“Fundamentally, machine identities are now an organisation’s most powerful user, and unfortunately, the least controlled,” Raymond Dickinson, SailPoint New Zealand country manager, tells iStart.

Meanwhile, attackers are increasingly targeting them because they provide silent, powerful access into enterprise systems, Dickinson says.

“If you can’t see it, you can’t secure it.”

“Without strong machine identity governance, organisations unknowingly leave their highest privilege access points unprotected,” he says.

Modern businesses rely heavily on automation, cloud services and DevOps pipelines, all of which generate machine identities at scale. Every new integration spins up more service accounts and keys, often with excessive privileges – and that includes in the OT environment, not just IT. And unlike human identities, in many organisations there is no on-boarding or off-boarding process, no lifecycle management and no visibility into who owns them, or even where they are.

“When there is a lack of ownership, no one really cares about the thing, and you end up not putting in the right governance processes. If you can’t see it, you can’t secure it. With machine identities, which often have excessive privileges, that’s a real concern.”

Dickinson points to the SolarWinds Orion breach in 2020 and a 2021 Microsoft Exchange Server breach as key examples – among many – of breaches using machine identities.

In the case of the SolarWinds breach, which triggered a supply chain incident affecting thousands of organisations including government, defence and enterprise, attackers

infiltrated the SolarWinds software build environment. They then used machine identities to sign malicious code with SolarWinds’ legitimate code signing certificates, abuse automated build service accounts and push compromised software to 18,000+ organisations.

Similarly, the Microsoft Exchange Server breach exploited unmanaged service accounts and OAuth tokens to maintain insider access.

The incidents underscore a harsh reality for organisations: Machine identities are low hanging fruit for attackers. Once a breach occurs, reports suggest hackers actively hunt for these accounts because they know they are rarely monitored.

A business problem

Dickinson stresses that unmanaged machine identities are not just a technology problem, they’re a business risk, creating significant operational, financial, compliance and cybersecurity exposure. “Getting boardroom support on machine identity is always a challenge, but the conversation is about securing them as a business risk decision, not a technology decision.”

For boards and executives, the conversation needs to start and finish with risk: Protecting revenue, ensuring business continuity, meeting regulatory obligations, reducing operational costs and enabling safe AI adoption.

As organisations adopt AI and automation, the stakes rise even higher. Without strong machine identity governance, organisations risk undermining the very technologies designed to drive efficiency and innovation. (And a side note here: An AI agent, which performs multiple tasks rather than a single defined task, is different from a machine identity as defined in the market today.)

Good governance 101

So, what does good machine identity governance look like?

According to Dickinson, it’s very similar to human identity governance and the first step is gaining visibility.

“You have to have full visibility into all machine accounts and know exactly where they all are.”

A discovery scan can identify every machine across an organisation – service accounts, API keys, certificates, bots and workloads. Expect a shock. Dickinson says most organisations underestimate their machine identity volumes by five to 10x.

Assigning ownership and purpose for each identity follows.

Automating the lifecycle – from creation through modifying, rotating and retiring identities – is also needed, along with enforcing least privilege – just as you’d do with a human worker.

“It’s very common for these machine accounts to be given the holy grail of all access even though they don’t need that level of access, simply because giving them domain level access is an easy thing to do.”

Securing credentials and ensuring robust certificate management is key to good machine identity governance, along with continuous monitoring and anomaly detection.

And, Dickinson warns, there needs to be good integration across cloud, DevOps and automation workflows.

“Don’t just think about your on-prem, you have to think about cloud. And you’ve got to look at where a lot of these are created – in the DevOps process – and make sure they are all picked up in the early stages and follow good governance.”

Rounding out Dickinson’s list of ‘key fundamentals’ is having strong auditable compliance and certification processes to enable tracking and logging of what is happening.

“Once you start putting all these key fundamentals in, it reduces risk, supports automation better and prepares government agencies and enterprises for the next step, which is really around the AI-driven operations side.”

He warns too, that it’s not a quick fix. Full governance can take one to three years, requiring collaboration between IT, identity teams and business stakeholders. The payoff, though, is resilience, safer automation and readiness for future technology.

The post Why machine identities are your biggest cybersecurity blindspot appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

Rapid innovation cycles are shaping how organisations work. Agentic AI (systems that do tasks, not just answer questions) is already drafting contracts, triaging incidents and summarising risk. The upside is huge; the downside is that missteps can now travel just as quickly. What does this mean?

“Speed without trust is risky. Trust without speed is uncompetitive.”

Hype can blur what is possible, but the importance of trust as a foundational product feature remains vital. Customers and partners will favour trading with parties who protect privacy, keep terms secure and maintain compliance, without slowing down delivery. Trust has become a competitive edge.

The stakes have shifted

As AI tools migrate from “informational” to “operational,” stakes rise. Privacy goes from policy to daily habit. Security settings shift from an annual audit to a live status. Compliance evolves from manual reporting to automated assurance.

Traditional cybersecurity compliance can burn through weeks and five-figure invoices with every assessment cycle, but the model is changing as tools mature. Systems built on ISO 9001 (quality) and ISO 27001 (information security) foundations, with Essential Eight enforcement for Australian contexts and DISP alignment, area shifting organisations from monthly manual reporting to real-time conformance dashboards and live exception handling.

Organisations we’ve worked with have seen up to 90 percent reduction in compliance overhead while maintaining audit readiness, which has translated to more than $200,000 annual savings for organisations ~100 staff.

Of course, results vary by environment and scope, but the direction is clear: automation reduces friction without reducing rigour.

Real-time guardrails

Here is the paradox: the faster you adopt, the larger your vulnerability window, unless security and quality keep pace. Meanwhile, slow validation stacks (QA, compliance, approvals) can result in missed opportunities.

For the State Library of Queensland’s Virtual Veterans project, we built Charlie, a WWI conversational agent powered by our ISO 42001 AI management system. Charlie needed to maintain historical accuracy while resisting adversarial prompting.

The agent handled more than 10,000 attempted ‘prompt-injection’ attacks in the first 72 hours and managed over 50,000 interactions while keeping a stable character over the same period.

Where typical chat agents crack under pressure, Charlie held firm, keeping educational value and public trust. This wasn’t luck, it was the result of building guardrails into the system.

As you roll out a new AI model or business process, your systems should be re-designed to automatically validate security controls, while updating live dashboards so stakeholders see posture and progress as it happens.

That’s effectively what we do at ORCA Opti.

We help organisations turn heavy, manual compliance checks into automated ones, reducing the reporting burden whilst strengthening trust. The result is lower costs across audit cycles, fewer specialist bottlenecks and fewer surprises.

What clients gain is faster innovation cycles, lower overheads, higher quality with greater trust and clearer governance.

The practical playbook

AI has hit the fast-forward button but fundamentals still win: security, quality assurance and systematic implementation. With weekly or daily releases, your guardrails are effectively the brake or accelerator. Many teams either move too fast without governance or freeze from overthinking “new” risks.

Actionable startpoints

• Make trust a KPI. Track privacy, IP protection and audit readiness alongside delivery speed.
• Shrink the stack. Consolidate overlapping tools to reduce complexity and attack surface.
• Automate checks. Map controls to the standards you’re held to (ISO 27001, Essential Eight) and automate conformance evidence.
• Go live with dashboards. Replace static monthly reports with live posture views.
• Red-team your AI. Run routine prompt-injection and jailbreak tests; treat it like security hygiene.
• Ship smaller, observe more. Release in increments; validate in minutes; iterate with confidence.

The path forward

Speed without trust is risky. Trust without speed is uncompetitive. The winners will master both, using guardrails to unlock, not block, innovation.

In practice, this means building systems where privacy, security and compliance are baked into everyday operations, not bolted on afterwards. It means secure, policy-aware conversational workflows for contract drafting, incident triage and SOP guidance. Real-time dashboards that provide conformance, incidents and risk data ready for stakeholders and auditors. Continuous monitoring of AI for integrity. Threat monitoring and incident response aligned to compliance objectives.

For organisations ranging from SMEs through to regulated industries in education, health and defence, the opportunity is the same: start small, automate the basics and scale controls as you grow.

About the Author 

Kathryn has over two decades of experience driving innovation at companies including Microsoft and Amazon. She has served on the audit and risk committee of one of Australia’s largest superannuation funds and on boards of ASX-listed and private businesses as a trusted adviser on risk, compliance, and digital transformation.

The post Move fast and don’t break trust appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

In this region we’ve seen supply chain interruptions, stock shortages, cost pressures, consumer price sensitivities and regulatory scrutiny. At the same time, there’s been rapid advancements in technology, particularly concerning AI and automation.

Globally, the loyalty programs of some grocery chains have provided increased resilience in uncertain times.

AI-fuelled personalisation

Personalisation has been an enduring goal for grocers, and for good reason. It’s a path to delight customers, encourage engagement, and drive financial performance.

Personalisation also allows grocers to allocate their marketing and promotional spending more efficiently by presenting discounts to those customers most likely to be motivated by them.

Grocery retailers have a unique advantage here, given the amount of data generated across the high number of SKUs in their inventory and the frequency of customer visits. With a modern loyalty program, they have all the data they need to tailor offers to individual customers.

Boston Consulting Group (BCG) estimates that personalisation leaders will experience US$570 billion in global growth by 2030. On the ground, several well-recognised grocers are seeing significant financial returns from advanced personalisation strategies.

UK supermarket chain Tesco delivers personalised customer experiences through its popular Clubcard program. Tesco’s latest trading statement reports that there are more than 23 million Clubcard households in the UK and that Clubcard sales penetration was 82% in the UK and 87% in Central Europe. There are also 16.3 million Tesco app users, with visits to the app increasing year-over-year.

This number of digitally connected customers allowed Tesco to launch a personalisation initiative driven by gamification: Clubcard Challenges. This program offers customer personalised, goal-oriented challenges over six-week campaigns, with points rewards offered for completing challenges like spending £20 on certain line or range of products over the period.

Clubcard Challenges uses AI to tailor thresholds for each participant, based on past purchase history and preferences, which are then analysed and processed by predictive AI algorithms.

During the Christmas-themed Challenges campaign of 2024, 10 million customers received their own personalised set of Clubcard Challenges. Of all customers who visited the Clubcard Challenges site or pages, 76% converted into players. Sixty-two percent of all players reached the first reward threshold, becoming winners. Those winners collected over half a billion extra Clubcard points over the campaign period.

