Research from last week included IBM’s “The State of Salesforce 2023-24” report. This year the report looked at the growing importance of generative AI and industry clouds. Other reports came from ADP, Xero, Salesforce, Rimini Street, Unanet, Ramco Systems, Salesforce, ADP, Celigo, BMC, Infosys, and NTT.
ADP
The ADP Research Institute published the September (quarterly) “Today at Work” issue. It reveals the business impact of promotions and the Employee Motivation and Commitment Index. A real-time way to measure the state of worker allegiance.
Dr. Nela Richardson, ADP Chief Economist and Head of the ADP Research Institute, commented, “With so much data at our fingertips, we have the opportunity to tell the full story of the workforce with an eye toward its continued evolution and change.
“For example, productivity has always been a key metric monitored by decision-makers and economists, but understanding what drives productivity has been difficult to measure. In this report, we’re able to illustrate the important link between motivation and commitment and productivity.”
The Hidden Truth about Promotions analyses whether promotions are linked to people leaving a company. It found that 29% of promoted employees leave the company within a month. Yet 18% claim they would have moved on before being promoted. By six months, that gap narrows. No analysis was given, though is this the Peter Principle at work?
The report provides guidance to companies that offer promotions, including training and mitigation against resignations.
The second part details the new index. ADP has calculated the index for historical months. It notes that in August 2023, the EMC Index fell from 108 to 100, its lowest point since June 2022. The EMC Index also revealed a strong relationship between output and worker motivation and commitment. High-productivity workers are 2.6 times more likely to respond positively to questions about their work and motivation.
Richardson commented, “This is only the beginning of what this series of reports will offer. For the first time, we’re combining ADP’s unparalleled hard data with people-centric surveys to identify actionable insights for decision-makers.”
BMC
BMC published results from its 18th Annual Mainframe survey. It showed that interest in mainframes is increasing again.
The key highlights included:
- 94% of respondents positively perceive the mainframe, and 63% reported increased mainframe investment over the past year
- DevOps and AIOps continue to grow for the mainframe, while data volume and the number of databases continue to increase significantly
- Compliance and Security remain the top priority for mainframe practitioners – a priority that emerged in 2019
- Cloud emerged as a top-four priority for 35% of the respondents this coming year, with an increased interest in implementing cloud technologies like cloud-based storage and backup
- AIOPs across mainframe and non-mainframe environments are increasing, 32% in 2023 (25% in 2022)
The top priorities for mainframes are still compliance and security.
The top priorities included:
- Compliance and Security – 61%
- Cost Optimization – 49%
- Enhancing Automation – 41%
- Data Recovery 40%
John McKenny, Senior Vice President and General Manager of Intelligent Z Optimization and Transformation, BMC, said, “Our survey highlights that companies investing in modernizing their application development and operations practices on the mainframe drive significantly faster innovation and achieve higher levels of resiliency. As mainframe innovation continues, organizations that aren’t investing in the mainframe are putting their business and customers at significant risk.”
Celigo
The “2023 Holiday Shopping Trends Report” from IPaaS vendor Celigo found that US consumers expect a vastly improved Holiday 2023 shopping experience over previous years. 75% of consumers will shop online for most of their Holiday gift needs. Nearly 50% of respondents said they will begin shopping no later than October. While 26% of consumers bypass Black Friday entirely.
Mark Simon, VP of Strategy at Celigo, commented, “The lingering impact of inflation and COVID has made consumers even more value-conscious and discerning about their holiday shopping experience. Therefore, retailers must be prepared to meet their demands right now.
“Retailers can no longer deploy a generic, one-size-fits-all approach to Holiday shopping. Instead, they must make more personalized, value-driven offers that target specific consumers as well as guarantee immediate delivery, in-stock merchandise and reasonable returns policies. To do this successfully, they must automate key business processes and employ more granular customer segmentation.”
The report provides a comprehensive look at the attitudes of consumers, with highlights such as:
- 69% of shoppers expect retailers to provide more personalized offers, good deals, and cost savings this year
- Consumers will forgo shopping with online retailers that do not provide fast delivery (53%), low or moderate prices (52%), customer-friendly returns policies (46%) or exceptional customer service (45%)
- 78% of Baby Boomer shoppers said convenience is the number one reason they plan to shop more online
- More than half of Gen X and 50% of millennial shoppers shop earlier for Holiday deals in September and October
- Less than 14% of shoppers across all demographics are waiting until the last minute to start holiday shopping – most likely scorned by supply chain issues of years past
Simon added, “This survey data gives retailers greater insights into what shoppers truly want this Holiday season and beyond. Now, they can make the right investments to automate and streamline their e-commerce operations to meet these evolving expectations both now and in the future.”
