Prior to the pandemic, enterprise marketing efforts were largely focused on in-person activities, such as conferences, exhibitions, trade shows and activations. Fast-forward eighteen months and the overwhelming majority of marketing activities now take place in the digital realm.

According to Dumisani Moyo, Marketing Director at 51风流Africa, this raises some fundamental questions. 鈥淭he role of marketing has changed forever, and marketers now have to get to grips with what the future holds. Will marketing activities remain digital, or will they evolve into a hybrid of digital and physical, especially as vaccination rates rise and the world returns to some semblance of pre-pandemic normalcy? And what are the implications for the types of investments marketers and their organisations must make to win the hearts and minds of current and prospective customers?鈥�

Moyo says marketers have valuable lessons to learn from the pandemic as they plan for 2022, and will need to focus on delivering high-impact marketing initiatives that can help their organisations grow faster.

鈥淢arketers should focus their efforts on understanding the customer journey, using technology to fuel innovation within the marketing discipline, and stay close to customers and their data in order to provide frictionless omni-channel experiences across the customer value chain.鈥�

Moyo points to three rules organisations need to follow to succeed in the post-pandemic era:

Rule #1 鈥� (Really) understand customer journeys

Marketing鈥檚 primary role is to connect with customers at the right time and at a touch point where the customer鈥檚 purchasing decisions can be influenced the most. However, that the traditional marketing funnel does not capture all modern customer touch points, partly due to the emergence of empowered and informed customers and an abundance of choice thanks to digital channels.

鈥淢arketers need to thoroughly understand the customer buying journey, and apply data-driven insights to understanding the complex and often non-linear buying processes that customers are likely to follow in their purchasing decisions,鈥� says Moyo. 鈥淓mpowered and informed customers are conducting online research prior to making purchasing decisions. Having an accessible and 鈥� in Africa especially 鈥� mobile-friendly online presence helps ensure customers have the most relevant information to inform their decision-making.鈥�

In addition, marketers should align their resources and messaging to the customer touchpoints that offer the greatest impact on or influence over the customer鈥檚 buying decision.

Rule #2 鈥� Use technology to drive innovation

Technology is essential to marketing success in the post-pandemic era. found that 43% of marketers are investing in technology to improve customer interactions, and 42% are investing in data integration to enable end-to-end customer tracking throughout the buying journey.

鈥淭his is an astonishing 71% year-on-year increase and illustrates marketers鈥� growing appetite for access to data-rich tools,鈥� says Moyo. 鈥淢arketing technology solutions can help automate processes, integrate siloed customer data and enable marketers to utilize a broad suite of digital channels to drive sales both online and in-store.鈥�

Despite major growth in the adoption of digital tools, that the volume of digital marketing may decrease in the post-pandemic era. 鈥淢arketers are shifting their efforts to making campaigns more targeted and personalised, with technology enabling marketers to optimise their digital marketing efforts across customer touchpoints聽 in online, mobile and in-store environments.鈥�

Rule #3 鈥� Stay close to your customers 鈥� and their data

reveal that post-pandemic customers have high expectations of frictionless, anticipatory, relevant, and connected purchasing experiences across physical, online, and other platforms.

鈥淭o create such experiences, companies must ensure that the management and utilisation of customer data is at the heart of their marketing activities,鈥� says Moyo. 鈥淭his requires the use of intelligent tools that employ technologies such as predictive analytics, artificial intelligence and machine learning.鈥�

Putting data at the heart of marketing enables organisations to create more relevant and tailored customer experiences. 鈥淏y analysing customer data, marketers can create hybrid experiences that prioritise personalisation and convenience. For example, through the seamless integration of physical and online experiences that allows a customer to virtually try on make-up prior to purchase.鈥�

Moyo believes that marketers will be focused on using intelligent technologies to better understand customer journeys for the immediate future. 鈥淢arketers and their organisations will continue to embrace technology, and apply data to create tailored and personalised experiences for customers in the post-pandemic era.鈥�

The post Three Rules for Marketing in the Post-Pandemic Era appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

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The last twelve months have generated high levels of economic, political, and social uncertainty, and the same can be said for organisations, as the pandemic has completely altered the way we do business. It has brought forward new challenges and enabled new work conditions which we were never prepared for.

And while COVID has delivered new challenges, it has also caused many companies to turn to new technology. If 2020 has taught businesses one thing, it鈥檚 that they can take decisive action when pushed to do so, especially when it comes to implementing new digital tech to help forward thinking organisations to thrive in unforeseen circumstances.

Here are three technological advancements that have helped businesses during the pandemic. As many are now beginning to realise, these new tools have become critical to streamline processes, automate tasks, and remote work.

