to rebuild trust and improve human connections with their workforces. Technology can make it or break it

When you need a hug, do you think, “Where’s the tech for that?” You’re more likely looking for a trusted friend, colleague, family member (or pet!) than a robot.

It’s interesting that technology is so often a centerpiece of conversations about employee engagement. We latch onto a shiny new app, or roll out a new ERP module, and expect the employee experience to magically improve.

It’s not that technology doesn’t play a role. It certainly does. But the focus needs to start with the human element, so that when we do invest in technology we harness it in a helpful way and truly improve employee engagement.

More than ever, employees are taking stock of their lives and how work fits into it. Burnout is at an all-time high. Employees are demanding change. They’re questioning their employers’ mission and values. As so many of us have seen firsthand, an enormous number of people are jumping ship if their job no longer aligns with their career goals and personal beliefs.

Is it more than just a job?

Thousands of employers partner with us here at Jellyvision. And we’re hearing one theme loud and clear: company leaders are facing fundamental questions about their employment value proposition right now. They’re asking us what their people are looking for from the employee-employer relationship.

At Jellyvision, we focus on one aspect of the employment value proposition: benefits. Every single one of our customers truly wants their employees to appreciate and use the benefits available to them. And for good reason: benefits make up 30 percent of an employer’s total compensation costs, an enormous expense.

And yet 56 percent of employees aren’t taking advantage of all the benefits available to them. That’s a lot of investment down the drain: C-suite leaders say 53 percent of their healthcare spending is wasted due to employee confusion.

Why? Is it because people don’t care about their benefits? That’s definitely not true: 85 percent of people said benefits are a critical component when they’re deciding whether to accept a job offer.

But they’re not always easy to understand. Navigating benefits is a complicated maze, from ever-changing government regulations to plan design updates and endless acronyms and jargon.

To overcome this challenge, many employers invest in – you guessed it – more technology. In an effort to give employees the benefits information they so desperately need, we lean on tech to send those emails (most of which go unread), host those town halls (where most people have cameras off and aren’t even paying attention), or craft those Powerpoint presentations (there’s even an app for that).

Despite all that effort, a third of employees have never taken action on their employer’s benefits communications. Never. And we’re talking about health insurance: something that’s important to all of us, especially during a pandemic.

Our intentions are good, but our approach has been off

This year we asked employees across the US how they’d most like to learn about the benefits available to them. Their response? They want a one-on-one conversation with an HR rep. And that makes sense, right? Your employees know and trust your HR team, and they want personalized, human advice that will help them navigate the benefits landscape to get the best outcomes for their family. No barrage of emails, no matter how personalized, can substitute for that.

But even the best HR teams can’t be available 24/7, in all the moments when employees actually need guidance – when their child breaks a leg during a soccer game and they suddenly need an in-network emergency room, or at midnight when they’re finally making that chiropractor appointment and need to know what’s covered by insurance. That’s where the right technology, such as a benefits engagement platform, can help.

That kind of technology is available when your HR team isn’t, or when an employee doesn’t actually want to talk to someone. Especially in the healthcare arena, many employees hesitate to share openly – like when they’re trying to have a baby, or are struggling with depression, or are concerned about a recent diagnosis that may affect their ability to work. These are highly sensitive, complex situations that are difficult to share. Maybe it’s true that no one could guide them better than someone on your HR team, but they can’t help if people aren’t comfortable asking for it.

So what can you do? When employees may not trust you enough to directly share sensitive information, technology is an excellent channel to facilitate open, authentic communication. It gives them an outlet to talk to someone (or something – robot hug, anyone?) in a confidential manner, whenever they need to.

This is how we should be harnessing the power of technology. It keeps the human relationship at the center, building trust and facilitating two-way communication (listening before talking).

And it’s trustworthy and personalized to the needs and context of each person, meeting them where they are.

The way forward: employee engagement technology that works for everyone

If your approach to improving employee engagement starts with technology that blasts all of the things to all of the employees in all of the ways at all of the times, it will fail. It doesn’t matter if it’s a shiny new app. Technology can help, but not if it doesn’t facilitate a two-way relationship between employee and employer.

Put your humans and their unique needs and values first. What do they want from you as their employer? How can you use technology to build a safe space, where employees feel comfortable and empowered to share with you as much as you share with them?

This is more than just a job for your employees. Technology can never replace the powerful connections that they form with each other. But when used in a constructive way, technology can support those relationships. And for us as employers, it strengthens the employee experience – and ultimately, our employment value proposition.

