Research & Content.

Firstline workers—employees who are the first point of contact between organizations and their customers or who spend most of their time making products or managing operations—often have been an afterthought in many organizations’ digital transformation efforts. That is starting to change. Business leaders looking to increase the efficiency and effectiveness of their workforce are extending their digital efforts beyond what we typically think of as knowledge workers to include maintenance workers, shop clerks, nurses, flight attendants, electricians, baristas, store managers, and others. Indeed, the vast majority of respondents to a recent global survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services believe this will be essential to their organization’s success in the future.

Three very different organizations - a university, a hospital, and a sports entertainment business - are using the Internet of Things (IoT) to provide a better customer experience.... Lisa, a student at Deakin University in Melbourne, Australia, is running late to class. Knowing she’s not going to make it through that 8 AM lecture without coffee, she’s grateful when her phone pings as she’s approaching the cafeteria. Would she like her usual double-shot latte? She presses yes, and her order is placed, paid for, and waiting for her by the time she walks in the cafeteria door. As she runs into the poli-sci building, a message flashes on a nearby screen to tell her that her class has been moved to room 204 for today. This saves her at least three minutes, and she just makes it to class on time. This personalized student experience is made possible by Deakin’s use of sensors, location based services, predictive analytics, and artificial-intelligence-based agents. Deakin is not alone. Organizations in a variety of industries are leveraging the Internet of Things (IoT) and its underlying technologies to create a more compelling, engaged customer experience across the digital and physical worlds.

If digital disruption can be viewed as a wave sweeping over industries, most are in the crest of that wave or soon will be, according to new research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. A vast majority (80 percent) of the 783 survey respondents believe their industry will be disrupted by digital trends. And most of those (84 percent) said their industry has either passed the inflection point of disruption or will pass it by 2020—just three years away. However, just which businesses will be the winners and losers in this digital economy is still being determined. Companies that form their strategies now, shift resources to new digital initiatives, and redesign their organization and culture will have a distinct advantage. Digital transformation is real and widespread, and while not all organizations are ready for it, surprisingly most business leaders see this as an opportunity rather than a threat.

CEOs increasingly want their CIOs to help generate revenue for their organizations. Almost two thirds (64 percent) of the respondents to the 2017 Harvey Nash/KPMG CIO Survey of more than 4,600 CIOs say their CEO wants the information technology organization (IT) to focus on how to make money rather than save money. However, while shifting attention to the top line, CIOs still have to watch costs and balance them against likely returns. This requires a deep understanding of their organizations’ business and customer needs, as well as staying on top of the latest technology trends. CIOs who have experience running a P&L or a startup bring much-needed experience to this new role.

One of the most exciting developments of the digital economy is the ability to answer difficult questions and solve complex problems through the use of sophisticated tools. Cloud-based data and analytics platforms are a boon to organizations given the volume and variety of data, the speed with which a lot of data expires, and the variability of business people’s need to tap into particular data sources at any given time. Sponsored by IBM

A wave of disruption is threatening businesses around the world, as new entrants with structural cost advantages and a “digital first” culture spring up in a wide range of industries. The new competitors offer solutions that are often simpler, cheaper, or more convenient for customers. They display the ability to leverage digital technologies to understand the customer, sense market shifts, and innovate faster than the competition. Sponsored by IBM

In the connected economy, value is created through the technology-enabled links between people, machines, and organizations. But we are still in the early stages of the shift to the connected economy (CE). Less than a fifth of the roughly 700 respondents to a new global survey from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services say they employ CE business models, products, or processes to a significant extent today. But what exactly does it mean for a company to be among the CE leaders? Sponsored by IBM

Over the next three years, cloud services will penetrate deeper into organizations’ computing environments at an accelerated rate. Companies that take an ad hoc approach miss out on many of cloud’s benefits and experience a variety of pitfalls. In this guide, we provide a framework for taking a more strategic, planned approach to cloud while still moving quickly. Sponsored by Oracle

The shift to a digital economy is creating a talent crisis that is putting companies survival—and CIOs’ own careers—on the line. Competition for a finite pool of skilled technologists and IT leaders is sharply increasing as organizations of all types rely more heavily on digital technology. At the same time, the nature of the skills that organizations need in IT is changing. Sponsored by Red Hat

Customer experience (CX) has become a remarkably sophisticated discipline, according to new research from Harvard Business Review Analytic Services. Driven by tech-savvy customers, it requires new processes and organizational structures, and often the reorientation of an entire organization’s culture. Creating an extraordinary customer experience depends on having the right people and skills in place to deliver and the right technology—from the analytics that provide customer insight to the applications consumers “touch” to the networks that support them. Sponsored by Verizon

Digital business trends are having an enormous impact on organization’s business models and the central role of great software in their ability to compete. In fact, two-thirds of respondents to a recent survey say that their company’s future depends on the quality of their software.Sponsored by CA Technologies

Marketing has transformed from a largely one-way activity of sending information about products and services to an ongoing exchange of information and insight among buyers, sellers, prospects, and partners. Today, it is less about promotion and more about engagement. Sponsored by Salesforce