Today there are one billion transistors for each and every human on this planet. There are one billion people on the internet, 200 billion e-mails are sent every day, three million new blog posts per day, 10 million tweets per year and 3.5 billion new pieces of Facebook content per week.

A typical business worker can spend 19 hours per week searching for information and one in three business leaders frequently make critical business decisions with incomplete information or information they don’t trust.

All aspects of the world we live in are constantly changing. Some of those changes are pertinent to our business, some are not. But do we always anticipate how those changes affect our business? A lack of anticipation in the direction our business should take generally results in static or declining profits. This changing world affects our business in two main areas, pressures from business aspects and pressures from customers.

From business aspect, competition is always increasing. Our competitors are no longer the other businesses down the road, but from anywhere in the world. The use of technology and the comfort both business customers and consumers have with long distance purchasing, puts a direct squeeze on profit margins. Compounding this is a cost infrastructure which is hard to lessen. Adhering to new legislation adds cost.

In addition older IT systems tend to be costly to maintain, and then expensive to access the type of information business leaders need to anticipate change. It is amazing how frequently businesses cut spending on IT in times of decreasing profits, leaving only enough money to maintain existing systems. The data businesses hold is unique and of great value in spotting trends and opportunities enabling it to be nimble and smart.

Customers may be other businesses or consumers, but what is common to both is the fact that this is the area of fastest change. Customers today demand self-service. Customers want to be able to do business at a time and place that suits them. Even the consistency of service is important. Doing business with a self-service terminal or through the internet is consistent. One will never get a grumpy member of staff or indifference in a phone call. Everyone now has expectations of first class service. If they cannot get it from one business, then they are quick to move to another. But it also needs to be personalised to the individual. A customer who stays with a business is more likely to spend a greater amount of money and will shop around less. But all it takes is one member of staff’s comment, or an indifferent response to the customer’s request, to make them look elsewhere.

Another radical change is in the way of company advertising. Traditionally the business was in charge of the message which its customers receive. The business created a corporate message which they would feed out to their customers using a medium and timeframe which they controlled. Today this has far less impact and it is the customer who is now in control, checking the internet for information and product reviews before committing to a purchase, online or in person.

Where business does have an influence is in the use of social media or, in particular, being responsive to online comments and criticism. Some interesting statistics from The Retail Consumer Report published by Harris last January revealed that 68 per cent of consumers in the US who posted a complaint or negative review on a social networking or review site got a response from the retailer, which led to 18 per cent of them becoming loyal customers and buying more.

Receiving a response meant 33 per cent went back and posted a positive review, and 34 percent deleted their original negative review. However 61 per cent of consumers would be surprised if a retailer responded to their negative comments on the social web.

So what should we imply from this? Business needs to think differently. It is intelligence and not intuition which drives innovation and helps to move a business forward. The world is a different place today and it is vital that a business can react dynamically to this changing business and consumer landscape. One of the few unique tools each business has is the information it keeps. This is often unstructured and difficult to interpret.

One needs to have IT systems in place to provide frequent snapshots on the status of your business. Customers demand self-service, quality and personalisation. Technology is there to assist your business in these challenges.

www.ptl.com.mt

Mr Muscat is the manager for corporate solutions at Philip Toledo Ltd, provider of IT business solutions.