Technologies to me are like fashion. There’s always a new one and they have a life cycle and then the old ones come back into vogue.
Jason Goth is Partner & CTO of Credera, a global boutique consulting firm focused on strategy, transformation, data and technology with 3,000 consultants worldwide. Credera was recognized by Forbes as one of 2022’s World’s Best Management Consulting Firms.
In his role as Chief Technology Officer, Goth helps clients deliver complex technology solutions and adopt emerging technology based on a data-driven approach. He has over 25 years of experience in technology consulting with an emphasis on product architecture and strategy.
In this episode of Velocitize Talks, Jason Goth shares his thoughts on emerging technologies, enterprise consulting, and data privacy.
Emergent Marketing
Marketing is increasingly dependent on technology for almost everything we do, whether that’s generating content or messaging or determining who to target with what message.
As CTO at Credera, Goth works closely with clients to help them adopt new and disruptive technologies, such as AI (artificial intelligence) and maching learning. These solutions can then be adapted to the overall marketing strategy around it. While updating legacy systems, for example, can be challenging, it’s imperative to encourage businesses to change the way they think about, and work with, that new technology.
Credera employs a Technology Strategy Framework to provide structure for implementing emerging technologies based on a data-driven approach. This framework incorporates transformational leadership, organizational alignment, and modern product architecture and design. It’s critical to start with a clear business goal, such as an e-commerce strategy, and build from there.
Credera worked with one leading athletic retailer looking to create a smoother in-store customer experience by improving operational cost efficiencies. Credera leveraged AR (augmented reality) and machine learning models to develop their product solution. In addition, these solutions laid the foundation for any additional AR developments in the future.
Making Brands Relatable
The two biggest impacts on marketing and brands right now are two sides of a coin that kind of pull against each other: one is personalization and the other one is privacy.
One of Credera’s clients was a large restaurant chain needing to improve the quality of their software deliverables while reducing time-to-market. “Their [initial] problem was their inability to adapt to changes,” Goth says. “It’s a really difficult change for companies who in technology have always been measured on pretty much two things: Is the project on time, and is it on budget.”
Obviously a key component of brand strategy is storytelling. The right content can showcase brand authenticity and leverage personalization in order to connect with customers.
Balancing Marketing and Privacy
It’s a huge concern for CMOs and it’s a very uncertain environment because who knows what legislation you’re getting.
Credera recently released “The Savvy CMO Survey,” which focuses on data privacy, data collection, and third-party cookies as it relates to marketing. A major challenge for businesses is to alleviate the growing concerns of consumers regarding their privacy and personal information.
“There’s a real challenge there with legislation, the deprecation of a lot of the third-party cookies, and a lot of the the mobile changes that are restricting what can be measured,” Goth says. “Companies have to start looking at first-party data and away from these third-party sources. I think marketers are going to be really stuck in the middle of those two things.”
Open-Source Adoption
I think open source is a huge digital accelerator.
When you compare proprietary solutions to open source, it becomes clear that an open-source solution lends itself more to longevity; it can easily adapt to needed website changes and revisions. In addition, you’ll have complete control of your company’s data.
“The open-source community really drives a lot of [innovations] because you get millions of people and millions of ideas to work on,” Goth says. For instance, the WordPress community at large fosters collaboration in developing new plugins, themes and design features, available to all.
To learn more about Credera, visit their website and follow them on LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter at @credera. To keep up with Jason Goth, follow him on LinkedIn.