State of the ICT
ICT, TECH, BRANDING, MARKETING, GROWTH
The ICT industry is evolving at an exponential pace, and as usual, we wanted to know: where are the growth opportunities? During 26FIVE TECH LAB’s participation at the PTC’18 conference, dozens of industry experts and leaders shared their thoughts on our interactive survey wall designed to take a pulse of the state of ICT and capture a bird’s eye view of how branding and marketing play into their growth strategy, providing some eye-opening insight and a few surprises.
The results were analyzed and combined with data collected from our onsite brand growth appraisal survey, in which respondents answered questions attesting to how well they knew their own company brand and strategy.
Our Takeaways
75% of participants firmly believed that Brand Reputation is a key driver for growth beating out marketing activation. This chicken and egg question prompts us to ask brands to consider what is the right balance between bringing a brand to life via engagement vs reputation management? And more importantly, determining which customer touchpoints are most effective in driving growth.
On the subject of customer satisfaction, nearly three-fourths claimed that their company’s customers were “very satisfied,” yet only 40% reported that they had a proven process for tracking customer satisfaction, leaving us wondering how well top management really knows the quality of their customer service. Is there an opportunity here for employers to rethink and recenter the customer experience as a whole? In supporting questions we also found that culture general scored low in brands’ marketing mix which begs us to ask again how can a company provide a gratifying and reliable customer experience without a solid internal culture?
When asked whether marketing automation would eventually replace personal relationships, the majority were optimistic that it would not, emphasizing that, in the end, there is always a human being at the other end of the line. Interesting, however, was that nearly 72% believed that marketing automation was, in fact, effective in driving growth, yet only half of those reported that they were implementing those tactics efficiently. Perhaps if companies were to invest more in the untapped potential of automation, it would spare them time to instead focus on building those relationships while also ensuring speedy, relevant, reliable and pleasant communications with current and potential customers.
TECH LAB is the 26FIVE specialized technology practice. More than 120 leading global brands have entrusted us with their growth plans. For over 20 years, 26FIVE TECH LAB has partnered with technology brands and organizations, driving growth strategy programs that set brands apart and drive performance and valuation with proven results.
To request a Brand Growth Appraisal please, share your information below.
By providing your information, you agree to receive communications from 26FIVE, including your Brand Growth Appraisal survey.
We will never share your information with third parties.
