2021 Global Marketing Trends | Discussion 1 - Efficiency over Disruption, Process over People
The recent 2021 Global Marketing Trends report from Deloitte is an eye-opener for all of those involved in the business world as we navigate a world enduring the struggles of a pandemic and the related consequences of the Covid-19 virus.
Given the report in its entirety is 80 pages long, we decided to break the main points we found interesting down into manageable chunks (and will release one or two more posts following this one), in order to provide our thoughts about why they might be of importance to our industry and those looking at data analytics as a solution for their team or business.
Efficiency over Disruption / Process over People
The title of this discussion is not taken straight from the Deloitte report, but we believe it captures first major insight being detailed at the start of the studies findings.
When discussing the survey results of the 405 US C-Suite executives from global companies, the report states -
“the majority prioritized improving efficiency and productivity over more humancentric initiatives such as strengthening customer engagement, retaining talent, and increasing the company’s impact on society. And in these moments of high stress and low certainty, almost no one was thinking about growing revenues or disrupting their industry.”
We find this insight very telling as we believe it is relatively reflective of the market we as an analytics consultancy are operating in when it comes to new business and the types of projects a lot of companies and clients are undertaking.
Our Synopsis
You can see in the graph above the marked drop in confidence of all C-level executives since Covid. As is often the case, a drop in executive level confidence will often ripple through a business and into its operation, with this study showing the key initiatives that seem to be thrown out of the window when budgets get tight and uncertainty rises.
From a White Box perspective, we have seen a significant increase in requests for reporting (included automated reporting), data auditing and assessments, dynamic and visual dashboards and one-off projects. We have found that of these businesses, many have been forward-thinking in their approach to their medium-long term strategies, seeing best practice data management and use a key ingredient to maintaining their success.
From this report, efficiencies and productivity become the main priority for companies. Despite this, the survey found that:
four in five people could cite a time a brand responded in a positive way to the impacts of the pandemic (hence having a positive impression of those brands),
over 25% walked away from brands who they believe acted in their own self interest,
58% of respondents had a brand exceed their needs compared to another brand, and these actions lead 82% to do more business with that particular brand
So, what this screams to us is a need, not an option, to have business processes that drive efficiencies and productivity down pat, including reporting, and the proper use of business data in general. This will ultimately mean that of the strategic capital left available, you can continually focus on key areas that maintain positive relationships with your customer base, and uphold the image of your brand.
For more White Box data stories, look here or get in touch if you’d like to talk about how we might be able to help with your data strategy, reporting, business performance and anything else data related!