It’s the future we’re building here at Jellyvision, and we hope you’ll join us.

Learn more

By Dana Hamerschlag, Chief Operating Officer, Jellyvision

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM JELLYVISION

How an online booking solution is driving profits across every industry

Appointment scheduling software has evolved to make the complex end-to-end process of service provision simple, while boosting customer experience, efficiency savings and revenue.

Appointment scheduling software has boosted revenue for some retail chains by 19 per cent, while basket size per customer has quadrupled.

Digital resource planning has reduced idle times by 30 per cent, with customer waiting times cut by 45 per cent.

Impressive returns for just implementing online booking for your clients and customers? That’s because receiving a booking is just the trigger for a complicated and costly series of processes across your business.

Modern booking software delivers solutions for every stage of the scheduling process, for any number of different services and locations. It ensures customers receive a quality experience throughout the journey, while the back-office planning and admin is automated and error-free.

How online scheduling systems drive revenue and cut costs

Boost lead generation

Online booking opens a wide range of channels for new leads. 24-hour booking from any device, without needing to phone, is a crucial factor in securing conversions.Direct booking of specific services from your Google Search or Maps results, social media or targeted campaigns, can reduce conversions of fresh leads to a single click.

Increase customer loyalty

Customers book directly with the service, department or even staff member they want and choose their most convenient time and location, with the option to amend or cancel online at any time. They submit documents, preferences and requirements in advance, ensuring the most personalised and efficient experience when they arrive.Customers who feel in control, with ultimate convenience, become hugely valuable advocates for your business.

Innovative resource management at any scale

Effective resource management is complex and costly, particularly for large, multi-location enterprises. Digital scheduling of resources allows you to optimise planning and assign the right resources to your services, according to your business logic and in-store footfall.

Huge efficiency gains

Receiving and amending bookings, plus managing reminders, is all automated. As is resource management.
One shared shared calendar across your business means organising internal meetings, managing shifts, and tweaking service set up across branches can be done in an instant.Drop-in appointments, online payments, invoicing and even gathering customer feedback can all be automated.

Hybrid experiences

The pandemic has created a new type of consumer, moving freely and comfortably between physical and digital channels to suit their needs. Appointment booking can be integrated into every step of the purchase journey, allowing customers to book face-to-face interactions with your on-site experts or allow any type of digital interactions – be it booking a video conference or attending a virtual event.

Any language, any time zone

Integrate online booking easily across a worldwide network of services, branches and internal offices. It not only adapts to the location language, but knows local festivals and holidays, while offering bookings and meetings in the local time zone.

Who uses online booking solutions?

SMBs were early adopters of appointment scheduling software, but as the technology has evolved to deliver truly transformative revenue and efficiency gains, large corporations and third sector organisations are increasingly implementing.

Retail sector: online booking used to offer personal shopping experiences, expert support and in-store events. Customers get a convenient and rewarding digital experience, which also drives people back to a reinvigorated in-store experience.
Finance sector: clients book online for easy access to expert advisers, both in-person or using video conferencing technology. This significantly broadens the availability of crucial support and advice for consumers.
Real estate: huge gains in efficiency and productivity through faultless automation of meetings and property viewings between clients, agents and sellers. Simple and effective online booking has boosted the popularity of virtual viewings.
Government and third sector: an industry tainted by a reputation for poor appointment management is being transformed by highly efficient digital booking systems that offer a modern experience with freedom and convenience for clients.
Healthcare: a faultless and highly efficient system offers a modern experience for patients, across drop-in and pre-booked appointments, video consultations, group sessions and more. All with the ability to gather crucial information and paperwork at the appointment booking stage.
Logistics. Digital management of vehicles for loading and unloading is bringing spectacular efficiency gains and improved experiences for all staff involved

Beyond appointment booking

Large enterprises are often hampered by using an array of different software systems, apps and databases which don’t work well together or convolute efficient processes.

TIMIFY, a modern and flexible enterprise scheduling software, has built the optimisation and automation of some of the most complex and costly back-office processes into one system.

Statistical insights and management control
TIMIFY combines a CRM system, performance statistics, resource management and the controls to act upon insights in one single platform. Customise booking processes to gather the data you need to build a powerful database of customer profiles. Analyse performance of both online and offline services, as well as multi-channel campaigns. Act upon insights by changing settings across a network of any size from an online management dashboard.

