Trends Identified
Split Testing Via ML
Split testing, or A/B testing, has helped companies increase conversions for their businesses across the board. I think we’re going to see an advancement with split testing thanks to machine learning. For example, instead of manually designing different layouts of a website and seeing which one performs better, different layouts would be shown to different customers automatically.
2018
2019 Tech Forecast: 11 Experts Predict The Next Wave Of Breakout Technologies
Forbes
Competing in an age of divergance
Over the past 20 years CEOs have witnessed tremendous upheavals as a result of globalisation and technological change. Both were core to our enquiries when we conducted our first Annual Global CEO Survey back in 1997. Since then, trade flows have quadrupled and global internet traffic has risen by a factor of 17.5 million.1 The twin forces of globalisation and technological progress have helped to boost living standards and lessen inequality between countries.2 And, in what’s perhaps the most remarkable achievement of all, they’ve lifted a billion people out of extreme poverty.3 But greater convergence has come with greater divergence, as CEOs have long predicted. In 2009, when we first asked CEOs about the risks associated with various global trends, 46% thought governments would become more protectionist; 73% expected other countries to challenge the G8’s dominance; and 76% anticipated a rise in political and religious tensions. And by the time we published our last survey in January 2016, most CEOs foresaw a world in which multiple beliefs, value systems, laws and liberties, banking systems and trading blocs would prevail (see Figure 1).
2017
20th Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Managing man and machine
Some worry that globalisation will take away their jobs and they’re even more nervous about the impact of technology. Twenty years ago, there were fewer than 700,000 industrial robots worldwide; today, there are 1.8 million, and the number could soar to 2.6 million by 2019.9 Manufacturing output has simultaneously risen, but employment in the sector has fallen in various advanced economies.10 Technology has been one – although by no means the only – cause of these changes. Robots are now entering the services arena; 3-D printing can be used to make cars and aircraft; biotechnology will change the way we grow crops, produce food and manufacture medicines; and nanotechnology and artificial intelligence (AI) will affect numerous industries. All this could happen much more quickly than we expect. Just look at the advent of self-driving trucks to make deliveries, or Amazon’s new Go store, which uses technology to track what customers put in their shopping carts and bill them automatically when they walk out, eliminating the need for human cashiers.11
2017
20th Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Gaining from connectivity without losing trust
Twenty years ago, trust wasn’t as high on the business radar as it is today. In fact, we didn’t survey CEOs about it until 2002, when the business community was reeling from accounting fraud scandals, the bursting of the dotcom bubble and the collapse of the equity markets. With hindsight, it seems hard to believe that only 12% of CEOs thought public trust in companies in their country had greatly declined, and only 29% thought the fallout from corporate misdeeds was a serious threat. Since then, the financial crisis has catapulted trust into the limelight, and the after-effects of stagnant economic growth and spiralling debt levels continue to fuel a climate of mistrust. The impact on CEOs has been significant: in 2013, 37% worried that lack of trust in business would harm their company’s growth. This year, the number has jumped to 58%. The breakdown in public trust now poses a potent risk to political, economic and social systems the world over.
2017
20th Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Making globalisation work for all
For the past 20 years CEOs have been largely positive about the impacts of globalisation on their businesses and markets. But, by 2007, they were beginning to express reservations about the short-term effects on society. CEOs are still ambivalent. Today the vast majority believe that globalisation has helped to free up flows of money, people, goods and information, facilitate universal connectivity and create a skilled workforce. Yet a significant number say it’s done nothing to mitigate climate change, promote the development of fairer tax systems or close the gap between rich and poor (see Figure 14).
2017
20th Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Reality check
Last year saw a record jump in optimism regarding global growth prospects in 2018, and this exuberance translated across regions. This year, by contrast, saw a record jump in pessimism, with nearly 30% of CEOs projecting a decline in global economic growth, up from a mere 5% last year. CEOs also reported a noteworthy dip in confidence in their own organisations’ revenue prospects over the short (12-month) and medium (three-year) term. If CEOs’ confidence continues to be a leading indicator, global economic growth will slow down in 2019.
2019
22nd Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Look inside-out for growth
Across the survey rang a general theme of hunkering down as CEOs adapt to the strong nationalist and populist sentiment sweeping the globe. The threats they consider most pressing are less existential (e.g. terrorism, climate change) and more related to the ease of doing business in the markets where they operate (e.g. overregulation, policy uncertainty, availability of key skills, trade conflicts). When asked to identify the most attractive foreign markets for investment, CEOs are narrowing their choices and expressing more uncertainty.
2019
22nd Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Mind the information and skills gaps
In addition to the fault lines developing geopolitically, CEOs are working to bridge the gaps in their own capabilities. Organisations are struggling to translate a deluge of data into better decision making. There is a shortage of skilled talent to clean, integrate, and extract value from big data and move beyond baby steps toward artificial intelligence (AI). One of the more striking findings in this year’s survey was the fact that — despite billions of dollars of investment1 and priority positioning on the C-suite agenda — the gap between the information CEOs need and what they get has not closed in the past ten years.
2019
22nd Annual global CEO survey
PWC
Individual empowerment
Over the next 15 to 20 years, continued giving from groups like the World Health Organization and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will lift millions of people out of poverty, the report found, to the extent that the majority of the world's population will no longer be impoverished. This new wealth will produce millions more empowered individuals that will have the means to add to local and national economies. The report hedged slightly, however, because more empowered people will also have greater access to lethal weapons and networks, which is "a capability formerly the monopoly of states."
2017
4 mega-trends that could change the world by 2030
World Economic Forum (WEF)
Diffusion of power
Developing countries in Asia will become more prominent world powers compared to North American and European nations. "China alone will probably have the largest economy, surpassing that of the United States a few years before 2030," the report explained. "In a tectonic shift, the health of the global economy increasingly will be linked to how well the developing world does — more so than the traditional West." In other words, having the most money or people won't necessarily keep a country powerful if others are more adept at staying connected to data and resources.
2017
4 mega-trends that could change the world by 2030
World Economic Forum (WEF)