Research last week included a new study released by Aleran Software that illustrates both the challenge and opportunities manufacturers face embracing eCommerce. Automation Anywhere published the Automation Now and Next 2023 report, the State of Intelligent Automation.
Other research came from Adobe, Ceridian, Demandbase, Lattice, Qlik, Qualtrics and Wrike.
Adobe
Adobe published the July Digital Price Index. The company noted that online prices have fallen for the eleventh consecutive month, falling 1.6% in July, compared to a year ago and 0.9% compared to last month. Grocery price increases have slowed for the tenth month. Furthermore, appliances, furniture/bedding and electronics continue to see notable price drops. Notable changes included:
- Groceries: Prices rose 6.3% YoY (up 0.3% MoM) but have slowed in the past 10 months, rising 7.6% YoY in June, 8.2% YoY in May, 9.3% YoY in April, 10.3% YoY in March, 11.4% YoY in February, 12.6% YoY in January, 13.5% YoY in December, 13.7% YoY in November and 14% YoY in October. In September, the rate of price growth peaked, rising 14.3% YoY. Consumers are increasingly buying more of their groceries online, and this category has generally moved in lock step with the Consumer Price Index.
- Pet Products: Prices were up 6.3% YoY (down 0.1% MoM), a smaller increase than the month prior, when prices rose 8.1% YoY (June 2023). In August 2022, prices for the category rose substantially and peaked at 12.7% YoY. This category has seen persistent inflation on a long-term basis, with YoY price increases observed in every month since May 2020.
- Appliances: Prices were down 8% YoY (down 0.3% MoM) after hitting a record low in June 2023, where prices fell 8.3% YoY. Appliance prices online have now fallen YoY for 10 consecutive months, after having risen for 29 consecutive months starting in May 2020, peaking at 7.1% YoY in December 2020.
- Electronics: Prices have continued to fall sharply in recent months, dropping 11.7% YoY (down 0.7% MoM) and 12.9% YoY in June 2023. Contrast this with a year ago, in July 2022, when prices were down 9.3% YoY. As a major discretionary category, electronics price movements have a significant impact on overall inflation online.
Ceridian
Ceridian, released the results from its annual Executive Survey focused on the power of mobilizing the boundless workforce. Key findings included the following:
- 85% of leaders feel confident their organizations will achieve their 2023 goals
- 75% see strong revenue growth ahead
- eight out of 10 survey respondents said their workforce has the skills to meet organizational performance goals in the next two years
- 92% of respondents see workforce challenges like employee attraction, engagement, and retention, in addition to compliance complexities creating risks for their organization’s ability to achieve its goals in the next year.
The report, based on a survey of 2,000 business leaders, also noted three key trends. Technology, especially AI, is increasingly used to automate manual tasks. The use of contingent workers is increasing. Internal mobility is a trend that leaders want to empower in the coming years.
Susan Tohyama, CHRO, Ceridian, commented, “Top leaders feel confident they will reach their goals – guided by an understanding that it will take strong technology and tough decisions to meet demands and continually unlock the potential of today’s boundless workforce, which is fluid, always-on, and borderless.
“The efforts towards workforce transformation that organizations have already made are remarkable, but more opportunities abound. Our latest Executive Survey is a rallying cry for business leaders to invest today in people strategies and systems to be positioned for future growth and resiliency.”
Demandbase
Demandbase published the results of its 2023 C-Suite Go-to-Market (GTM) Benchmark Survey in partnership with Demand Gen Report. Based on a survey of 200 marketers, it reveals how teams are handling the current economic landscape, trends in their technology use, the GTM strategies and practices that are driving growth, and more.
Jon Miller, chief marketing officer at Demandbase, commented, “In the year since our last survey, we’ve seen increased challenges in the B2B industry, but there has been just as much — if not more — progress. Many companies are being forced to cut budgets, but our research reveals that tech stacks are the least likely to be cut, demonstrating that teams recognize technology’s value in driving efficiency.
“Additionally, more leaders are viewing GTM through a broader lens than they did in 2022, which is paving the way for greater internal alignment and a more holistic approach to campaigns and tactics. Overall, B2B leaders are recognizing that what worked in the past isn’t working today, causing them to place a premium on efficiency and, ultimately, a Smarter GTM.”
The report identified priorities for companies that are driving growth
- Customer acquisition and customer expansion as the top two efforts they rely upon most to drive growth.
- Leaders indicated their top three priorities are improving alignment (66%), increasing win rates (63%), and increasing marketing investments (56%).
- Leaders were also more likely to cater to self-service needs than laggards, with many reporting they’ve enabled such options to streamline operations. In particular, they’re using demo videos (48%), interactive demos (41%), online calculators (40%), and product tours (39%).