Internal collaboration: remove the headache of scheduling internal meetings across departments, locations and time zones. With every employee’s availability in the calendar, the system finds the slot that works for everyone in an instant. Create dedicated booking links for specific projects, teams or custom groups of staff.
Multilocation management: no matter the size of your network, booking software gives central visibility and control of every service and resource – even from a mobile device or tablet.
Integration with any existing infrastructure: Incorporate crucial business processes that use internally developed systems, or third-party software with easy-to-use integrations – from Google and Microsoft, to Zoom, Intercom, Hubspot, Zapier and hundreds more.

TIMIFY is an appointment scheduling software at the forefront of the revolution, developed intensively over the last decade to deliver profit and efficiency gains for large corporations.

Its features and functions have been tailored to the demands of big organisations and the complex management of multiple services across different locations which use an array of engagement channels for customers.

Visit the TIMIFY website to receive advice on how the system can transform your business.

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM TIMIFY

The great resignation is about employers, not employees

Attracting and retaining talent in today’s economy is increasingly difficult. Enter reward compensation – the cutting edge of employee rewards

If it feels like we’ve all been talking about the great resignation lately, you’re not alone. We continue to talk about it because it looms so large in any business leader’s vision – and the organisational mindset of how best to retain employees in such a time is evolving rapidly.

It is increasingly clear that employees aren’t satisfied with average pay and benefits anymore. Even an above-average salary isn’t enough to retain employees if an employee doesn’t care about their work – or perhaps, more importantly, doesn’t feel like their work cares about them. A competitive salary is only the first step in showing this kind of workplace loyalty to employees, but organisations must create the right kind of ecosystem to support employees in many different ways.

Without such a comprehensive ecosystem, keeping the best talent will continue to be a struggle. In an SHRM survey last year, 49 per cent of surveyed executives reported that their company experienced a drastically higher turnover rate in the past six months, and 84 per cent stated that openings were going unfilled for longer than normal. Clearly, attracting and retaining good talent is of particular import to many business leaders. What can employers do to stem this tide?

The first thing to do is find out exactly why employees are leaving and what’s attracting them to other opportunities. Another SHRM study found that there’s a disconnect between why employees are leaving and why executives think employees are leaving. Consider the following: per cent of employees are searching for new jobs because they want better compensation but only 26 per cent of executives think employees want better compensation. And that’s not all: 36 per cent of employees are searching because they want better benefits, but only 28 per cent of executives think employees want better benefits.

It’s clear that there’s a big disconnect between what employees want and what business leaders think employees want. Leaders need to realise that to recruit talent and build employee loyalty, they need a comprehensive compensation strategy – one that includes loyalty to employees.

But money isn’t the only way to do this. Loyalty isn’t created with pound signs – it flourishes best in an environment of care and emotional connection. Many think these principles have nothing to do with work, but to thrive through the challenges ahead, we must incorporate them into our existing employee retention strategies.

How to boost your compensation strategy

To keep good talent and attract new talent, we must ensure that people feel valued at work through both compensation AND recognition. Creating a culture where employees feel valued (another work-related way of showing care and emotional connection) plays a huge role in retention.

Here are a few other options to consider to increase retention.

Offer flexible work options: Fully remote and hybrid models of work are both great options that can enhance your compensation package as a whole. Some companies are even shortening their work week to offer greater flexibility for their workforce. That type of dedication to employees’ personal lives builds strong, healthy loyalty that goes both ways.

Give regular recognition: Recognition is a crucial part of your compensation strategy. In a recent study by Maritz, more than 40 per cent of people said they looked at a company’s recognition programme when considering employment. Furthermore, don’t assume that recognition and rewards need to include monetary compensation. Great examples of non-monetary recognition include verbal thanks, handwritten notes, official certificates showing appreciation or simply meaningful conversations between a manager and a direct report. It costs very little to express thanks and appreciation.

Provide educational support: When employees know their employer values their future and their success, they’ll feel valued. That’s where educational opportunities and industry certifications come in. Adding career growth into your upgraded compensation package will help employees gain additional skills, which will benefit both them and the organisation in the long term. Loyalty is a two-way street, and investing in your employees is a great way to maintain that road.

Monetary compensation is a piece of the puzzle

Money is still a large motivating factor for employees, and you shouldn’t ignore it as part of your compensation strategy. However, don’t be pigeonholed into thinking it’s the only thing you can do. If you already offer competitive pay, consider these options to entice talented employees to come – and stay.