Infosys
Infosys unveiled the Infosys Cloud Radar 2023. The annual research identified that cloud technology used for growth and transformation is three times more important than cloud used to cut costs.
The research was based on a survey of over 2,500 respondents. These were from companies across the US, UK, France, Germany, Australia, New Zealand, and the Nordic countries. The report also includes qualitative data from interviews with subject matter experts and global business leaders.
The report revealed several challenges:
- Cloud spending remains high and is increasing. 67% increased cloud spending this year, and 80% intend to increase next year
- Only 47% of cloud commitments are utilized
- 50% of organisations struggle to manage cloud costs
- Cloud is complex and increasingly hybrid
- Organisations are struggling to control cloud environments
- Decisions on the cloud are siloed, with IT and business leaders making 45% of decisions alone
- Cloud is important, with 73% agreeing that cloud migration achieves objectives
The authors recommend three strategies for success:
- Master monitoring and prediction
- Embed the business case into the cloud
- Adopt a value-centric cloud operating model
Anant Adya, EVP – Infosys Cobalt, said, “As cloud continues to evolve, it’s imperative for organizations to integrate it as a strategic enabler for their growth and transformation. Leveraging multiple cloud providers allows organizations to optimize resources, improve resilience, and access specialized capabilities, which lead to improved efficiency and accelerated growth.
“Infosys’ annual Cloud Radar surveys continue to shed light on the ever-changing cloud services landscape and explain cloud adoption dynamics and investments.
“The report highlights the growing need for enterprises to address the evolving complexity of the cloud landscape and craft the right strategy to better utilize and manage cloud.”
NTT
NTT announced the findings of its sustainability study. Revealing a limited awareness amongst organisations of the impact data storage has on carbon emissions. Unnecessary data storage hinders sustainability goals, as organisations admit that up to 60% of their data goes unused.
Key findings include:
- IT operators are failing to view removing unnecessary and unwanted data as a top priority, with more focus on purchasing energy-efficient equipment
- Most businesses don’t directly tie data storage to sustainability goals, despite 80% having policies and incentives in place to do so
- Cloud has predominantly impacted organisational sustainability goals by improving operational efficiency and reducing CO2 emissions by 40-60%
Miriam Murphy, CEO of Europe, NTT Ltd, said, “Understanding the true impact of technology on sustainability is a key focus area for enterprises, but one that is highly complex and convoluted.
“There is clearly still a lot of work to be done, with only 38% of those surveyed having successfully implemented a comprehensive business-wide strategy. This is where partners can step up and offer everything from consulting, technology audits, and strategy, to roadmap designs, implementation, and governance services.”
Ramco Systems
Ramco Systems published a new eBook, “Can Employee Experience be Seamless in a Global Organisation?”. The book is based on a study of 89 leading multinational organisations across the Asia Pacific. The eBook, created with Ecosystm, a Singapore headquartered digital research and advisory company, identified that leading organizations enhance their employee experience by introducing new HR policies and technology adoption.
The key findings included:
- 81% of respondents improved their employee experience through better employee compensation and benefits packages
- 83% of respondents achieved an enhanced level of employee experience through providing self-service/access to employee apps
- 59% of respondents introducing financial wellness measures for their employees
Sash Mukherjee, VP of Industry Insights, Ecosystm, said, “It is important to look at all functions that contribute to improving employee experience strategically – whether it is Finance, HR, Compliance, or Payroll. Organisations must empower these departments with the right AI-driven technologies that can automate their operational tasks and utilise them for strategic decisions on employee attraction and retention. Global organisations should be backed by global systems.”
Rohit Mathur, Head – Ramco Global Payroll & HR Solution, Ramco Systems, said, “Improving employee experience has become paramount in achieving business success. Organisations must take a multifaceted approach to enhancing their employee experience, which empowers employees professionally, emotionally and financially.
“Ramco’s focus on providing automation and transformation features like anomaly & reasoning engine, pro-active chatbots, self-explaining payslip, financial wellness services, and voice-based navigation powered by AI, ML & RPA is not only offering organizations a competitive edge but has also been helping them enhance employee well-being and overall experience.”
Rimini Street
Rimini Street announced the findings of the Censuswide Buyers Sentiment Survey, “Organizations Want More Control Over Their IT Roadmap.” It examines IT leaders’ challenges around ERP and database support, vendor relationship management, and the IT support and services model.
