The theologian William Ellery Channing once described the struggles of human advancement by asserting that “difficulties are meant to rouse, not discourage”. He was referring to the attitude one must embody to tackle some of history’s greatest global challenges: slavery, poverty, and war. Despite this sentiment being over 150 years old, I witnessed a similar conviction from modern-day business leaders when faced with extraordinary and unparalleled adversity in the last 18 months.

61% of high-growth brands are shifting to a first-party data strategy. What is a first-party data strategy? It’s a strategy that uses data collected directly with the unambiguous consent of customers. First-party data can come from a variety of online and offline interactions with customers. But in today’s digital world, first-party data often starts with first-party cookies. A first-party cookie is a code that automatically gets stored on a visitor’s computer when they browse a brand’s website. Sounds simple - so why are high-growth brands only beginning to shift to a first-party data strategy? Digital marketers have traditionally relied on a third-party data strategy, underpinned by third-party cookies. Third-party cookies are created by domains that are not from the website that you’re visiting. They can be added to any website that loads the third-party server’s code. This has enabled third-parties cookies to collect vast amounts of data. This broad reach has meant that third-party data has formed the bedrock of large scale digital marketing campaigns in recent years. It’s been transformative for brands because it’s allowed them to market to and re-target more current and prospective customers than ever before.

The past 18 months have fundamentally changed how government operates. Government services, from large central departments to local councils, have had a mission-critical requirement to deliver cloud-first services. This has rapidly accelerated migration to the cloud. But it has not been a journey without challenges and IT leaders in government have innovated at pace to utilise and maximise its potential.

Ann Roberts, Chief People Officer at Flo Health and ex-HR Director of Bumble, shares her lessons on how to effectively scale talent and culture in fast-growing tech businesses.

As we approach 2022, organisations are looking at long-term strategic approaches to enabling remote work. As IT and business leaders plan a vision for this new future, security and risk mitigation are at the top of their agendas. This shift also requires a new approach towards employee accessibility and trust. Nimbus Ninety and Ping Identity sat down with IT and security leaders to discuss their long-term plans of enabling work-from-anywhere and in particular, how their approaches to security and passwordless authentication.

Delivering frictionless CX has never been more important. In the last 18 months, we’ve seen widespread migration to online-first for customers across the globe. As a result, customer expectations online have rapidly shape-shifted. Today the customer experience really matters: 67% of customers claim they have higher CX standards than ever before. Yet simultaneously, 66% of enterprises say their customers demand stronger security and privacy. This presents a tricky question for business leaders. Should they prioritise a frictionless customer experience or a highly secure one?

Tech commentator Benedict Evans asked in 2018, “we hear that Tesla is ‘the new iPhone’ - what would that mean?... How do we think about whether something is disruptive? If it is, who exactly gets disrupted? And does that disruption mean that one company wins in the new world? Which one?”

Earlier this year, Rest of World published the stories of nine workers across the world who turned their homes into makeshift offices during the pandemic. They ranged from a logistics specialist in Kyrgyzstan, a chef in Bangkok, a marketing consultant in Bangladesh and an environmental campaigner in Seoul. Their jobs are varied, but the pain points are similar: distractions at home, less effective team collaboration, connectivity issues, blurred lines between work and personal lives.

Auto Trader is taking data to car-buying. Automobile “search” is a complicated task; and I wondered what lessons can be taken across from this area to other companies embarking on a journey with data science. Dr Peter Appleby has been leading the charge: he’s been with Auto Trader’s Data Science team for over five years, making him the perfect person to discuss the challenges of taking on Big Data.

Following on from Chief Disruptor LIVE: Virtual April 2021 where leaders focussed on recovery and growth from the global pandemic, Chief Disruptor LIVE October 2021 will take a look forwards to a post-pandemic business environment exploring how organisations can flourish in a brave new world. Although the uncertainty and struggles of the pandemic are far from over, our 2021 Digital Trends Report illustrated a newfound optimism amongst businesses. 64% of organisations see opportunities coming out of the impacts of the pandemic with only 16% considering there to be major threats to their organisations. With organisations now looking towards long-term fundamental change as opposed to short-term quick fixes, the prevailing mood in the year ahead is that organisations will no longer focus on surviving but thriving. The year ahead is set to be the chance for businesses to forge new realities out of fresh possibilities. From putting the customer first, to accelerating the journey to data maturity, to navigating hybrid-working and recruiting Gen Z, business and technology leaders are changing their priorities and harvesting the fortuity of the moment. We asked some of our speakers and supporting partners at Chief Disruptor LIVE October 2021 what their top tip is for thriving in a new world. Here’s what they had to say.