The scheme helped Tesco’s H1 24/25 overall adjusted operating profit to increase 15.6% over 2023 to £1.65 billion.

ANZ behind

While modern, AI-driven personalisation, gamification and omnichannel engagement are transforming grocery loyalty globally, these approaches represent somewhat untapped opportunities in the Australian and New Zealand markets. While the true-personalisation sector is still young, ANZ retailers that implement such strategies have an opportunity to create a compelling advantage.

In addition to building resilience to market challenges, the key message grocery retailers need to pay attention to is the profitability of personalisation when backed with robust data and smart execution.

The best grocery loyalty programs are designed around personalisation driving bottom-line results. Gamification as an end to itself has diminishing returns, but when designed with purpose, it can be an incredibly valuable and ROI-delivering tool.

The success of any omnichannel loyalty initiative is directly proportionate to the volume of customers that participate in its digital channels. More eyeballs equals more engagement, bigger baskets and bigger media opportunity.

Australian and New Zealand grocery brands that apply these lessons across 2025-26 can make a real difference. Success, as ever, will rest on focusing on programs that customers find valuable, practical, engaging and effective.

Read more insights in Eagle Eye’s latest grocers’ ebook, Loyalty Lessons That Will Shape 2025.

About The Author

Jonathan Reeve is VP for Eagle Eye APAC, responsible for helping retailers in the region develop and implement digital marketing programs to drive customer acquisition, interaction and retention. He’s also the author of Retail’s Last Mile: Why Online Shopping Will Exceed Our Wildest Predictions.

The post AI opportunity for ANZ grocery loyalty appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

The report provides a thorough and well-thought-out framework but how can brands put these ideas into practice? Are there real-world examples of companies already using these principles to personalise their loyalty programs?

“A concept that will achieve for marketing what “near me” did for search”

While the report includes quotes from the companies Forrester interviewed, it is worth taking a closer look at real-life loyalty in action and the technology required to make it work.

The examples herein showcase how these brands’ approaches align with critical elements within Forrester’s framework.

The customer value exchange

Forrester describes four distinct types of value that brands can deliver to customers, collectively called the “customer value exchange.” Each type can be enhanced by personalisation:

● Economic: Offering financial incentives such as points, discounts, or cashback

● Functional: Providing tailored product and service recommendations

● Experiential: Creating personalised experiences that cater to members’ unique needs

● Symbolic: Demonstrating customer appreciation through status recognition or exclusive rewards

A loyalty program’s ability to pull these levers—to deliver each of these types of value for every customer—depends on the capabilities of its technology platform. A platform that connects data across every touchpoint, allows for flexible offer creation and deployment and enables the execution of machine learning and predictive AI at scale, is essential.

Points for customers

Canadian grocery group Loblaw’s PC Optimum program is an one example of how personalisation can enhance all facets of the customer value exchange. Its PC Health program rewards members with PC Optimum points for building healthy habits, completing tailored programs, and participating in special offers. The approach combines economic value (earning points) with experiential value (access to relevant health-related services and support), creating a deeper connection with members.

Meanwhile, the subscription-based PC Insiders program, which is growing at an impressive 11 percent per quarter, adds symbolic value for loyal members. Across the PC Optimum ecosystem, personalised offers and recommendations cater to members’ everyday needs, delivering the functional value that keeps over 16 million members engaged and coming back. It’s a prime example of a loyalty program successfully activating all four dimensions of customer value.

Gamification

According to Forrester’s report, the success of an omnichannel loyalty experience is influenced by how well personalisation tactics operate across the four “depths:” segmentation, discrete interactions, customer journeys, and anticipatory or contextual moments. Loyalty-integrated gamification, such as Carrefour’s Challenges or Tesco’s Clubcard Challenges, showcase two of the personalisation “depths” identified by Forrester: customer-determined journeys and discrete interactions. Through these initiatives, customers shape their own journey as they progress through the game, while customized thresholds act as the critical moments of interaction that nudge them towards a desired action or specific behavior—in this case, additional purchases.

Both examples utilise the retailers’ loyalty program and app and the first-party data they generate to create tailored thresholds for individual participants. These thresholds are based on insights from past purchase history, preferences, and other data points, which are analysed and processed by predictive AI to prompt specific actions. The outcome is a highly personalised and scalable form of customer engagement, delivering strong results for both.

Marketing in the moment

As the Forrester report describes, contextual understanding and anticipating customer needs represent the “deepest and most challenging depth of program personalisation.” At Eagle Eye, we call this approach Marketing in the Moment, a concept that will achieve for marketing what

“near me” did for search. This approach allows retailers to influence customer behavior as it happens in real-time—during the search, browsing and discovery phases of shopping.

However, to successfully implement Marketing in the Moment, retailers need the technical infrastructure to analyse contextual triggers, such as external factors like weather, to instantly deliver personalised offers and communications. This capability must extend across all shopping environments—whether the customer is in a physical, digital or hybrid (click & collect) setting.

Tech buy-in

The Forrester report acknowledges that while most platforms support data collection and analytics to some extent, “only some loyalty platforms will offer advanced features for personalisation execution, like next-best-offer decisioning and journey orchestration.”

If brands want to engage their most loyal customers in meaningful ways consistently, these capabilities are essential.

However, putting these strategies into practice, as demonstrated by the retailers already executing personalised loyalty at a high level, requires more than just commitment and buy-in.

It demands a technology platform and partner capable of delivering on the promises of personalised loyalty to activate the inherent value within their loyalty programs.

[About the author]

Sarah Jarvis is communications and propositions director for loyalty platform provider Eagle Eye which executes more than 850 million personalised offers every week for retailers such as Asda, Tesco, Waitrose and the Woolworths Group. She has worked with some of the world’s largest retailers and FMCG brands to help them drive profitable growth through customer insights and loyalty. She co-authored Omnichannel Retail: How to Build Winning Stores in a Digital World.

The post Personalising loyalty the new frontier for retail tech appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

The GDPR and California’s Consumer Privacy Act (CCPA), launched in 2020, set new standards for data privacy, limiting how businesses collect, store and use sensitive consumer data.

“This transition will necessitate changes in targeted advertising practices.”

In Australia, the Attorney-General’s Department has put forward 116 proposals to amend the Privacy Act, with the federal government already agreeing or agreeing in principle to all but 10 of the proposals. Legislation is expected to be introduced and passed quickly in the coming months, signalling a rapid shift in the regulatory landscape.

Key changes and their impact on customer data

At the heart of these changes is an expanded definition of Personally Identifiable Information (PII). This broader interpretation will likely include modern forms of personal data such as location information, IP addresses and device identifiers. It may even extend to inferred information about an individual’s preferences or predicted behaviours.

For brands, these changes signify a shift away from reliance on third-party data and towards a greater focus on first-party data. This transition will necessitate changes in targeted advertising practices. For instance, social media platforms such as Facebook and TikTok can no longer simply check which users meet specific demographic criteria and push ads to their feeds based on third-party data. Instead, they must rely on first-party data and more sophisticated targeting methods.

Learning from privacy predecessors

While the transition may seem challenging, Australian brands can learn valuable lessons from their counterparts in the United States and Europe, who have already adapted to similar regulations.

Many businesses have successfully pivoted by utilising conversion APIs and developing robust first-party data strategies. For instance, instead of relying on cross-context behavioural data, companies are now targeting ads based on information voluntarily provided by users on specific platforms.

The state of preparedness

Recent studies indicate that many Australian brands are underprepared for these changes.

A recent survey by Arktic Fox revealed only 29 percent of marketing, digital, and ecommerce leaders believe their organisations are effective at activating data to deliver impressive customer experiences. Even fewer (22 percent) are confident in their organisation’s data management and maintenance practices.

This lack of readiness is concerning, given the potential consequences of non-compliance.

The Office of the Australian Information Commissioner (OAIC) has flagged that it will impose fines of up to $2.2 million for each contravention on organisations that fail to meet the new standards.

Moreover, the Australian Community Attitudes to Privacy Survey 2023 found that data privacy is the third most important factor for consumers when choosing a product or service, after quality and price. A staggering 92 percent of respondents said they would like businesses to do more to protect their personal information.

The role of customer data platforms

This is where Customer Data Platforms (CDPs) come into play.

They are designed to help brands navigate the complexities of new privacy rules by consolidating data from multiple sources into a single, manageable platform. This consolidation allows for the maintenance of accurate consumer profiles while facilitating compliance with consent management and data minimisation policies.

A well-implemented CDP can streamline the application of governance policies across all data types and sources. It simplifies the tracking and management of customer consent for data collection and use, making it easier for businesses to ensure their customer data activities comply with legal requirements.

Furthermore, CDPs can be configured to retain only the data that can be lawfully used and only for the period stipulated by privacy regulations.

Choosing the right CDP

When selecting a CDP, brands should look for features that facilitate easy compliance with privacy obligations while still allowing for the construction of rich customer profiles. The ideal CDP should also integrate seamlessly with existing tools and technologies.

Key features to look for include:

– Creates a unified customer view

– Usable and accessible data across the organisation

– Easy integration with other tools and platforms

– Orchestrates audiences across activation tools

– Supports cross-channel measurement

– Stays safe and compliant with changing regulations

– Performs at the scale and pace of customer data

As Australia moves towards stricter privacy laws, investing in a reliable CDP is becoming crucial for brands. This investment will enable them to build comprehensive customer profiles while ensuring compliance with upcoming regulations.

By taking this proactive approach, Australian brands can avoid the potential financial and reputational damages associated with non-compliance while also meeting the growing consumer expectation for better data protection.

A new frontier for customer trust

The shift towards stricter privacy rules presents an opportunity for businesses to build trust with customers by demonstrating a commitment to data protection. As the privacy landscape continues to evolve, those who embrace these changes and adopt the right tools, such as CDPs, will be best positioned to thrive in this new era of data privacy.

About the Author

Billy Loizou is are VP APAC for Amperity, a lakehouse CDP. He has 15-plus years in design, technology and marketing, helping some of the world’s most renowned and respected brands improve their customer experience and drive profitability.

The post How to navigate tightening privacy regulations appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

“Too many people are still not in-the-know about smart forms.”

Let’s take a look at what’s going on, why, and the next generation in data collection.