Performance-based bonuses: The type of talent you want to retain is the type of talent that will exceed expectations more often than not. These are the types of people you need to strive to keep satisfied with the right compensation. As you reward them for exceptional performance, employees will stay motivated to strive for greatness.

Reward compensation: Offer compensation beyond a monthly salary. Providing a regular form of compensation (even if it’s only a few extra pounds, depending on each employee’s experience) is a great way to show your people you care about their happiness and their personal lives.

When you provide this reward compensation in a way that won’t necessarily be used for everyday expenses or bills (such as in the form of points), people will use it for items or events that they’ll enjoy rather than less exciting necessities. This type of bonus compensation will effectively build greater loyalty.

Reward compensation is a new piece of the puzzle that is coming to the forefront in many HR circles. Awardco is the pioneer of reward compensation and is at the forefront of facilitating greater equity in bonus distribution and compensation. Reward compensation will become the competitive edge many organisations can use to attract and retain good talent.

Turning the great resignation into the great retention

The great resignation may rage on for the foreseeable future. Building culture, driving behaviour and fostering loyalty that goes both ways is how businesses will need to approach this challenge. Above all, remember that when employees are shown loyalty and care, they’ll naturally feel more loyal and invested in the places they work. It’s a beautiful cycle that can strengthen organisations everywhere.

To learn more about reward compensation and how it can benefit your organisation, visit us online at award.co/awardco-pay.

By Steve Sonnenberg, CEO and Co-Founder, Awardco

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM AWARDCO

Many European cities suffer from a low digital skill base

Dispersed skill clusters across Europe’s cities and regions require tech and business leaders to establish where to source the skills needed for the future of work. The Forrester report “Leading Skill Clusters In Europe” outlines where business leaders can find the leading 50 talent hotspots on the continent.

Business leaders face new skill and talent challenges

Business leaders need to readjust their workforce composition to adapt to changing skill and talent requirements. The demand for digital skills had been building for some time before the pandemic. However, the lessons learned during it have called into question several fundamental business assumptions. This environment necessitated a new approach to team and employee management. New skills and talents are required of employees, and how you go about attracting and retaining talent is transforming.

A classic pre-pandemic business assumption was that people don’t like to pay for digital products and services and that digital was only an add-on to physical products. The reality suggests that there is a much greater willingness to pay for digital offerings. Another pre-pandemic assumption was that great customer experiences depended on the human touch. The reality is that automation frequently supports great customer and employee experiences.

Another assumption was that IT teams were slow and inflexible. The pandemic has shown us quite the opposite. It was also taken for granted that a fast-follower approach was the safest bet regarding innovation. Today, we know this approach can be very risky and that businesses need to move towards continuous experimentation and embrace failure as a learning technique.

Digital transformation initiatives require adjustments to your talent management

Digital skills are the be-all-and-end-all for preparing European workers for the future. However, your customer experience activities must balance the empathetic human touch with data analytics capabilities. Your employee experience initiatives need to balance the need for attracting employees who possess true craftmanship and experience with automation considerations, such as the collaboration between man, machine and algorithm. And your operational and cultural transformation efforts must tally a scalable workforce with decision-making autonomy. Your business model, meanwhile, needs to balance traditional product sale competencies with the ability to sell outcome-based and subscription offerings.

Future-fit skills are centred In Northern and Central Europe

In our report we focused on five high-level evaluation criteria for each city: educational attainments, composition of the workforce, economic conditions, availability and quality of soft skills and a framework for free movement of labour. All data used in the analysis is publicly available from a broad range of European institutions and organisations.

Four of the top five European clusters are in the Nordic countries. Cities here benefit from a comprehensive, solid performance across all evaluation criteria. A surprise was the low ranking of Italian cities. However, rather than following the Italian “north-south” divide, low digital competencies largely explain these cities’ low rankings.

Businesses must collaborate with partners to boost skills on a city basis

For cities to boost their skill and talent base, employers, educational institutions, research organisations, chambers of commerce, employment agencies, local, regional and national governments, and stakeholders from social partners and civil society, should unite forces.

To guide businesses in tapping into these European skill clusters, Forrester provides a 10-point checklist. Elements such as a detailed demand analysis for skills, attribute-based hiring, ambitious diversity, inclusion and equity initiatives, physical office redesign, high-quality training, and tapping into immigration opportunities are all part of getting access to required skills.

