Customer analytics? Executive leadership, does your sales team suffer from significant churn? It all comes down to human nature. (Good luck fighting that). It may take a bit of time and education, but in the end I think we can count on smart people to figure out how to act in their best interest. The question for leadership becomes this: is your company culture setup to ensure that your salespeople will believe that collaborating on a CRM platform is in their best interest? It is possible that your salespeople’s resistance to using the CRM system has nothing to do with the system, and everything to do with their plans (or general expectations) that they will be leaving your company in the fairly near future. When that happens, they know that if they have their own spreadsheets or outlook notes or big chief tablets, they can bring very valuable information along with them. If it all exists in the CRM, THEY CAN’T.

Like many CEO responsibilities, the key is to put the right team in place – whether permanent employees or outside partners. But how can a CEO without technical security expertise know whether their security team and program protect them in every way they should? How can a modern-day CEO sleep at night when considering information security? Our team of expert C-level consultants has consolidated this list of main components which should be included in an effective information security program. A summary list of this kind is, of course, no replacement for deep research nor any insurance that protections put in place will function as intended. But for CEOs wanting to get some sleep at night, it does at least provide fodder for a good conversation with your CIO and CISO…

The world is becoming increasingly personalized. Frequent flier numbers and customer membership programs enable companies to track consumers’ buying patterns; social media platforms and digital marketing channels enable them to know even more about our preferences and lives. The door has been opened to inappropriate uses of this information, as evidenced by the “fake news” and Facebook/Cambridge Analytica scandals from the 2016 election. But far more commonly, companies are using customer data in legitimate to personalize their communications with customers, with significant results. Customers are happy for you to know about them. According to Accenture, 83% of consumers are willing to share their data in order to enable a personalized B2C experience, and 91% say it actually impacts their buying habits. For B2B purposes, companies have long known there is easy access to public data about them, so any gain in efficiency is welcomed from suppliers who make use of that information (ideally with internal data as well – see below) to streamline the experience for their clients. Read more info at CRM data insights.

Any business should want to have an IT consultant! Some technical issues or crisis may be too overwhelming for an internal IT department to solve. Sometimes, hackers breach the systems in a way that internal experts cannot reverse or contain the damage. Natural disasters such as floods or fires may affect technology in a way that only experts can resolve. In such cases, a business cannot avoid hiring experts to restore normalcy and prevent a similar crisis in the future.

A trick any CEO should know about cybersecurity: According to most cybersecurity surveys, over 60% of all data breaches originate from unauthorized access from one of your current or former employees, or third-party suppliers. It is vital that CEOs establish the appropriate cybersecurity “tone at the top” for their respective organization, regarding the importance of information security and how cybersecurity is everyone’s shared responsibility in a truly digital world. Establishing an organizational “culture of cybersecurity” has proven to be one of the best defenses against cyber adversaries. It is the people, not the technology, which can either be an organization’s greatest defense, or its weakest link against a cyber-attack.

Trust is a universal Human Need Turbo-charger! Although we apply this approach to IT-driven transformation, it is truly in effect in every aspect of our lives. Myriad leadership studies have proven the connection between success/efficiency/effectiveness and trust. And each of us can confirm in our own lives the “difference” between situations where trust was absent vs. present; it is not difficult to recall in which situations we were at our best. As with many things, the impact of trust may be seen more clearly by examining what happens when it’s absent. There is something deep in human nature which causes us to hold back, maybe in subconscious self-preservation, in these situations. See a few extra info on Finance IT consulting.