The Old World

When I was a little kid, I thought it must be terribly tough being a grown up. I would see my dad hunched over the kitchen table, all red-faced and crotchety, shuffling papers and huffing.

There were three things he hated most: Paying bills, tax time and filling out forms.

Things are much easier now 50 years later with streamlined bill payment and tax management, but somehow forms are still basically the same as they were back then!

Admittedly, PDF fillable forms and webforms offer some improvement with a more digital interaction, but they are still basically the same thing, just digital. Not particularly smart.

I don’t get as frustrated with forms as my dad, but it does feel ridiculous repeatedly filling out the same information already known to the business, such as my address details. Could they not be more ‘grown up’ as a business and provide a more mature experience?

Static webforms and PDF forms provide poor customer experiences that lead to form abandonment. Customers are often required to self-navigate choose-your-own-adventure forms. And with the likelihood of forms being completed incorrectly, they trigger customer service follow-ups about 50-70 percent of the time.

The New World

Smart forms arose from reimagining the data collection process.

What if you could make the process much easier and more natural, like a human conversation or interview?

What if you could create a dynamic journey that adapts according to existing information and answers provided?

What if you could connect to other services (like MyGov, Medicare, VicRoads, ID services, etc) to collect or verify data, so the customer doesn’t need to?

What if the data collection process were as smooth and simple for the customer as technologically possible?

Unsurprisingly, it turns out to yield far superior results.

Here are the results from case studies with Westpac, ANZ Bank, ATO, Telstra, Sydney Water, Lloyds Banking, ADF, NAB, Suncorp, and Origin Energy, among others, when they switched from PDF to smart forms:

Despite such clear and unambiguous outcomes, about 50 percent of financial businesses are still hanging their hats on PDF forms. Too many people are still not in-the-know about smart forms, even though they first emerged 20 years ago. But once you cross over, there is no looking back. It’s a new life with a new level of power and possibility at your fingertips.

Key Differences, Benefits, and Use Cases

You can capture the key differentiators and benefits in this snapshot overview:

When considering where and when to use this kind of technology, the key target areas for improvement in any business are downloadable forms that need to be printed and signed, PDF fillable forms, static (non-dynamic) webforms and mission-critical business processes, anything ripe for automation and straight-through processing (such as onboarding, servicing, renewals).

But why should you be talking to me first, rather than any other smart forms provider?

I’m glad you asked.

We have the next-gen market disruptor in smart forms technology. It is a leap ahead of all other solutions with unique, patented capabilities.

Among our key main differentiators are:

• Patented NanoSites technology which completely reimagines digital data collection. For example your people can create forms on-the-fly and send them to customers via SMS or email with QR codes prepopulated with data so the customer only needs to click one button to close or accept that call to action. It’s PCI compliant as well.
• Low code, no code and can be deployed in hours/days.
• The technology is built on an IDE. You can flexibly build apps with it, tailored to suit.
• Elegant drag-and-drop workflow and journey builder for easier development so users are more productive.
• As much or as little as you need. It can extend and enhance existing investments or completely retire significant amounts of digital debt
• Complex technological hurdles resolved – uniquely achieved by our team for this solution
• Great feedback. Described as “exceeded our initial expectations”, “presents significant potential,” “offers widespread benefits,” and “could prove extremely valuable” by a Business Analyst we recently showed it to.

It’s only a matter of time before everyone has seen the light and only laggards are left to play catchup. It’s like when my dad was so resistant to switching his dumbphone for a smartphone. It took ages getting him to budge. But now he’s on it, he’s delighted! When you move to smart forms, you will be too.

There’s plenty of money left on the table for savvy businesses to pick up and stay at the forefront, reaping the benefits.

Russ Townsend is Senior Solutions Executive, A/NZ, for Cincom Systems, helping A/NZ organisations with high volume customer communications needs to improve their communication performance.

If you would like to contact Russ, please get in touch here.

rtownsend@cincom.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/russtownsend/.

The post What’s Behind the Smart Forms Revolution? appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

He sat down to discuss how the region can transform given rapid advancements in genAI.

Gen AI: The Catalyst for Digital Transformation

According to McKinsey’s new report, Generative AI and the future of work in Australia, “Australia’s economy has proved robust through challenging times, and shifts from genAI could unlock benefits for Australia – including higher job demand and productivity. However, this potential may only be realised if employers, governments, and educators are able to adopt the technology in a bold and thoughtful way.”

Slager believes the way to do this is to go all in.

“Dive in. You always want to be investing in these things before you feel like you have to. Channel your most confident self, lean in and avoid all the excuses.”

He says genAI, in particular, is, in many ways, a catalyst for digital transformation.

“Our AmpAi platform gives people the excuse to lean in a little bit more in their digital transformation. Some brands don’t feel that digital transformation is something they must engage in to survive here. It isn’t 100 percent necessary to their survival at this time.

“But when they see what’s possible with this technology, it almost forces them to ask themselves a follow up question, which is, ‘do I really want to not be doing this? This feels like a really important thing’.”

“AmpAi makes it easier for them to give themselves permission to really dive in,” Slager continues. “The people who do that will be rewarded for that in the medium term because the reality is, if they don’t do it, they risk falling behind. Diving in now will be an accelerator, and if they don’t make the leap, their competition will.”

Slager’s three key takeaways for Aussie innovators

From his meetings on the ground, Slager distilled three key takeaways. They are:

The struggle to achieve a unified data foundation isn’t unique: When I talk to a customer in the US or in Europe or somewhere else – they all have the same problem. They’re all struggling to have a unified data foundation. Yet, in all of these conversations, they tend to think that their problem is unique. But it’s not unique at all. They have the same problems as everybody else. This problem is ubiquitous and spans the globe.
The one exception to this rule is the role that the Australian Privacy Principles play. This is certainly impacting how Australian brands think about and approach data management and privacy.

There’s less pressure to digitise in Australia: Australia is a smaller market with a smaller number of players. So digital feels a little bit less essential here. It doesn’t feel like you have to digitally transform to survive – yet.
For example, one popular Aussie retailer is very well liked by consumers, but it’s been a bit tepid in its steps forward on digital. In a market like this, it has that luxury – but that’s going to change. Recognising this and the importance of a clean data foundation, it’s taking steps now to be more proactive for the future.

AI is top of mind: AI is on people’s minds here as much as it’s on people’s minds everywhere else. It was very clear that a lot of people are asking questions about what this means for their business and what it means for their tech stack and the world, in general. I certainly saw AI front and centre in all of my conversations.

About the Author

Derek Slager is the co-founder and CTO of Amperity, a leading customer data platform for enterprise consumer brands, designed to give marketers and analysts access to accurate, consistent and comprehensive customer data.

The post Amperity CTO talks Aussie innovation, GenAI and digital transformation appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

To counter that, the parking industry has been working on making the extraction of parking fees as painless as it possibly can be to encourage compliance and deliver convenience in return for a dollar (or nineteen) spent.

Recent shifts in consumer behaviour have added urgency to the need for industry transformation.

Factors such as e-commerce diverting shoppers from physical stores, flexible work arrangements reducing daily commutes, and the convenience of ride-hailing services have collectively spurred the industry to adapt.

It’s a highly competitive environment where the players are striving for customer-centric changes to build loyalty.

In a recent fireside chat, Rick Chandra, CIO of Secure Parking, spoke with Jeremiah Stone, CTO of SnapLogic about how the two are partnering to take the grudge out of parking.

Parking disruptions

Until relatively recently, operating a car-parking company was straightforward. You found a vacant bit of land, installed a gate and had motorists hand a ‘parking fee’ to a car-park attendant or put their card in a machine before leaving the land you owned or leased. The machines were almost always sourced from a third-party equipment supplier, which added more overheads. The barriers to entry (pun intended) were relatively small, but the operating costs were significant.

“Understanding the customer journey to its fullest extent is absolutely critical”

Of course, this low-tech approach had downsides, not least motorists often having to spend significant time and effort finding a free slot in first-come-first-served carparks.

All car-parking businesses have had to evolve, but few have gone as far as Australia’s Secure Parking.

Voyager launch

Imagine you are part of a traditional, low-profile, grudge-purchase industry that you believe will inevitably be disrupted by sophisticated technologies. You fear that if you don’t take the initiative and disrupt your own business, a new industry entrant or existing competitor will eat your lunch sooner or later. What do you do?

Secure Parking CEO Rick Chandra honed-in on the importance of understanding his customers’ journeys.

“Understanding the customer journey to its fullest extent is absolutely critical when innovating product lines to take to the market. One of the first things we looked at was, ‘What is the actual journey that a customer takes with Secure Parking?’

“That’s everything from the point of departure all the way to entry into our car parks. [How] they behave and interact with us as an organisation, and at our sites.”

Unsurprisingly, Chandra and his team discovered those busy Australians willing to pay for parking wanted almost everything about parking, especially accessing it, to be more user-friendly and less time-consuming. Many of Secure Parking’s sites now offer benefits that make entering and exiting car parks that little bit smoother and quicker.

Secure Parking embarked on a program they named Voyager, partnering with a local Australian manufacturer to build hardware from the ground up.

Chandra then engaged with digital partner SnapLogic to integrate a remote car-park management system, booking and financial platforms, data lake and CRM into the company’s legacy systems.

“Car parks look simple, but they are complex environments, with the challenge of dealing with legacy technology. Integrating that legacy technology with a new website, new digital platform and new mobile applications, including [third-party apps] like Apple CarPlay and Android Auto, was always going to be crucial to the success of Voyager.”

The partnership extends to back-office solutions. “Voyager has very sophisticated back-office ERP systems, which we’ve developed with SnapLogic to support our customers and also to support our car parks,” Chandra says. “These systems cover everything from customer data to financial data and allow our car parks to be operated remotely.”

Trip to the future

Voyager has proven a great success, but Chandra is now looking at future opportunities. “We need to finish rolling out Voyager to all of Secure Parking’s Australian sites,” Chandra shares. “After that, our global parent company may roll it out in other regions.”

Chandra’s cautiously optimistic about leveraging generative AI to provide Australian motorists with an even more agreeable parking experience. “Secure Parking collects an immense amount of data about our customers’ preferences and behaviours,” he observes. By feeding that trove of data into the right AI, Chandra hopes to make getting around town near effortless.

In fact, he sees a future where Secure Parking can potentially use AI predictive models to literally map customer journeys, ascertaining when Secure Parking customers need to enter and exit one or more of its sites. For Chandra, it’s a chance to “redefine the whole experience”, albeit with ethical considerations paramount.