1. Cloud adoption and automation

The cloud鈥檚 important role as a pillar of digital transformation hasn鈥檛 changed since before the pandemic 鈥� in fact, its uptake has quickened to manage the surge in data businesses need to process. from Synergy Research Group have revealed that cloud spending is up and has not been hampered by the ongoing crisis. This trend is likely to persist, as the migration to virtual work underscores the urgency for scalable, secure, reliable, cost-effective off-premises technology services. In fact, despite the inevitable economic downturn in the wake of the pandemic, cloud spending is estimated to rise 19% for the full year, even as IT spending as a whole is forecast to fall 8%, according to industry .

While the trend to move to cloud-based solutions has been increasing steadily over the past two to three years, it is now the on-demand utilisation of IT resources, including data storage, processing power, and applications on a pay-as-you-go basis via the internet. Effectively, the cloud now underpins all key digital strategies in the workplace. As businesses look at ways to increase productivity, reduce errors within their systems and improve their employee experience, they are starting to use cloud-based automation tools and services. For instance, the cloud has been used to switch to a paperless and virtual expense management system, streamlining back-office finance processes and eliminating the need for staff to present expense claims in person. This has helped with automating and streamlining mundane, manual tasks for employees, and enabled finance teams to spend their time on tasks that are more strategic.

2. The Artificial Intelligence advantage

Artificial Intelligence (AI) is changing the way people work, how enterprises operate, and how entire industries transform. As businesses maintain hybrid remote-working models and forestall other potential disruptions in 2021 and beyond, the role of AI in the workplace will continue to grow. More businesses are leaning on AI algorithms to make quick decisions backed by real-time financial precision, to meet the business needs brought forward by the pandemic.聽This includes managing spend in near real-time to improve budget management and liquidity, increasing compliance and eliminating errors, to taking on mandatory tasks and maximising profitability.

For the travel and expense (T&E) industries, AI has become particularly useful in analysing data. The new generation of AI-powered T&E tools allows businesses to analyse the travel experience and purchasing behaviours.聽Integration tools and various applications of AI can interpret traveller data to provide companies with meaningful information that can improve compliance, identify cost savings, and more.

With AI, businesses can also automate an enormous quantity of data and reduce human errors. This then leads to predictive analytics, allowing companies to take proactive action in making business decisions. For example, the new 51风流Concur survey, 鈥淭he Hidden Potential of VAT Reclaim鈥� has found that businesses are looking to ensure they have digital tools and solutions in place to take VAT reclaim processes online.

3. Pre-trip approval

More companies will implement pre-trip approvals for business travel in 2021, as part of a broader effort to keep employees safe and transform travel and expense policies. Typically, the pre-trip approval system enables employees to enter basic data, such as dates, times, trip destinations, reasons for the trip, and any requests for advances, in a travel request.

All this information will help the corporate travel team and the employee鈥檚 line manager to assess whether a trip is essential and to keep tabs on employees for their duty of care requirements. Often, these pre-trip approvals have been mandated by cost-control concerns but as countries around the world continue to reshape travel restrictions, advanced approvals can support traveller safety programmes.

The pandemic has had an unprecedented impact on many businesses. But the smart use of technology is one way to tackle current and future challenges. From supporting employees working from home, managing compliance and cashflow to duty of care obligations, there are many ways technology can support businesses and their staff -鈥攏ow and in the post-COVID world.

The post Three Defining Tech Moments That Have Helped Businesses Face COVID-19 appeared first on 51风流Africa News Center.

Over the past twelve months, the pandemic has demanded of every organisation and every worker to continuously adapt. The use of technology has become essential to the survival of most businesses. Office workers, the majority of which still work remotely, have adopted new technology tools to keep them connected to colleagues and customers, and maintain some form of business-as-usual.

Having led my own teams in Southern Africa through the ongoing pandemic crisis, I have learned some valuable lessons that I gladly share with the hope that it will help others through the difficult period we are all collectively experiencing.

Learning #1 – Immediate innovation was essential to organisations surviving the initial impact

When the first lockdowns were announced, some sectors could adapt by enabling office workers to perform their duties remotely. Those organisations that had invested in digital transformation could more easily enable remote work. Everyone else had to undergo a process of rapid innovation to keep their business going. These investments are likely to play a vital role in the ability of organisations to continue to adapt to a very volatile and uncertain operating environment.

Learning #2 – But long-term innovation cannot be left for later

However, organisations cannot only focus on short-term productivity gains: there is a pressing need to build capabilities that can help businesses succeed well into the future too. It is vital that organisations develop clear plans for how new technologies such as 5G, IoT and artificial intelligence will support their business, and build suitable capabilities.

