Businesses in digital challenge

AS MANY as three out of four business leaders predict traditional business models will be obsolete within five years, but the majority admit they are far from ready to meet the digital challenge, a new study released yesterday shows.

The study, conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of international information services company Experian, shows the majority of chief executive officers (66 percent) acknowledged many of their current commercial approaches were ineffective. They said they were operating within a digital divide and needed to quickly increase budgets to catch up.

The study – conducted among 380 chief executives and other senior business leaders in Europe, the Middle East and Africa – found data-driven customer insight was a top commercial priority for more than four out of five traditional businesses.

At the same time, 71 percent of leaders admitted their businesses lacked the ability to accurately transform data into rich insight. They regarded investment in this area among their top five business priorities.

South African respondents were more concerned than most about how big a challenge it was to not be able to identify customers across different channels (45percent versus survey average of 35percent). The inability to create a single view of the customer (40percent against 29percent) was also a concern among South Africans interviewed.

The findings of the study, which was carried out during August, also highlighted board-level thinking on a host of other critical commercial areas including fraud, customer management best practice and emerging digital trends.

The full findings will be published in forthcoming report Winning in the Customer Era.

Mark Wells, acting managing director at Experian, said: “It’s clear from the research just how critical data-driven customer insight is in today’s business climate. We’re helping organisations across the globe connect the dots by turning data and using analytics to create actionable insight and drive decision-making.

“Many business leaders also realise they must quickly adapt and evolve existing ways of working to be successful and remain competitive, or to even survive.” – ANA