“It’s about delivering value to customers without sacrificing their security and privacy in the process,” he says.

Disrupting from within

Chandra has two pieces of advice for anyone embarking on a large-scale digital transformation program before they attract potential disruptors’ attention.

First, pick the right partners – particularly the right technology partners.

“Having the right technology partner, one that the Secure Parking team could work well with, was absolutely critical to the successful delivery of the Voyager program,” Chandra says. “Part of the success of Voyager comes down to SnapLogic’s involvement.”

Unfortunately, ensuring your team and partners have the required skills only gets you part of the way.

Hence Chandra’s second piece of advice: make sure everyone involved in the project is sufficiently inspired by the vision to bulldoze through the obstacles they will encounter.

“If you aspire to deliver a program of any size and complexity, you need to have a vision,” Chandra says. “It has to be a collective vision shared by not just the employees of your business but by any partners you bring in.

With its partners, Secure Parking was building new hardware, new software and new digital platforms and then attempting to integrate them with old hardware, software and digital platforms. Everybody involved needed the passion to see a large, complex project through to the end. I certainly saw that passion, not just from my team but across the board, including SnapLogic’s team.”

Watch the interview with Chandra on demand here.

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AI-powered chatbots and virtual financial assistants will provide personalised, 24/7 support to customers. Initially, these are likely to be focused on low-level decisions offering instant responses to lower-risk queries and guiding customers through basic financial decisions.

“CBDCs will enable governments to directly manage fiscal policies.”

However, once these systems have robust internal data to train their AI bots further, they will become increasingly powerful, analysing vast datasets to offer tailored financial or investment advice.

For internal finance teams, risk assessments for loans are likely to become near-instantaneous and, over time, sophisticated products will enjoy automated decision-making.

AI will also play a pivotal role in fraud detection and prevention, quickly identifying anomalies and security threats in real-time, and bolstering the security of digital transactions.

Convenient digital currency

The use of notes and coins had been declining, but this accelerated with the pandemic. Concerns over the spreading of the virus meant cash handling quickly transitioned to digital payments. Traditional cash transactions are expected to further diminish as digital wallets and digital currencies become more prevalent. This shift will usher in greater convenience, transparency, and security for consumers and businesses alike.

According to the ongoing CBDC tracker from the Atlantic Council, 130 countries across the globe are already exploring Central Bank Digital Currencies or CBDCs. These countries currently represent 98 percent of global GDP.  CBDC’s are digital currencies issued by governments, for example, the digital AUD which is currently in the pilot stage with the RBA.

CBDCs, through their ability to be digitally programmed have the potential to provide governments with the ability to manage economies in near real-time if deployed across a digital landscape.
CBDCs can link directly to your identity and, in time, almost certainly your government records. While the issue of privacy will be an inhibiting factor in the rollout of CBDCs, in principle, CBDCs will enable governments to directly manage fiscal policies, leveraging our various digital identities. For example, different interest rates can be offered to different demographics – say for example to encourage Gen-Z or ‘Zoomers’ to save more by offering higher rates of interest rates, whereas negative interest rates might be used to encourage spending from Boomers.
CBDCs will tend to make payments more secure and will play a pivotal role in the global financial landscape. These government-backed digital currencies will be integrated into everyday transactions, both domestically and internationally easing the ability to do business internationally.

Instant international transfers

The international banking system has been slow to adapt to the digital environment over the past 10 years with international transactions still taking days, and even weeks, to be processed today. The legacy international banking systems are outdated and can still even involve manual transactions. With the advent of CBDCs, new international payment tools, typically backed by blockchain-styled technologies, will see international transactions undergo a digital revolution. Cross-border transactions are likely to progressively become instantaneous and more secure. This will reduce inefficiencies and significantly reduce the costs of doing international business.

Mobile payments the ‘New Norm’

Payments via mobile phones will become the global standard, especially in developing countries. The increased use of smartphones will drive financial inclusion, enabling even the current unbanked population, estimated by the World Bank at 1.4bn people, to access and participate in the global economy, creating rafts of new opportunities and delivering empowerment to disenfranchised populations.

Fighting financial crime

As financial transactions become increasingly digital, financial crime will surge exponentially. Cybercriminals are already adapting to exploit new vulnerabilities. With easy access to AI tools scammers can now more efficiently craft their scam emails; and leveraging voice-cloning they can even create fake audio calls.  The ongoing game of cat and mouse will constantly shift and increasingly AI-driven security measures will be the first line of defence.

Blurring lines between banking and tech

The lines between banking and technology companies will become increasingly blurred. Banks are already beginning to transform into technology companies, leveraging AI, blockchain, and other digital technologies to deliver innovative financial services. Conversely, technology companies will want to leverage their extensive customer bases and venture into banking services, striving to provide seamless and integrated financial services to their customers. We first saw this in 2019 with Facebook’s attempt to create a global digital currency with Diem.

Banking sector consolidation

The banking sector will undergo consolidation as banks adapt, or fail to adapt, to the evolving landscape. Those banks that fail to embrace technological advancements are likely to face challenges, leading to failures and acquisitions. Those with enhanced technology will win the ongoing battle.

International regulatory cooperation

International regulators will increasingly collaborate to combat cybersecurity threats and will work closely together to establish global standards for regulation. In an interconnected digital world, unified efforts are vital to safeguarding the entire financial system and the data of all involved.

Conclusion

The future of digital finance promises a dynamic and transformative landscape, driven by the ever-increasing power of AI.

As digital currencies, CBDCs, instantaneous international transfers, mobile payments, and increased financial inclusion take centre stage, the role of AI will become even more critical in ensuring security, efficiency, and innovation.

To thrive in this evolving landscape, all companies, financial institutions and fintechs need to positively embrace change. There will be a raft of opportunities for smoother international business in a financial ecosystem that is more accessible, secure, and integrated, benefiting consumers and businesses alike.

About the Author

Abid Ali is Founder & CEO at SpendConsole where he is integrating AI to transform Accounts Payable technology in both private and public sectors.

The post Trends in digital finance appeared first on iStart leading the way to smarter technology investment..

With nearly all (98.9%) of customer interactions now taking place via apps or online in Australia, this transformation provides financial institutions with a unique opportunity to use data to improve customer loyalty and drive growth.

“Legacy systems are not well-equipped to handle the volume and complexity of customer data”

Banks are sitting on a goldmine of untapped potential – first-party data that unlocks insights into customers’ needs and preferences. This data is the key to anticipating consumers’ needs and improving digital experiences, replacing a reliance on third-party cookies to target marketing efforts.

Let’s take a look at how to maximise the impact of first-party data to remain competitive, serve customers and grow revenue.

‘First’ things first: Collect the right data

Financial institutions must be aware that digital advertising is on the verge of a significant disruption due to the impending deprecation of third-party cookies. Traditionally, third-party cookies were the easiest way to secure customer insights and deliver personalised marketing outcomes. However, their value will soon diminish, and internal marketing, technology and data teams will be left to identify alternative ways to gather and act on customer preferences.

Without third-party cookies, banks will have limited access to customer data from external sources, making it harder to deliver personalised ads and marketing campaigns. Though third-party data collection is becoming a thing of the past, banks can invest more into gathering and organising customer data with new tools and cutting-edge platforms.

By using data that customers entrust to their banking provider, such as transaction history, product and service usage data, credit histories and customer service trends, banks can ensure that their efforts remain effective and compliant with new privacy restrictions.

First-party data, when collected and used ethically and securely, allows financial institutions to optimise their marketing strategy and better serve their customers.

Invest in the Right Technology

Though the financial sector has tried to modernise for decades, many financial institutions still operate on legacy systems that are not well-equipped to handle the volume and complexity of customer data. These systems often create incomplete data, which results in fragmented customer journeys, inaccurate information and a lack of real-time insights to inform business decisions. Additionally, increasingly stringent regulations, such as Australia’s Privacy overhaul, introduce an element of complexity for businesses to manage customer data and pose challenges in terms of data compliance.

Banks often rely on legacy systems for most processes, including marketing efforts. These outdated systems can struggle to resolve a unique identity across financial products and platforms. Leading banking and financial service providers have invested in a Customer Data Platform (CDP) to help resolve this issue. CDPs serve as invaluable tools for ensuring compliance with various data protection regulations, vital to enhancing both consumer trust and brand integrity. But beyond that, they allow financial institutions to aggregate and cleanse data to identify actionable insights and drive tangible results for their business.

These platforms also empower banks to tailor experiences to different customer segments. For instance, by analysing first-party data, banks can gain deep insights into their customers’ personal circumstances. This allows them to predict major life milestones that might prompt financial needs, such as buying a home, purchasing a new car or requiring additional lines of credit.

At the same time, the institution can use its data to better meet the needs of younger, digital-native customers – which is especially important with Gen Z and Gen Alpha burgeoning as a significant segment of the consumer market. And given how simple it is for consumers to switch banks, routinely providing relevant, timely offers along with personalised digital services are imperatives that banks can’t ignore.

Single Source of Truth

Creating a “single source of truth” with a CDP means building a central, unified repository of all customer-related data. It helps navigate privacy and compliance regulations while resolving the complexities associated with customers using multiple identifiers, such as various email addresses or phone numbers. By consolidating various identifiers into one comprehensive customer profile, a CDP enables more accurate targeting, personalised communication, improved customer service, and more effective strategies to attract and retain customers.

However, the efficiency of this process heavily depends on the sophistication of the CDP, the quality of the data integration and the protocols used for data privacy and security. With the wide range of capabilities available across CDPs, banks should look for the features that align best with their specific business goals, the size and skill set of their team, their data privacy obligations and the other tools already in their tech stack.

About the Author

Billy Loizou is Area Vice President for Amperity. With 15-plus year’s experience in design, technology and marketing he has worked with some of the world’s most respected brands, helping improve customer experience and drive profitability.

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Yet, in recent years, AI has made significant strides, moving quickly from science fiction to an integral part of our daily lives. According to a NewVantage Partners report, more than 91 per cent of leading businesses say they have ongoing investments in AI. Corporate leaders also view AI as an essential tool, with 86 per cent of CEOs reporting that AI is a mainstream technology in their organisation.