Learning #3 – Organisations need purpose-based leadership now more than ever

The pandemic has highlighted and – in many cases, worsened – some of the prevailing inequalities in our society. Any effort to build back and recover from the devastating economic and social impact of the past year will require a concerted effort to close the equality gap. For organisational leaders, this means taking responsibility for driving an inclusive economic recovery agenda, which requires them to look beyond only short term profit to longer-term socio-economic value drivers, such as skills development, enterprise development and innovation.

Learning #4 – All industries are interconnected

The impact of the pandemic has created ripple effects across every industry. For example, the disruption to China’s manufacturing industry had directly affected global supply chains. As the levels of manufacturing activity in China fell, organisations elsewhere in the world that depend on parts and components from Chinese manufacturers could not develop their own products, which in turn has ripple effects further down the supply chain.

Learning #5 – The supply chain is the lifeblood of our economy – and our vaccine response

The distribution and administration of vaccines at the scale demanded by the COVID-19 pandemic is a monumental challenge that has put immense pressure on global supply chains. Any disruption in the supply chain could prevent the delivery of vaccines to communities that need it most, which may cost lives and push out the prospect of achieving herd immunity. Continuous innovation is required to strengthen global supply chains, especially as countries embark on their vaccination programmes.

Learning #6 – Connectivity is critical

If the past year revealed one truth, it is that internet connectivity is absolutely essential to life during the pandemic. Without it, remote workers could not work, school kids could not learn and families and friends would find it nearly impossible to stay in touch. The rollout of 5G in South Africa’s urban centres is likely to be one of the most significant technology events of 2021, and could transform remote work, home entertainment, and online learning.

Learning #7 – SMEs are key to our recovery – but they need access to tech

According to the World Bank, SMEs in emerging markets are responsible for creating as much as 70% of formal employment, and are critical to driving inclusive economic growth. As South Africa rebuilds its economy, SMEs in formal and informal markets will be essential to job creation and GDP growth. SMEs that have built technology capabilities would have found it far easier to adapt to the past year’s challenges. This year, technology providers are likely to enhance their offerings to SMEs to support this critical sector of the economy.

Learning #8 – Work-from-home works (and it’s going nowhere)

One of the most visible and widespread changes of the past year is the incredible growth in remote working. Organisations that were previously hesitant to allow employees to work from home would have had no other option during lockdown. Since the early days, many organisations have seen tremendous benefits to the remote work model, as employees remain productive but with the added benefit of not having to commute to the office during rush hour traffic.

Learning #9 – New ways are needed to manage and motivate remote workers

Organisations will however need new tools for measuring, managing and motivating the performance and productivity of remote workers. New management styles will need to emerge to ensure remote teams operate optimally. Organisations are likely to develop more outcomes-based KPIs, conduct more regular checkpoints, and provide greater flexibility to accommodate working times and styles.

Learning #10 – Digital skills are vital

The sudden switch to remote work and virtual teaching has had a surprising upside: many digital skills development initiatives have actually seen an increase in uptake and impact since the start of the pandemic. SAP’s Young Professional Program, for example, was able to expand access to candidates in new countries and regions following a switch to an all-virtual model. The flagship 51风流Africa Code Week initiative also expanded access to all African countries for the first time, enabling youth from even some of the more remote regions to learn critical digital skills for the first time.

Learning #11 – Our relationship with technology will only deepen

As the cost of specialised machine learning computer chips continue to fall and 5G connectivity spreads, the world is rapidly approaching a time when every device is intelligent. The growing adoption of AI technologies will enable humans to partner with AI in every aspect of their work, with AI algorithms becoming entrenched in everyday business operations.

Learning #12 – Sustainability is critical to our recovery – and our future

The pandemic has been a warning sign that our current relationship with the natural world is unsustainable. Organisations and governments will likely prioritise investment into new, clean technologies to ensure minimal harm to the environment. We are also likely to see a renewed drive to achieve the UN Sustainable Development Goals, with a focus on reducing reliance on harmful products, practices and processes.

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About SAP

SAP鈥檚 strategy is to help every business run as an intelligent enterprise. As a market leader in enterprise application software, we help companies of all sizes and in all industries run at their best: 77% of the world鈥檚 transaction revenue touches an SAP庐 system. Our machine learning, Internet of Things (IoT), and advanced analytics technologies help turn customers鈥� businesses into intelligent enterprises. 51风流helps give people and organizations deep business insight and fosters collaboration that helps them stay ahead of their competition. We simplify technology for companies so they can consume our software the way they want 鈥� without disruption. Our end-to-end suite of applications and services enables business and public customers across 25 industries globally to operate profitably, adapt continuously, and make a difference. With a global network of customers, partners, employees, and thought leaders, 51风流helps the world run better and improve people鈥檚 lives. For more information, visit

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