By Dan Bieler, Forrester

How loyalty programmes future-proof brands across industries

Loyalty programmes benefit shoppers and businesses alike, especially as customer acquisition costs continue to skyrocket

Increased paid advertising costs, more competitors on the market and the devaluation of third-party cookies are all pointing businesses towards revamping their retention efforts to improve overall business performance. For many forward-thinking brands, this means creating a strategic loyalty programme.

According to Yotpo’s State of Brand Loyalty Survey 2022, loyalty programmes make the majority (60 per cent) of global shoppers more brand loyal. Further, 84 per cent of survey respondents said belonging to a loyalty programme influences their decision to buy again from a brand. Loyalty programmes deliver hyper-relevant, personalised experiences that make shoppers feel valued, and they ensure that businesses establish one-to-one relationships with valued customers. Shoppers no longer want generalised experiences; they want their path to purchase to be tailored to their preferences and inclinations.

And loyalty programmes aren’t just good for shoppers – they’re also good for business. Whether brands want to increase their average order value, collect more data on customers or grow their social media reach, loyalty programmes can be constructed to fit. For example, fashion retailers can use their loyalty programme to keep their brand top of mind in between purchasing cycles and encourage cross-product adoption through member engagement campaigns and discounts.

Similarly, consumers heavily research purchases like furniture or appliances, which increases their chances of coming across a competitor. Home brands can offer programme sign-up discounts, encouraging shoppers to opt for their brand over a competitor.

Increasingly, brand values are top of mind for shoppers. More than 84 per cent of survey respondents said they are more inclined to buy from a brand whose values align with their own. Tentree, a sustainable fashion brand, knew it needed to bake its brand mission into its loyalty programme to drive shopper affinity and engagement. The programme, Impact Wallet, allows members to track their impact on sustainability with every purchase and level up to different achievements. By structuring its loyalty programme around social responsibility, Tentree reinforces its brand mission and encourages shoppers to play an active role in combating climate change.

Princess Polly is an ‘it’ retailer for Generation Z shoppers. Its target audience notoriously jumps from competitor to competitor, so the brand knew it needed to invest in a loyalty programme to boost retention. Yotpo Loyalty has enabled Princess Polly to create thoughtful loyalty experiences throughout the customer journey. Its VIP benefits, such as opportunities to be featured on the brand’s social channels and exclusive access to its Facebook Insider group, enable Princess Polly to grab the attention of its audience.

These examples highlight a brand’s need to create unique programmes aligned with core values and differentiators. Gone are the days of ‘burn and churn’ programmes. Consumers buy based on values, emotional connections and trust – and brands have to do much more than facilitate a transaction to earn long-term loyalty.

Read Yotpo’s State of Brand Loyalty report

By Cecilia Beard, Content Marketing Writer, Yotpo

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM YOTPO

IoT cyber-security and the importance of certification

David Maidment, senior director, secure device ecosystem at Arm, shares his insights into how the IoT can be made more secure through certification

As we journey towards the metaverse, digital transformation and the Internet of Things (IoT) device deployment is moving beyond early adoption and becoming mainstream, as businesses and consumers embrace new technologies. As we reach this turning point, organisations must avoid the pitfalls of the past, where security lagged behind the pace of digitisation and technology. There have been lots of examples of services, such as critical infrastructure and supply chains, which have undergone rapid digital transformation over the past few years. Yet the slow pace of security rollouts to protect these innovations has created many vulnerabilities for both consumers and providers.

The same is true for the IoT with cyber-security lagging behind, as IoT devices proliferate. Pressures on the IoT, which include a fragmentation of standards and a complex regulatory landscape, mean that matching cyber-security to the IoT has been difficult. As the IoT continues to expand, the security of these devices cannot be optional. Arm is at the forefront of continued security research and investment, and we believe that security is a shared responsibility. By investing in architecture, software and hardware technologies, programs and initiatives we make security simpler for our partners and IoT developers worldwide.

In 2017 Arm spearheaded PSA Certified, working with other industry leaders to establish a standardised security framework and certification program to help achieve a secure IoT. This year, the PSA Certified 2022 Security Report shows that security has moved to the top of the business priority list, with 90 per cent of organizations having increased the importance they place on security in the past 12 months. However, findings show that there is still a need to democratize the skills and best practice required for security in the connected economy. There are three essential factors – guidance, education and certification – that will unlock the potential of the IoT by ensuring a secure ecosystem.