I recently enjoyed a panel discussion with Vinesh Venugopal, director of digital technology at Colonial First State to explore this new landscape, discussing the necessity of adaptability, proactive approaches and understanding the human-AI partnership.

All about AI

AI, as a concept, has been around for quite some time. Venugopal shares popular streaming service Netflix as an example. He says, “More than 75 per cent of the movies that people watch are based on recommendations that Netflix provides. That’s AI.

“Google search is the same. By the time you complete typing the sentence, it’s already worked out what you’re trying to get to behind the scenes. It’s there to make your life easier.”

AI is about using machines to make decisions, determine next best actions and provide some automation around intelligence because of that. The machine learning aspect is the way that the machines can take huge amounts of data and look for patterns, correlation and data points within it to be able to train a model and continue to retrain itself. This allows the AI that sits on top of machine learning to make some decisions based upon what the model is reflecting.

What’s changed most recently is the generative aspect of AI, with large language models. And ChatGPT being the one most people are familiar with. We’re starting to see models that have billions and trillions of parameters that the model can be trained upon. So it’s termed generative because it’s now able to produce content, rather than just make a decision or calculation or infer something.

Most people use it for writing content and producing white papers. Others ask it to draft wedding speeches or craft a message for their nine-year-old niece’s birthday card. It’s incredibly good at producing new content. And therein lies a lot of the fear around generative AI.

Is AI going to take my job?

For content producers, including artists and individuals in the field of marketing, the rise of AI introduces both opportunities and challenges. When Henry Ford rolled out the first car, it rendered most farriers jobs obsolete.

AI is poised to have a similar impact on specific roles. AI excels at tasks that involve data collection, collation and content summarisation, offering unmatched speed and cost-saving advantages. It is easy to see how this could lead to the automation of roles that were previously reliant on manual or repetitive work.

In this evolving landscape, the key lies in recognising that AI’s role is multifaceted. While it has the potential to replace certain roles, it also acts as a valuable complement to human expertise in many domains. Like your own personal copilot, AI can alleviate the mundane and repetitive tasks from your day. This then liberates you to focus on more creative and complex aspects of your work.

Transforming the workplace with AI

Consequently, while the workforce may transform, the human-AI partnership is likely to redefine and enhance various industries. A new survey of over 900 office workers in the UK, US and Australia reveals that nearly half (47%) of respondents believe generative AI could save them a day’s worth of work per week.

The research also revealed that 67 per cent of respondents who currently use gen-AI for work say it saves them 1-5 hours of work per week. Respondents also believe gen-AI has considerable potential as a labour-saving tool. While 24 per cent said gen-AI currently saves them 6-10 hours, this figure increased to 47 per cent when asked how much time gen-AI could save them in the future.

It’s a transition that necessitates adaptability and a proactive approach to harness the full spectrum of AI’s capabilities while preserving the unique qualities of human ingenuity and creativity. Bottomline, AI will, in most cases, augment jobs. However, as it matures AI will also replace jobs. There’s no doubt about that.

Venugopal shares, “It’s not about whether AI will take away your job. It’s about – does it make your job easier? While it’s taking away some of the mundane jobs, it’s creating a lot of new jobs as well.”

AI for integration

The pace of integration has increased dramatically. We’ve gone from spending weeks and months to integrate systems to days and weeks, even hours now that SnapLogic has released SnapGPT. Because the model is trained specifically on how to integrate connected systems and map data, it’s able to do a lot of work as a copilot.

You can talk to it through natural language and say, “Every time a new sales order comes in, take the sales data out of Salesforce, map it to the orders in SAP, create an invoice in NetSuite and then email that invoice to the contact we got from Salesforce” – and it can do that.

You’ll see fine-tuned and pre-trained generative models in specific domains being the most valuable going forward, where they’re not just trained on the content on the internet up until 2021 like ChatGPT is. In your specific industry, it will likely be able to service customers and employees better than anything else could because it’ll be a reliable expert on your data and work processes.

The future of AI

As AI continues to integrate seamlessly into our personal and professional lives, it’s essential to harness its capabilities while preserving human ingenuity and creativity. Otherwise, it could untether, potentially leaving us in some ‘science fiction’ nightmare where the lines between technology and humanity blur into a dystopian reality. Or (more likely) it could simply leave us in a tangle of ethical dilemmas and data privacy concerns. Either way, we stand at a crossroads where the choices we make in AI’s development and implementation will shape our future. Let’s choose wisely.

About the Author 

Brad Drysdale is Principal Solutions Engineer at SnapLogic where he helps customers at the intersection of Cloud, Data, APis and Generative Al. He has held technical leadership roles at companies such as MuleSoft, Accenture and BEA Systems.

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It describes the human factors that often contribute to IT support calls that have little or nothing to do with the device or the software that it is running.

“Problem Exists Between Keyboard and Chair” almost sums up the human condition – we are all born with frailties and idiosyncrasies that even the best technology in the world cannot eliminate.

 While your average IT genius might assume the root cause is what’s lacking between the ears of users, there’s often other factors that come into play. Bad software design definitely plays its part, but poor eyesight also contributes.

After a few too many ‘should have gone to Specsavers’ moments on the wrong end of support calls in recent times, it was time to take the advice.

Specsavers in the local mall were consulted to take up the lesser of my lost causes.

It quickly became apparent that the solution involved a whole range of technologies now at the disposal of the optometrists, of which I knew almost nothing.

Long story short, I got talking with my friendly optometrist about their practise management systems and all this fang-dangled equipment and landed on an arrangement to share it with iStart’s highly intelligent, and possibly similarly ageing, readership in the hope that you might be similarly elucidated. 

The ophthalmological equipment catalogue below provides a rundown of the main machinery your eyes will be assessed with (acknowledgements to Specsavers).

Optical Coherence Tomography

An Optical Coherence Tomography (OCT) is an advanced 3D eye scan which Specsavers includes as part of every standard comprehensive eye test. It takes a series of advanced 3D scans of the back of the eye, including the optic nerve, retina, and macula. The scans are highly detailed and allows the Specsavers optometrist to view the granular structures of the patient’s eye, for a more advanced and accurate examination of the individuals eye health. This helps the optometrist to detect any eye conditions in their earliest stages so the individual can see better for longer. The OCT scan used to be the exclusive domain of ophthalmologists and was only recently approved for use by optometrists. Since 2017, it has been responsible for detecting over 150,000 referrals for glaucoma in Australia, along with 0.5 million registrations for diabetes checkups.

Tonometer

A tonometer is an instrument used to measure intraocular pressure (IOP) which is the fluid pressure of the eye. Non-contact tonometer’s use a puff of air to flatten a small section of the patient’s cornea which measures IOP. This doesn’t hurt but there may be a loud click as the puff of air is delivered. Maintaining a healthy IOP will help to preserve the patient’s vision and prevent vision loss from eye conditions such as glaucoma, a sight-threatening ocular disease.

 Autorefractor

An autorefractor is a machine which measures the ability of the patient’s eyes to focus and gives an approximation of the individuals prescription. The patient will be asked to stare into a machine through two lenses at a picture, for example of a hot air balloon at the end of a long straight road. The machine focuses on the picture and makes the balloon appear to be brought closer and further away. As it does this, the machine calculates an estimation of the patient’s prescription needs with the results of how well the individual’s eyes focus on the image.

Slit lamp

The slit lamp is used to observe the health of the cornea, the iris, and the lens. The optometrist will ask the patient to place their head against a frame and chin rest while the optometrist looks through a powerful microscope at each eye. It is also used in combination with a high-powered handheld lens to provide the optometrist with a 3D view of the back of the eye.

PMS

Specsavers uses the Socrates patient management system to manage patient data linked to examination results and in New Zealand also uses Genesys for managing the patient experience. This meant that when I walked into the store, they already knew who I was, when I last had an eye exam (7 years earlier) and importantly could assure me that the gradual degradation of my eyesight and health was entirely normal. The data gathered is also put to good work. The Specsavers ANZ team has been managing a program of work to integrate Socrates into various industry referral programs such as KeepSight (Diabetes), Oculo (GP and ophthalmologist referrals) and more recently for Macular disease (AMD) referrals.

Now, with a combination of progressive lenses for general use and upgraded reading glasses for working at my PC, I am navigating my way around screen and device with much more comfort, and a lot less PEBKAC.

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ASIC has issued proceedings for AustralianSuper’s failure to consolidate the accounts of more than 90,000 members – costing them nearly $70 million in additional fees.

ASIC is alleging that AustralianSuper failed to have adequate policies and procedures in place to merge duplicate accounts, contrary to the fund’s duty to act in members’ best interests

The mismanagement of customer data resulted in duplication of fees and insurance premiums across accounts which summed to A$69 million. The fund has since pledged to refund affected members for the misconduct.

The incident serves as a stark reminder of how fragmented data can lead to financial losses and damaged customer relationships. It should act as a warning for businesses across APAC.

There are three principles that need to be addressed for good data governance, privacy compliance and for managing data for customer engagement:

1.      Data accuracy and integrity: Brands must properly know their customers by maintaining data that is both comprehensive and accurate. AustralianSuper’s failure to consolidate accounts and manage member data properly was a fundamental failure of this principle. It underscores the critical role of accurate and up-to-date data in decision-making and customer data strategies.

2.      Privacy compliance: ASIC’s lawsuit demonstrates that lapses in privacy compliance can have severe legal and financial consequences for businesses. Brands must ensure they have robust policies and procedures in place to protect customer data and comply with evolving regulations.

3.      A unified customer view: The ability to create a unified view of customer interactions is essential for mitigating similar issues. There are wider benefits of a unified view of customer data such as delivering personalised experiences, enhancing customer retention and optimising marketing efforts. This case highlights the detrimental impact of fragmented data.

The need for identity resolution

While double-dipping customer fees cost the super fund both financially and reputationally, investing in identity resolution software could have saved it a lot of grief.

ID resolution platforms enable brands and organisations to improve controls over customer data, systematically identify customers’ truly unique relationships and almost certainly could have avoided costly mishaps like this.

Best-in-class ID resolution software utilises machine learning (ML).

ML technology means that data matching rates and accuracy improve over time, even when unique identifiers are incomplete, inconsistent or unavailable.

This form of ID resolution uses ‘probabilistic’ data linking, allowing human-like logic to reveal inconsistencies that more rigid matching schemas struggle to identify.