The key findings included:
- Nearly all surveyed CIOs and CTOs are committed to transitioning their business to a new model. Focusing on maximizing their current investment and driving innovation around the edges for ERP applications and databases
- 99% of respondents reported concerns over implementing a vendor subscription-based licensing model. The top two concerns included fear of being forced to a subscription model that lacks ROI (42%) and worries about vendor lock-in (42%)
- 57% of respondents believe digital transformation doesn’t necessarily require a “rip and replace” approach with core ERP applications
David Rowe, EVP, Global Transformation and Chief Product Officer, commented, “This survey reinforces that ‘agility’ and ‘choice’ are imperative in today’s CIO and CTO strategic playbooks. By optimizing mission-critical transaction systems and shifting investment to driving innovation around the edges, they can enhance IT’s capabilities while choosing what is best for the business and their budget at the same time.
“The technology sector may be the only industry where vendors dictate when customers make upgrades and buy new products. But IT leaders are starting to take a new path and adopt an approach that helps keep them in control of their IT roadmap, enabling them to innovate at their own pace and make software decisions based on business needs, not vendor pressure.”
Salesforce
Salesforce released a snapshot report titled “Generative AI Snapshot Research: The AI Divide”. It is based on a survey of 4,000 people across the United States, UK, Australia, and India.
- 49% of people have used generative AI. With over one-third of these users tapping into the technology daily and planning to use it even more
- Of the 51% that have never used the technology, 64% would use it more if it was safe/secure
Clara Shih, CEO of Salesforce AI, said, “This data shows just how quickly generative AI usage has taken off in less than a year. In my career, I’ve never seen a technology get adopted this fast. Now, for AI to truly transform how people live and work, organizations must develop AI that is rooted in trust and easily accessible for everyone to do more enjoyable, productive work.”
The report indicates that most generative AI users are younger:
- 65% of generative AI users are Millennials or Gen Z, and 72% are employed
- Nearly 6 in 10 users believe they are on their way to mastering the technology
- 70% of Gen Z report using the technology, and 52% trust it to help them make informed decisions
Amongst the older generations, there is scepticism:
- 68% of non-users are Gen X or Baby Boomers
- 88% are unclear on how generative AI will impact their life
- 40% say they aren’t familiar enough with the technology, and 32% say the technology is not useful for them
The report found that use cases are emerging, and there is a recognition that this new technology still has use cases to discover.
Unanet
Unanet published its GAUGE survey results. The report comprehensively analyses the government contracting community and offers invaluable insights and best practices to inform decision-making and drive success in the year ahead.
Key findings this year included the following:
- 72% of respondents expressed optimism about the GovCon business environment
- Identifying new revenue sources is a key business driver
- Revolutionizing resource management and forecasting are major value-adds for growing companies
- A centralized PMO model is now widely adopted by organizations, enabling effective project management and maximizing operational efficiency
- Over a third of respondents identified M&A as a priority for their company in 2023
Kim Koster, GAUGE Report co-author and Vice President of GovCon strategy for Unanet, said, “The GAUGE Report gives our industry unique insights into what keeps GovCons up at night, and increasingly we’re finding they need better predictions about the future so they can plan how and where to deploy their resources, talent, and energy.
“In addition to offering the most comprehensive annual look at the state of the GovCon industry, the report provides business leaders with ready-to-apply best practices to help them plot a prosperous course into the future.
“Because we have been surveying GovCons for seven years now, we can definitively say that project-based ERP and CRMs that enable compliance, security and sophisticated accounting drive better outcomes for GovCons. We can see the improvements GovCons reap, and the wins they achieve, after implementing modern technology tools.”
Xero
Xero published a report titled “Money Matters: The impact of Economic Conditions on the Cash Flow of US Small Businesses”. The report found that managing cash flow is the top priority for 85% of US owners. 48% see inflation as having a big impact on cash flow over the last 6 months. And 44% expect inflation to have an impact in the coming 6 months.
Key highlights included:
- The top short-term financial challenges small businesses have faced over the last 12 months were limited or inconsistent cash flow (40%) and no cash reserved for unforeseen challenges (29%)
- Cash flow issues also caused several consequences for small business owners, including not being able to pay themselves (45%) and pay bills (22%). 17% were unsure if they could keep the business going
- 58% believe cash flow issues have negatively impacted their well-being over the past 12 months. The top three impacts are stress (84%), anxiety (79%) and sleepless nights (64%)
The report also looks at companies’ strategies to mitigate cash flow issues. Ben Richmond, US Country Manager at Xero, said, “Digital technology plays a crucial role in daily cash flow management by helping businesses monitor cash coming in and out, and it can provide a snapshot on how the business is performing.
“Additionally, we know that customers who accept digital payments on Xero online invoices get paid up to twice as fast as those who don’t use online invoice payments. Getting these types of digital technologies in place can make a big difference to a business’ survival in tough times.”