Key metrics are always subject to fierce debate; marketers are now being measured on the following:
- Total revenue (18%)
- Marketing qualified leads (MQL) (16%)
- Marketing-influenced revenue (12%)
- Marketing-sourced revenue (10%)
The research also indicates that Sales and Marketing are aligning better, a subject, that Miller has spoken about before. 52% of respondents reported that they do not struggle with alignment, an improvement from last year.
The primary challenge for marketers is still data, with data quality, dirty, out of date, duplicates (55%), missing or incomplete information (50%), disconnected/siloed data sources (40%), actioning data (34%), and an inability to digest data the way they want (34%).
Lattice
Lattice has published The HR Handbook to the Transforming Workplace. It brings together the thoughts of some sixteen-plus leading figures in the HR space. The handbook discusses some key topics for all HR leaders, including the following:
- How the ways we build community are changing
- How the ways we stay productive are changing
- How where we work is changing (eg: hybrid, return to office)
- How flexibility and benefits are changing (ex: 4-day work week)
- How employee development is changing (eg: career advancement in hybrid)
It brings together varying thoughts and views and makes an interesting discursive document.
Qlik
Qlik has published a Total Economic Impact report conducted by Forrester Consulting on behalf of Talend. As usual, the report brings together a sample of customers to create an aggregate customer example, that demonstrates the value that Talend has delivered to its successful customers.
Key findings include the following:
- An observed total business value impact of $4.1M through new revenue streams, better customer experiences and budget optimization opportunities.
- Optimized data infrastructures generating total cost savings of $857K by reducing servers by up to 80% and dedicated support to infrastructure by up to 75%.
- An improved system performance with a 65% reduction in incidents, supporting data processing at scale.
- Experienced time savings of development resources by up to 40% and further increased capacity by introducing citizen developers.
- Reduced the likelihood of a data breach by 5% through better compliance and security standards, avoiding impact costs and productivity interruptions.
Sam Pierson, Senior Vice President of the Data Business Unit R&D Organization at Qlik, commented, “Talend enables organizations to build a modern approach to data management and achieve greater efficiency, agility, and robustness. This study shows how Talend’s solutions can help organizations quickly adapt to industry and structural challenges such as skills gap, data literacy or distributed infrastructures while delivering business value.”
Qualtrics
Qualtrics has published findings from an analysis of thousands of data points gathered in surveys from 2022. It found that during 2022 employee motivation dropped, and they were less likely to work above and beyond than in previous years. The outcome was a drop in business productivity, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistics.
Sarah Marrs, Director of Employee Experience Strategy Execution at Qualtrics, said, “This is an example of where the data backs up the zeitgeist and buzzwords like ‘quiet quitting’ – employees are struggling and looking for ways to improve their relationship with work. As leaders focus on productivity, listening to employees can help create a better workplace experience with employees that are both productive and engaged.”
There are some stark numbers in this research, most notably in Germany (down 12%) and Japan (down 10%), where post-pandemic employees are no longer motivated to contribute more. In contrast, during the pandemic, employees willing to put in extra effort jumped from 77% in 2019 to 89% in 2020. The average is now below pre-pandemic levels.
Marrs added, “Employees are pulling back as they’re not seeing rewards from their efforts. Of course, in a tighter economy, pay is a top factor in what people are looking for from a job, but employers should never underestimate the power of fulfilling work as its own reward.”
In response, employees are either looking for better paid, or better jobs elsewhere or are seeking better jobs within their current organisation. However, just 61% of employees said they have a clear understanding of what steps to take to build their careers, a gap that could impact long-term employee engagement. It is a stark warning to employers everywhere.
Wrike
Wrike released the 2023 Efficiency Report, which uncovers the most effective measures professional services teams are taking to enhance efficiency. 82% of professional services leaders are looking to work management software to provide a single source of truth for work across their organization.
The report includes information about:
- The impact of the “Dark Matter of Work” on efficiency.
- Efficiency measures that work and those that don’t.
- How to harness digital transformation and reduce software complexity.
- AI’s potential to boost productivity and streamline tasks.
Thomas Scott, Interim CEO at Wrike, commented, “With continued economic uncertainty looming, the pressure is on for professional services teams and firms to shorten time to value for key stakeholders, increase efficiency across their organization, and deliver on business outcomes. Transparency with clients is essential and real-time reporting is a must-have. We are passionate about helping these teams deliver successful projects profitably.”
- 80% of leaders said consolidating applications is one of the most effective ways to improve efficiency
- 59% of knowledge workers say they use redundant software applications, and the problem extends beyond disparate apps
- 63% of professional services leaders’ disparate apps create a lack of visibility into the work taking place between teams or departments.
Scott, added, “Many organizations are also using more than one work management platform – Leaders must now come together and engage in more strategic conversations about their tech stacks because there is a need for consolidation to get to a single source of truth.”
Wrike argues that consolidating onto a single work management platform, such as Wrike, is the answer. It provides the example of Grannicus, which has seen a 20% increase in time tracking compliance since implementation, has taken on 200 new projects in Wrike every month, and is able to serve 1,200 external clients in Wrike.