Another feature of good ID resolution software is transparency, providing clear insight into processes that are running and recommendations. This builds greater confidence versus ‘black-box’ processes that don’t show how an answer came about. Enterprise scalability is also important – handling and resolving massive numbers of customer identities quickly and cost-effectively, regardless of database size.

Together, these capabilities are known as a customer data platform (CDP) and this case shines a light on why they are increasingly important.

A CDP, such as Amperity, unifies your online and offline customer data. It takes data from every source inside your organisation and consolidates it, so you can better understand each person behind the data. It also provides confidence knowing customer data is unique and robust enough to target segments more accurately.

In conclusion:

This ‘uh-oh’ moment from AustralianSuper should serve as an ‘ah-ha’ moment for brands across APAC.

It demonstrates the importance of sound data management, privacy compliance and the creation of a unified view of customer data. And, in so doing, the avoidance of costly legal repercussions.

About the Author

Billy Loizou is APAC Area Vice President for customer data platform provider, Amperity. He has worked with some of the world’s most renowned brands to improve customer experience and drive profitability.

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In many ways, foundation models such as ChatGPT, Claude, and PaLM2 are redefining human-computer interaction. With their remarkable ability to generate contextually relevant and coherent responses, these services have captivated individuals and industries alike, sparking a wave of innovation and transforming the way we engage with technology.

The iPaaS (integration platform as a service) is no exception. The next generation of iPaaS have the potential to shrink complex system integrations from days and weeks to hours and minutes, allowing businesses to innovate faster, reach further and operate more efficiently.

Generative integration

Generative integration is an emerging integration software category that leverages GenAI to allow users to turn intentions into integrations faster.

By unearthing hidden connections, organisations gain a competitive edge, fuelling innovation and driving transformative change. As generative integration continues to evolve, it’s clear that it’s not just about simplifying the integration process – it’s about paving the way for a future where data-driven decisions are made with clarity and confidence.

SnapLogic recently released SnapGPT, the world’s first generative integration solution. Companies have been using AI for years to help crunch large amounts of data to produce insights for their businesses. SnapGPT takes this a step further by automating the creation and ongoing curation of data and process flows, allowing businesses to quickly introduce changes around new opportunities.

3 Ways SnapGPT is changing integration

SnapGPT streamlines workflows, reduces manual intervention and enhances development efficiency, while maintaining encryption standards.

SnapGPT catalyses business decision-making by:

1. Democratising integration: SnapGPT empowers employees with any job title or technical skill level to easily and quickly create workflows and data pipelines via natural language or voice prompts in nearly 100 different languages.

2. Delivering faster time to value: SnapGPT auto-generates sample data for testing and comprehensive documentation for each integration, allowing employees to validate new business workflows and put them into production more quickly. Users can also generate workflow and pipeline descriptions to significantly reduce ongoing maintenance costs.

3. Reducing IT integration workloads: SnapGPT acts as a tireless, intelligent co-pilot, providing contextual suggestions and real-time guidance throughout the integration process, boosting confidence and providing self-service to users of all experience levels while reducing strain on IT to assist, create, test and monitor integration builds.

Pioneering a new era of integration

Founded in 1889, Barnard College at Columbia University is revered as one of the most selective academic institutions in the US. The college recognised the importance of connecting all of its disparate systems and automating processes while accelerating analytics. This data-driven connectivity is key to driving modern learning experiences in a digital-first landscape while keeping pace with today’s student expectations.

Nancy Mustachio, Director of Enterprise Applications at Barnard College, has been instrumental in leading the college’s transformation to a smarter, more digitally connected future. She recently embraced the opportunity to leverage SnapGPT and is excited to be at the forefront of this pioneering technology.

“We are starting to see the initial benefits of Generative Integration. It’s early days but we can already see its potential to increase team efficiency,” Mustachio says. “Our team of developers has used SnapGPT to create and test integration workflows in under an hour, compared to days. I foresee SnapGPT will continue to advance to handle more complex integrations. We’re excited to be at the forefront.”

Jeremiah Stone is the CTO of SnapLogic and is responsible for guiding the continued development and future direction of SnapLogic’s Intelligent Integration Platform.

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Importantly, as prices continue to spike at the grocery store, consumers are looking to save money at all costs. Eagle Eye’s recently released Grocery’s Great Loyalty Opportunity reveals that 61 percent of consumers say they use various money-saving techniques when grocery shopping, a figure that is increasing over time.

This means now is the perfect time for retailers to invest in technology that enables them to help showcase the value of their loyalty programs to current and potential customers.

APAC consumers see grocery loyalty programs as a means to unlock tangible value, prioritising it over status, perks or earn rewards.

Each of these areas below are where most grocery loyalty professionals agree they can improve. And each can potentially have a significant impact on loyalty participation, offer acceptance rates, engagement levels and ultimately, revenues and profitability.

Advanced personalisation

One of the key drivers of successful grocery loyalty programs is advanced personalisation. By leveraging customer data and individual preferences, grocery retailers can tailor their offerings on a one-to-one level, creating a much more engaging and satisfying shopping experience.

Of course, personalisation at scale is traditionally difficult for grocery retailers to achieve, especially for those that rely on legacy technology. Despite recognising that personalisation tactics can make their promotional and loyalty strategies more effective, nearly 31 percent of grocery loyalty program managers admit that delivering personalised offers is their biggest challenge.

When asked what could improve the efficacy of their loyalty program’s current promotional strategy, program managers cited the ability to deliver offers or promotions to customers when they’re most likely to be used/redeemed (55 percent), the capability to match the right offer to the right customer (53 percent) and customising offers based on past purchasing behaviours (50 percent). Each of these is integral to a true personalisation approach.

With the right technology and partner, retailers can take advantage of the personalisation opportunity and deliver those core capabilities.

Marketing in the moment

Marketing in the moment is seen as retail marketing’s next big evolution. By definition, it’s the ability to merge customer data and contextual data points (location, history, current activity, time, environmental cues, preferences and loyalty status) to deliver content (a personalised offer, promotion or message) to an individual shopper at the optimal moment to influence a purchasing decision.

Eagle Eye research demonstrates that consumers can be motivated by loyalty program initiatives that reach them when they’re most likely to respond and take action on an offer. In fact, 71 percent of surveyed consumers say that if they got an alert about a promotion for a product whilst in the store – that is, in real-time – they would either consider buying it or would consider the information helpful.

The marketing in the moment model relies heavily on context-specific data and the ability to leverage it in real-time to achieve that outcome. The first consideration remains the same, who the individual shopper is and what is known about them (eg, when that shopper prefers to receive content). This profile and preference data can be harvested from retail loyalty program profiles and interactions.

Marketing in the moment then factors in a range of contextual data from various sources, surrounding that individual shopper, including first-party data provided by the shopper through the loyalty program or transaction history, environmental data like current weather and seasonality, location data and any other variables that are relevant to engaging with the shopper. With this information, grocery retailers can deploy offers and communications at the exact same time they are most relevant, useful and welcomed.

But many retailers are lagging behind consumers in recognising the efficacy of context-based marketing. This is likely due to a reflection of their legacy technology limitations – not an entrenched attitude toward the approach. Regardless, only about a third (36 percent) of retailers surveyed say deploying location-based offers would make their promotions more effective.

With access to the technology that makes marketing in the moment possible, grocery retailers can seize the initiative and leverage their loyalty program framework to engage with customers in ways that have an immediate and tangible effect on sales.

Gamification

Whilst contextualised marketing is hyper-targeted to the moment, gamification introduces a different and variable element to loyalty program engagement. Gamification provides a high degree of interactivity, which increases the time consumers spend engaging with their loyalty programs. It works because consumers love games, and loyalty programs are ideal for combining games and savings.

In APAC, specifically, gamification is an effective way to increase membership in a loyalty program. In fact, 74 percent of APAC consumers say they would or already do participate in games, contests or challenges through a company’s loyalty program or app.

Despite this, however, only 60 percent of loyalty programs they belong to actually offer games, contests or challenges. This gap represents an opportunity for APAC grocery retailers to expand their gamification initiatives to boost loyalty program engagement. When deployed at scale and utilising cutting-edge technology – think AI and machine learning to automate the creation, execution and measurement of game-like challenges – gamification can be a loyalty game-changer.

Unfortunately, retailers find themselves behind this trend. Less than a quarter (21 percent) of companies polled think gamifying the shopping experience is what consumers respond to most. They also ranked gamification last in perceived importance to consumers. Only 23 percent plan to introduce gamification elements into their loyalty programs in the next three to six months. Only when retailers overcome this short-sightedness will they be able to take advantage of this opportunity.

The best part of gamifying the loyalty program experience is that it doesn’t necessarily mean overhauling the entire loyalty program. Solutions exist that can layer gamified elements on top of an existing loyalty platform, meaning they can be integrated without disruptions or significant implementation time or resources.

Woolworths: an Australian grocery game-changer

Prominent Australian supermarket chain Woolworths has been at the forefront of customer loyalty, continuously pushing boundaries and setting the standard for others to emulate. In fact, its dedication to customer-centric initiatives has recently been recognised globally at the International Loyalty Awards.

Taking home “highly commended”, Woolworth’s Everyday Rewards, powered by Eagle Eye, was recognised for Real-Time Loyalty — a new offer and loyalty management system that enables connected, personalised and seamless experiences for all 14-million and counting members.

This success is only further complemented by the remarkable participation of more than a quarter of a million people in Woolworths’ Everyday Extra subscription program. The figure is even more impressive considering the program hasn’t been widely advertised. It’s grown largely via word-of-mouth referrals and recommendations in Facebook groups like ‘Woolworths Rewards Enthusiasts’.

Woolworths’ subscription model is a win with its super fan customers because they receive value that far exceeds the fee paid. At the same time, Woolworths comes out on top by obtaining a higher share of the customer’s spending.

Unlike most other retail subscription programs, Everyday Extra focuses on recurring benefits to in-store rather than online shoppers. For an annual fee of AU$70, subscribers receive benefits such as 10 percent off one in-store shop each month at BIG W and Woolworths Supermarkets as well as Extra Perks such as complimentary products from the local store.

The 10 percent discount may encourage customers to consolidate their spending with Big W and Woolworths, whilst Extra Perks create a buzz on social media as subscribers have fun comparing their latest free products.