Better security guidance and education

There has been a strong shift in consumer perspectives towards prioritizing security in connected devices, meaning a secure IoT is essential. Nearly a third of those surveyed in the PSA Certified 2022 Security Report noted that their customers demand it, debunking the myth that consumers care only about cost and features.

Manufacturers and service providers in the IoT ecosystem must respond to this and the need for best practice guidance is higher than ever. 96 per cent of research respondents said they would be interested in an industry-led set of guidelines on IoT best practices. Fundamental to this would be a common security language.

Unfortunately, security expertise remains a barrier. Fewer than a third of organisations are very satisfied with the level of security expertise within their organisation. The World Economic Forum estimates that there is a gap of more than three million security experts worldwide.

Organizations understand this, and rank security frameworks and step-by-step guides as the most useful tools for deploying secure products to market. This underlines the criticality of education and guidance in shaping a more secure IoT.

The importance of certification

Certification provided by independent third parties is also critical to ensuring IoT security. Certification moves the industry beyond “marking their own homework” and delivers a clear benchmark of security, measured by independent labs. Customers can use this certification to ensure that the products and services they are buying do not contain unknown and unwanted cyber-security vulnerabilities.

There is still work to do here, as despite 95 per cent noting that certification is useful to the IoT marketplace, the same percentage does not conduct external laboratory-based security testing, despite admitting that they don’t have their own security experts in-house.

Our findings show that the primary reason certification is being skipped is the misconception that testing is believed to be too expensive. However, a standardised testing method under a certification scheme, such as the one that PSA Certified has developed for the new wave of IoT devices, has already lowered the cost barrier. The documentation is open to view, and it takes less time with evaluation labs than pre-existing certification models which were made with previous generation connected devices in mind.

Certifications can also be reused, meaning that you can improve the return of your investment. Once a component has been certified – a chipset, for example – that component can be sold to original equipment manufacturers (OEMs) and used in a range of different products regardless of manufacturer. This means they are all certified, hence bringing down the costs for all concerned.

We’re also seeing that governments, standards and leading IoT companies are adopting or referencing PSA Certified. This momentum towards security certification will only accelerate the path to a more robust IoT ecosystem.

The PSA Certified program is forging a more secure connected future by uniting the industry around security best practice, to deliver consumer and business assurance in connected devices and protect end-users from cyber-risk.

Across the industry, it is accepted that security is no longer optional but foundational to business success. Industry collaboration and cross-market knowledge-sharing are democratising the skills and best practices that are so critical to our connected future.

PSA Certified offers a credible certification system that aligns standards across organisations, IoT trade bodies and insurance services, and we’re proud that PSA Certified is creating an opportunity for the industry to come together and drive IoT security for both businesses and consumers.

Learn more about the IoT security trends and barriers in the PSA Certified 2022 Security Report.

David Maidment is senior director, Secure Devices Ecosystem at Arm. Arm was one of the original co-founders of the PSA Certified initiative.

About the research: The data in the PSA Certified 2022 Security Report was gathered from 1,038 technology decision makers across Europe, USA, and APAC by Sapio Research. PSA Certified is a global partnership of security-conscious companies that are building security best practices that are aligned to the cyber-security requirements of USA, Europe and China and that promote Security by Design across all IoT devices.

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM ARM

The language of globalisation in a post-Covid world

Is globalisation in decline? By some measures it seems to be. The pandemic has caused a sharp decrease in the movement of physical goods and people across borders. And even before the pandemic, there was a strong movement towards onshoring and shorter supply chains.

But the reality is that globalisation isn’t weakening as a business trend. It is changing, driven by digital technology.

In a world of digital trade, globalisation is not about having a physical presence in other countries. Online assets are now more important. And, in the absence of local structures dedicated to each market, it’s essential that businesses communicate effectively in each of the territories they wish to trade in.

But how can a business communicate effectively in countries where a different language is spoken and consumer behaviour is influenced by different values, beliefs and cultures?

Only around 5 per cent of the world – about 360 million people – speak English as their first language. And while many more can understand English (there are 1.5 billion people who are learning it), people are much less likely to buy products if descriptions are not in their own language: in fact, 76 per cent of online shoppers prefer to buy products with information in their native language.