The future of loyalty innovation is exciting

APAC consumers see grocery loyalty programs as a means to unlock tangible value, prioritising it over status, perks or earn rewards with other brands. It’s clear that if your loyalty program fails to deliver on the value proposition, shoppers will disengage.

This is an opportune time for A/NZ grocery retailers to leverage the right technology to focus on effective offer delivery and management, tailored promotions integrated directly into their loyalty programs and more relevant and interactive loyalty platform experiences.

About the author

Jonathan Reeve is vice president APAC for Eagle Eye, a role which sees him helping APAC businesses develop and implement digital marketing programs to drive customer acquisition, interaction and retention. He’s also the author of Retail’s Last Mile: Why Online Shopping Will Exceed Our Wildest Predictions. 

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Research demonstrates that the average enterprise has 115 distinct applications and data sources. And nearly half of them (49 percent), are disconnected from one another. It’s no wonder then that 89 percent of information technology decision-makers are worried that data silos are holding them back.

The concern doesn’t end there. The same research finds that 76 percent believe they are missing out on revenue opportunities due to a lack of data insights and 77 percent question the quality of their data for accurate, timely, business-critical decisions.

The benefits of enterprise automation

Enterprise automation simplifies complex business processes via the seamless flow of data between multiple applications and systems. And when everyone is empowered to move faster, the benefits are profound. Bottlenecks become a thing of the past and everyone in the business is able to make more informed decisions based on the data presented to them.

This improves business efficiency, agility and speed. Better digital outcomes for the business and its customers become possible.

Automation can take care of many of the more repetitive and mundane tasks associated with a job, allowing employees to have more time to focus on tasks that actually move the organisation forward.

As an example, SnapLogic simplifies the modern data stack, making operations more cost-effective and secure. By delivering a cloud-native, event-driven architecture for both application-to-application integration and the automation of business processes that transcend all 115-plus applications and disconnected data sources, SnapLogic supports organisations across a variety of industries.

Visibility, control and optimising data systems

There are a few steps around data democratisation and broad data optimisation and automation that must be put into effect to unlock business potential. The first is visibility. You have to know where this data lives and be able to unlock, democratise and get it on the move so different parts of the business can gain access to it for better outcomes.

Next comes control. Governance and quality are vital aspects related to data, including who has access to it, its security and associated risks. It is crucial to examine and address any inherent biases in the data.

From a SnapGPT perspective, the first-ever generative AI solution for enterprise applications, the focus shifts to automating business processes and gradually, handing over certain functions to generative AI.

However, it is important to navigate this transition carefully, considering the inherent biases in the data these models are trained on. Balancing the need for security, quality and speed becomes crucial when allowing AI and automation to take the reins.

Furthermore, optimising the data, systems and their interconnectivity becomes paramount. As organisations acquire new systems, businesses and customers and develop new digital products or services, it is crucial to iterate and ensure that the data and systems continue to enrich the digital platform, serving the desired outcomes.

Embracing AI in the workplace

We recently collaborated with Censuswide to discover the attitudes and acceptance towards AI in the workplace. It’s clear the idea of AI in the workplace is gaining steam. In fact, nearly two-thirds (66 percent) of respondents like the idea of using AI in their role, either currently or in the future.

Even more, just over half (54 percent) say that AI would save them time, 46 percent believe that it would improve productivity, and 37 percent share that it would reduce risk and errors in their work.

However, the success of AI implementation hinges on a crucial factor: Employee buy-in. Our research demonstrates that 39 percent believe it would be hard to get everyone in their organisation to fully adopt AI. Understanding and addressing employee sentiment about AI adoption is key to creating an AI-inclusive culture that maximises productivity and optimises business practices.

An AI-inclusive culture goes beyond merely introducing AI tools and systems. That’s why, as part of our research, we took a holistic approach, figuring in the respondents’ personalities into the equation. The results were fascinating.

Thriving in the data-centric era with enterprise automation

As the business landscape continues to evolve, organisations must proactively navigate the data journey, leveraging technology, fostering an inclusive culture and embracing AI. By doing so, they can overcome challenges, seize opportunities and unlock the full potential of data-driven transformation.

With the right tools, strategies and a commitment to employee engagement, organisations can thrive in this data-centric era, achieving remarkable digital outcomes for both their business and customers.

Brad Drysdale is principal solutions engineer at SnapLogic, helping place customers in the driver’s seat at the intersection f cloud, data, APIs and generative AI.

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It has put the data-driven marketing and advertising industry into a state of flux.

From a customer experience perspective, abiding by privacy guidelines and connecting with known consumers is a much more fruitful and rewarding strategy over a shotgun data acquisition strategy to attract and convert anonymous prospects.

Anyone who has experienced being targeted with advertising for something they have just bought will understand the frustration it generates.

There’s both challenges and opportunities emerging with the changes.

Understanding the new data privacy landscape

The digital landscape in Australia has faced game-changing challenges recently, forcing brands to adapt their ad tracking solutions to ensure they comply with new and evolving regulations.

“Data breaches are only made worse by holding onto personal information they don’t have a legitimate interest in”

The most obvious is adapting to measures put in place by Apple and Google, which have introduced new privacy features that restrict tracking on their devices. This has meant that some tracking methods marketers previously relied heavily on are no longer effective. In fact, 64% of advertisers recently shared that Apple’s Application Tracking Transparency (ATT) policy is hurting their results.

Tough new European GDPR regulations, alongside US privacy changes have further shifted the dial away from brands and towards consumers.

And there’s more change in the wings locally. The Australian Attorney-General’s Department recently released its highly anticipated review of the Privacy Act 1988, which includes a suite of proposed revisions to bolster individual privacy rights, such as the “right of erasure,” deindexing search results with sensitive or inaccurate information, among many other changes. New Zealand has also passed changes to its privacy regulations with similar implications.

If the large-scale Optus and Medibank breaches have taught brands anything, it’s that data breaches are only made worse by holding onto personal information they don’t have a legitimate interest in and/or is well past its expiration date.

Technology choices to mitigate risk

The best way businesses can minimise risk and steer clear of poor tactical or technology choices is by improving their defensive strategies. This means wrapping best-in-class protection around their customer data.

While sales and marketing tactics are important and can have a direct ROI, longer-term loyalty is built by providing individuals with visibility and control over their data and its usage.

Preference centres are not new, but they are fast becoming a must-have utility that all businesses should leverage.

Transparency is also key. Businesses should be fully transparent with consumers about the data they collect and how it’s used. They need to clearly communicate their data privacy policies, making it easy for consumers to opt out of data collection or marketing activities if they choose.

At the same time, brands need to monitor and respond to feedback from consumers. And importantly, take action when issues are identified. Processes should be in place for responding to complaints and addressing concerns.

Performing proper due diligence around these best practices can help those in CDO/CIO roles make better technology choices from the start and reduce their exposure to the risk of regulatory or consumer action.

Identifying first-party data

Customer metrics drive business metrics. All the regulatory changes point to first-party data as a vital asset powering sales and marketing strategies.

Identifying and understanding your customers translates to improved customer retention and helps brands keep up with ever-evolving purchasing habits.

Using first-party data, companies are seeing up to a 5X return on ad spend in paid channels. And recent research shows that brands using first-party data in key marketing functions achieved a 2.9X revenue lift and a 1.5X increase in cost savings.

But how do you identify and resolve customer data into a single view of the customer across the business? Are your marketing, sales, service and loyalty systems interconnected?

A consolidated customer data platform (CDP) can help. A CDP provides marketers with a strong customer identity foundation, allowing them to build the most accurate and comprehensive view of their customers from across disparate systems, helping centralise data management.

This is where Amperity is laser-focussed.

Using a patented machine learning approach, Amperity’s first-party data ID resolution is purpose-built to create unified customer profiles, giving teams the data they need to understand customers, engage with them in a personalised manner – and translate that into growth.

It’s also important to note that customer data isn’t just for marketers. After building a secure unified view of customers, that data can be made available to trusted agencies, account managers, business analysts, IT operations teams and product developers.

In a privacy-first world, all roads lead to first-party data

Regardless of the mountain of challenges that Australian businesses face, one critical point to address is ensuring their first-party data is in order. First-party data will be used for activation, suppression and measurement, replacing third-party tag-based measurement.

It’s a matter of being prepared and saying good riddance to bad data practices.

About the Author

Billy Loizou is APAC Area Vice President for customer data platform provider, Amperity. He has worked with some of the world’s most renowned brands to improve customer experience and drive profitability.

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Without the right measures in place, ‘innovation inertia’ can be a significant challenge for the public sector.

Large organisations tend to become resistant to change and innovation, often due to bureaucratic processes, risk aversion, tight budget constraints and a lack of leadership.

Many are battling legacy systems, complex processes, privacy concerns and fragmentation or silos, leading to inconsistent citizen and user experiences and difficulties in accessing government services.

So when it comes to innovation, simply maintaining what they have can feel like an uphill task.

Hence: ‘Innovation Inertia’.

Of course, there are many great stories of breakthrough progress also.

Overcoming ‘innovation inertia’

Overcoming inertia isn’t easy; it takes transformative changes in culture, leadership and technology.

• Culture: Values, attitudes and behaviours shape how an organisation operates. To foster a culture of innovation, government needs to encourage risk-taking, embrace directionally correct failure as a learning opportunity and prioritise customer-centricity.
• Leadership: A crucial ingredient for driving innovation and creating a culture that supports it. Government leaders need to be willing to take risks, challenge the status quo and empower their teams to experiment and innovate.
• Technology: An essential factor in delivering better CX. The Martech landscape is getting increasingly crowded, however a headless CMS, for example, is a powerful tool that can help governments create and deliver better content and services to citizens.

Ahead of its time

The public sector has already made significant progress in CX, taking strides to digitise and allowing citizens to access services online and through mobile apps. Personalisation has also remained front of mind, with a growing emphasis on user-centred design to create solutions that meet customer needs.

New South Wales (NSW) has recently taken a proactive stance, leading the charge towards better CX by publicly committing to be the most customer-centric government in the world by 2030.

Its recent customer experience survey known as CXS surveyed more than 30,000 users of public digital services, providing benchmarks against Victoria and Queensland, as well as more than a handful of other leading international jurisdictions, including New Zealand, Singapore and Denmark among others.

It found that 77% of customers feel that it is easy to interact with NSW government services, 76% are happy with its services and 73% trust that the NSW government is working in their best interests. This lies in stark contrast to the clunky government CX of yesteryear known for painfully slow and unhelpful service experiences and hard-to-navigate websites as standard.

At the height of the pandemic in 2020, NSW also made a bold move to abolish more than 500 websites to transform nsw.gov.au into a revamped portal for users to easily get the information they need, heralding a broader system redesign across all Australian governments.

It was a play that not only made citizens happier in their engagement with the government but one that also saved them plenty — an estimated AU$20,000 a website in operational costs and upwards of AU$10 million a year.

The Victoria Government followed suit, building out a single-presence site after a long period of research around citizen user needs. It was built upon a sophisticated, open-source publishing stack that integrated into a headless CMS (content management system). This enabled multiple agencies like Treasury and Finance, Victorian Police and some divisions of Education and Health to use common publishing elements and functionality.

This innovative approach has resulted in a common ‘look and feel’ across government websites, making it easier for citizen users to navigate across different sites.

The case for going “headless”

In a world of high customer expectations, systems as well as their users must constantly evolve to create the best possible experience. And “headless” technology – systems that separate the two ends – has completely changed the game, transforming what users can expect from their CMS. In fact, recent Storyblok research finds that an overwhelming majority (84%) of businesses report improved KPIs, revenue growth and productivity using a headless CMS.

This comes as no surprise, considering the technology can provide government bodies with the flexibility, agility, security, scalability, cost-effectiveness and improved user experience they need to effectively manage and distribute content.

The benefits are many:

1. Flexibility: A headless CMS allows government bodies to separate the content management from the presentation layer, giving them the flexibility to use any front-end technology or framework they prefer. This means that they can easily create and manage content once and publish it across multiple platforms and devices without the need for extensive development resources. A visual editor allows you to see the changes you are making in real-time, displaying them exactly how they will appear when published.
2. Security: With a headless CMS, the content is stored separately from the presentation layer, reducing the risk of a security breach or data leak. This separation also allows for better control over user access and permissions, ensuring that sensitive data is only accessible to authorised individuals.
3. Scalability: Government bodies often have a large amount of content to manage and distribute, and a headless CMS can easily handle this scale. With a headless CMS, it’s easy to add or remove content and make updates as needed, without affecting the front-end user experience.
4. Cost-Effective: A headless CMS can be a cost-effective solution for government bodies who continue to look for ways to do more with less, as it eliminates the need for extensive custom development work for each platform or device. It also allows for easier and faster updates, reducing the need for ongoing development resources. If users can quickly find what they are seeking the first time, they are less likely to drop out and use the more expensive contact-centre channel to resolve.
5. Improved User Experience: A headless CMS can provide a better user experience by allowing government bodies to create content that is optimised for each device or platform, without having to rebuild the same content for different channels. This means that users can access information in a way that is most convenient and intuitive for them, improving overall engagement and satisfaction.

True transformation is led by customer obsession

While significant momentum has been achieved, more work must still be done to bring Australians to the centre of government. Going forward, they will continue to demand a better experience and consistency across touchpoints. Therefore, a culture of continuous improvement is vital to ensuring service delivery standards keep pace with their increasing expectations.

Discover more about what’s in store for the next frontier of citizen services with CX and digital services that inspire true public trust and engagement at Innovate Australia Wednesday, 15 March 2023 at the National Convention Centre in Canberra. Register your interest here.

About the author

Marcus Paterson is Sales Director, APAC for Storyblok. He recently led digital transformation and strategic IT projects and services to the Australian Federal Government, after multiple years of experience in Tier 1 Banking in Australia and Asia.

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Real-time insights are, arguably, an organisation’s most valuable source of information in turbulent environments. Long-term trends and ‘last month, last quarter, or last year’ musings are irrelevant when fundamental business conditions are changing rapidly.

While working with real-time data requires a more sophisticated data and analytics infrastructure and often comes at a greater cost, there’s perhaps no greater expense than missed opportunity in today’s fast-paced landscape. Up-to-the-minute insights empower organisations to make faster, more informed decisions by understanding what is – and is not – working in the business. This helps businesses survive inflationary cycles by cutting non-functioning investments and doubling down on the profitable parts of the business.

Real-time insights are critical for business agility. Agility without data is operating on instinct and hunch. Most critically, real-time data can alert a company of issues early. Unlike wine, problems do not get better with age.

As an increasing number of companies look to data to gain a competitive advantage, those with real-time data will secure a winning position. This is why real-time data analytics will be in high demand throughout 2023.

Embracing a multi-cloud strategy

CIOs are concerned about cloud spending. And rightly so. According to KPMG’s annual technology survey, many companies that have shifted enterprise-technology tools into the cloud in recent years, in part as a cost-saving measure, say those investments have yet to pay off. Some are even seeing costs go up.

The primary reason for these blown budgets? Cloud costs are often not transparent in early deployments due to consumption-based pricing and the lack of experience with new technology models. Without experience, CIOs aren’t able to think strategically about how to distribute IT capabilities across different cloud providers to maximise cost productivity and figure out how to make different cloud services work well together.

While some cloud vendors are lowering sales forecasts for the year ahead, we believe the answer to the problem lies in embracing a multi-cloud strategy, optimising for cost productivity on a per-provider basis.

At SnapLogic, we announced at the AWS re:Invent 2022 event significant business momentum resulting from enhancements to our Partner Connect Program, which helps partners accelerate their integration and automation capabilities.

SnapLogic was also recognised for providing customers and partners with the highest return on investment (ROI) in the shortest amount of time, as assessed by Forrester. Since its inception last year, partners have developed over 400 SnapLogic specialisations that accelerate customer value with services and solutions.

As stated by Jason Wakeam, Vice President of Global Channels at SnapLogic: “As a cloud native integration platform, we’re constantly improving ways our partners help customers modernise their cloud, applications and data architecture.”

Bridging the ‘great data divide’

Those organisations that are truly data-driven have the ability to act with certainty in the face of uncertainty. That is, when up against economic uncertainties, wars, flow of talent trends, pandemics, natural disasters and the like, those that are truly data-driven will thrive through informed decision-making. Those that are not will rely on luck rather than their wits to survive.

While big data has largely been harnessed by large corporations and governments, real-time data is now more accessible to companies of any size. Data democratisation, through more accessible analytic tools and cloud technologies, puts insights in the hands of everyone, working to create a generation of business owners that are swapping their gut instincts for data-driven operations.

2023 will see more firms of all sizes embrace the power of data analytics to grow their revenues and margins in the face of difficult economic headwinds, effectively bridging the Great Data Divide.

2023: The year of AI

AI is fast moving from lofty fantasy to reality, and 2023 is only going to see the use and development of AI accelerate. Already today, AI has the ability to turn text into drawings and videos demonstrating the ability to not only analyse but create. Tesla’s autonomous driving system has also made a giant leap forward, illustrating the progress that image processing and edge computing are making. SnapLogic’s Iris AI, for instance, uses AI to automate difficult, low-level development tasks, eliminating the data and application integration backlog that stifles most technology initiatives.

And this is just AI in its infancy. The future of AI technology is set to greatly impact the business landscape in the next year and beyond. It’s likely 2023 will bring AI-based technologies that personalise enterprise software for the individual employee experience. AI will also continue to help employees do specific jobs better and more efficiently.

AI holds great promise to deliver not only productivity but business agility. By adopting powerful AI technologies that can unify data in one platform, an organisation is primed to connect the dots between its data and its people seamlessly.

Jeremiah Stone is CTO at SnapLogic, responsible for guiding the continued development and future direction of SnapLogic’s Intelligent Integration Platform enabling customers to further speed the integration and automation process.

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That opportunity has not gone unnoticed. A recent survey found that 55 percent of U.S. and Europe-based corporations identified APAC as their key target for international expansion.

Funding for fintech companies in APAC, in particular, nearly tripled from 2020 (AU$9 billion) to 2021 (AU$24.15 billion), highlighting the opportunities in the region and confidence from startups and investors.

“It’s vital to hire strong, local employees with an ear to the ground”

However, while the opportunities for growth are ample, there are still challenges, as APAC expansion demands a unique approach:

1. Consider the variety of nuances that come with growing in a new area: This includes managing currency risk, understanding regional regulations and respecting the local culture. Even more, it’s critical to realise that no area is safe from global concerns like inflation pressures and talent retention.
2. Speed and agility are key to winning in all markets: Integrating disparate systems and automating core processes are critical to accelerating business growth and success. This was true before the pandemic and even more so now. That’s why we are continuing to see the market for application and data integration evolve and grow. According to Verified Market Research, the iPaaS market is forecasted to skyrocket to AU$35.2 billion by 2028. Businesses that serve that burgeoning need are likely to find greater success.
3. Get optimal impact from investments: Value and ROI can take many forms. What’s the short- and long-term capital investment and/or anticipated savings, what’s the impact on existing team and resources, what productivity and time to value gains can be expected, and how soon before the benefits and return on investment are seen? Data is at the heart of all of this — important financial decisions should be backed up and supported by data.
4. Seize the opportunities of tomorrow: There will always be periods of disruption. Each one of them will bring new unexpected challenges as well as new opportunities. While some CFOs and other members of the C-suite might be inclined to be cautious, the leaders of tomorrow see opportunities. At SnapLogic, we’re using this time of disruption to move forward with confidence and optimism — for ourselves, as well as for our customers.
5. Human capital is priceless: Holding off on infrastructure investments and hard costs until your foreign operation has matured is a sound way to justify expenses and assure a long-term ROI. However, it’s vital to hire strong, local employees with an ear to the ground. They can evaluate market penetration plans and identify untapped opportunities. They’ll also be more familiar with the area, understanding local and cultural nuances, ensuring your success within the new market.
6. Strike the right balance: It’s important to surround yourself with a leadership team that is truly data-driven and metrics-obsessed, across the entirety of the business. As a finance leader, you need to be able to track and measure everything you do. It’s a delicate balance between investing for growth while also tracking bottom line results, particularly in areas that are underperforming. This allows you to quickly shift to areas that will drive better and faster growth. This speed and agility, enabled by real-time data and agreed metrics, is fundamental to success.

While expansion into new regions is a huge undertaking, it also opens up exciting opportunities to take your organisation to the next level.

Ahsan Malik is CFO of SnapLogic, responsible for leading the company’s global finance and legal organisations. SnapLogic’s self-service integration platform helps organisations connect applications across data sources to automate business processes.

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