Finding the right partner to adapt and localise their products and ensure a clear and accurate communication in international markets is key for any growing business. One company that has been helping businesses communicate effectively with their audiences worldwide and delivering effective messages in a large variety of languages is Acolad. A top-five content and language services provider, Acolad employs a global network of 20,000 language experts, and is able to handle more than 300 language “pairs” (such as English to German, or French to Italian).

The company’s size is a reflection of its success. Working with some of the most renowned companies in each field has given a unique translation capacity across 15 different industry verticals, from bioscience and e-commerce to financial services and high-tech, with experts who can understand the specific problems and jargon of these different industries.

Strengthening global communication with culturally adapted content

For global brands, translation isn’t a simple question of turning a word in one language into a word that means the same in another language.

A simple example is seen in the differences between British, American and Indian English. In Britain people generally talk about the “boot” of a car. In India it’s the “dicky”, and in the USA they have a “trunk”. Any translation of “boot” needs to take account of the translated word’s context.

There are lots of examples like this, and while they won’t necessarily cause complete confusion in different markets, they are likely to weaken the effect of a marketing message when someone comes across a word they aren’t immediately comfortable with. Different channels and audiences need different content.

This is where Acolad steps in. They have local subject-matter experts that can help to localise the meaning of the message for the local audience. More than simply trying to find the right words in another language, they focus on the intent of the message and how it should be perceived by its audience. This gives a strong competitive advantage to companies that are exporting goods and services, even when they don’t have detailed knowledge of the export market.

Effective localisation requires local insights into what is relevant to the target audience in that territory, including an understanding of how a brand is used locally: for example, whether it is considered a luxury or mid-market brand, or the age of the target market. In addition, the cultural context must be considered: colour, icons and humour may all need careful localisation.

A well-known example of this is KitKat, which became extremely successful in Japan because KitKat sounds like “kitto katsu”, Japanese for “you will surely win!” Parents would give children the snack before exams, and the company leveraged this with a local campaign that allowed people to write a good luck message on the wrapper and then send the chocolate bar through the post. Japan is now the KitKat capital of the world.

Content of all types can be localised in this way. For example, as well as marketing content, it’s important to localise software, product instructions, internal communications, e-learning content, and even multimedia such as graphics and video.

Non-linguistic aspects of localisation are also important. When translating documents such as flyers or whitepapers, formatting can be a problem because some languages take up more space than others. For example, German is 30 per cent longer than English. In this case, localisation needs to consider the layout of the document as well as the message. This may mean that parts of an English document that is being translated into German may need rethinking completely.

Driving efficiency through technology

With a workforce that includes 200 technologists, Acolad has been also leading through technological innovations, especially in the fields of connectivity and integration.

The use of connectors that integrate with existing content management systems allows all new content created online (for example, on a website or intranet) to be automatically translated to all target languages through an efficient, centralised process.

This type of approach is extremely effective for companies that manage large and rapidly changing sets of content, such as retailers. In addition, global brands that deal with dozens, sometimes hundreds, of different languages can also benefit strongly from the increased speed and savings that Acolad’s innovative technology can bring.

Optimising for search engines by understanding local language use

Sometimes localisation demands that translation doesn’t take place at all. Accepting this is important for search engine optimisation (SEO), an important part of any marketing activity.

Finding the most effective search terms for the local language will affect the success of marketing campaigns. But it isn’t always right to assume that keywords need translation. The English version of some technical words is sometimes more frequently used than the local term. For instance, in Taiwan the word “dropshipping” has more searches than its Chinese equivalent.

That’s why it is important to understand local behaviour when localising content. Local search engines like Baidu in China, and language versions of global operators like bing.fr – have different indexes that reflect these differences in behaviour. So when optimising keywords, it’s important to check out the volumes on local search engines too.

Global advertising campaigns that work locally

Perhaps the most sophisticated element of localisation is transcreation – the adaptation of creative assets such as advertising slogans to a local market.

A great example of transcreation is Haribo’s slogan. In German it is “Haribo macht Kinder froh, und Erwachsene ebenso”. In English, a direct translation would be something like “Haribo makes children and adults happy as well.” This loses the rhyme, however, so it was adapted for English-speaking markets market as: “Kids and grown-ups love it so, the happy world of Haribo.”

Choosing the right global content partner

Business is continuing to globalise, and as a result translation services and language technology are becoming increasingly important. However, translation is far more than turning a word from one language to another. It involves translating meaning, tone and emotion as well as words. And it involves adapting any translation for the local markets where it will appear.

This is why choosing the best global content partner is important. Acolad combines translation technology with human expertise to offer high-quality language and content solutions.

High-quality localised content delivers a better user experience for audiences and more effective marketing campaigns for exporters and companies reaching into new markets. By combining the strengths of technology with the deep insights that native industry experts provide into local markets, Acolad is helping to assure the successful future of global business.

With Acolad as your global content partner, your organisation will be empowered to optimise its international marketing opportunities, reaching new markets and delivering a better user experience.

INDUSTRY VIEW FROM ACOLAD

Cut yourself and others some slack: we need more time to experiment and fail at work

In 1928 Scottish microbiologist Alexander Fleming, while studying the staphylococcus bacteria, noticed mould on his petri dishes inhibited its growth. He experimented, leading to the discovery of penicillin, the first antibiotic.

In 1945 engineer Percy Spencer, while working on developing a radar system, noticed a chocolate melt very quickly when a new vacuum tube was switched on. He pointed the tube at other objects, which also heated up. This gave rise to the microwave oven.

The lesson from these examples is that great discoveries and new inventions can arise by accident. What also mattered is that Fleming and Spencer had time to experiment.

This is a luxury people working in modern organisations often don’t have. All the focus is on efficiency and meeting performance targets. There’s no slack to experiment or room to make mistakes and learn from them.

Over the years I have talked to many business leaders that dislike experimentation. They firmly believe in sticking to the way things are done. This is particularly prevalent among managers directly responsible for the bottom line. They want their subordinates to focus on tasks set them, not try new things.

It’s somewhat understandable. Better performance improves managers’ remuneration and promotion prospects. But the cost is limiting organisational opportunities for creativity and innovation.

Fear of failure can infect organisational culture

A graphic example of this is playing out in Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.

The Russian military’s huge blunders have been credited to factors such as low morale, corruption and poor logistical support. But equally important is an organisational culture that discourages initiative.

As The New York Times has reported, the evidence from dozens of American, NATO and Ukrainian officials paints a portrait of senior Russian army officers being extremely risk-averse, of

young, inexperienced conscripted soldiers who have not been empowered to make on-the-spot decisions, and a non-commissioned officer corps that isn’t allowed to make decisions either.

This is a feature of Russian organisational culture more generally, according to Michel Domsch and Tatjana Lidokhover, authors of the 2017 book Human Resource Management in Russia. They describe “the noted Russian apprehension and negative attitude towards failure and making mistakes”. As one expatriate businessperson told them:

This attitude can also manifest itself in the hiding of bad news in an attempt to avoid harsh realities as well as to avoid being the unpopular messenger.

Failure and invention ‘are inseparable twins’

Employees at the coalface of making a product or providing a service often know more about certain things than an executive. They see inefficiencies and waste, they deal with customer complaints.

Involving them in thinking about innovation and trialing new ways to do things increases the probability of improvement. That’s why great organisations go to great lengths to empower their employees at all levels and encourage them to participate in generating ideas.

Even companies not known for worker empowerment understand the value of experimentation.

At Uber, for example, experiments are at the heart of improving customer experience.

The ride-sharing company can certainly be criticised for its “algorithmic management” practices and treatment of subcontractors. But its success is also due to encouraging employees to suggest new product features.

Uber developed an experimentation platform where proposed features are launched, measured and evaluated. More than 1,000 experiments run on the platform at any given time.

Another champion of experimentation is Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos. Again, his company is notoriously anti-union – but in a 2015 letter to shareholders he did say this:

I believe we are the best place in the world to fail (we have plenty of practice!), and failure and invention are inseparable twins. To invent you have to experiment, and if you know in advance that it’s going to work, it’s not an experiment. Most large organisations embrace the idea of invention, but are not willing to suffer the string of failed experiments necessary to get there.

Cutting employees slack and allowing them to be proactive means some mistakes will be made. What matters is that on average the benefits of new discoveries and new approaches outweigh the costs.

Experimenting when everything is running smoothly seems to go against the maxim “don’t fix what isn’t broken”. But successful businesses and organisations experiment continuously, not out of desperation when things are going haywire.

So cut yourself, and others, some slack. It is OK to fail. If an experiment yields expected results it merely confirms what we already knew. But when the experiment fails we learn something new.

Maroš Servátka, Professor of Experimental and Behavioral Economics, Macquarie Graduate School of Management

This article is republished from The Conversation under a Creative Commons license. Read the original article.