ThoughtLab Featured

In today’s rapidly digitizing marketplace, a bank’s growth and competitiveness depends on its ability to innovate rapidly and safely.

 

That can be a complex balancing act, since faster digital innovation often exposes banks to greater technology, cyber, and operational risks, as well as regulatory scrutiny. The winners are those best equipped to handle both the upside and the downside of innovation and to weather disruptions.

To understand how banks manage technology risk in a period of accelerated digital transformation, ServiceNow and ThoughtLab conducted a comprehensive survey of 750 banking executives in March-May of 2023. The study explored the best practices, challenges, and performance benefits around improving technology risk management and resilience.

The 750 executives came from 12 countries across three global regions. Respondents included a mix of C-Suite executives and direct reports knowledgeable about the risk management practices of their institutions. The study included banks with assets that range from $1 billon to over $1 trillion.

Trends in monitoring technology for built and natural environments

Access report here.

This report provides a global snapshot of condition monitoring and how organizations drive value through automation and digitization, along with the challenges they face.This timely analysis provides actionable insights to help both end users and service providers identify opportunities in 2023 and beyond.

Companies that build or service large infrastructure installations such as dams, mines, and transportation facilities must monitor the conditions within—and surrounding—those installations to look for signs of possible structural failure or environmental degradation. In today’s world, where both regulators and the public are paying closer attention to safety and the environment, automated, real-time measurement and management are critical. 

To understand current and future condition monitoring trends and practices among both service providers and asset owners, Bentley Systems commissioned ThoughtLabto conduct a global survey of 500 companies in the first quarter of 2023.Survey respondents included a mix of C-suite executives and other senior managers, aswell as technical managers and technical staff knowledgeable about condition monitoring in their organizations. These executives worked in six  sectors across five countries. Company sizes ranged from under 100 employees to over 1,000.

The study found that automation of condition monitoring is growing as companies embrace connected sensor technology that reduces the need for frequent manual sampling. By moving to automated monitoring, organizations can increase the scope of their monitoring activities, track more parameters, integrate data with other sources, build transparency, and monitor trends in real time. However, some organizations may see challenges in implementation around lack of skills, knowledge, and technology limitations.

For companies that overcome these challenges, the rewards can be high, with some organizations citing returns of over $1 million.  

Sustainability continues to be a priority for businesses worldwide. Yet, while a majority claim their plans are on track, the reality is more complex.

In a recent study among 1,000 global businesses by Hitachi Vantara and ThoughtLab, the data center is identified as a focal point for decarbonization, though many don’t fully understand the impact the data center has on their overall carbon footprint. Additionally, nearly half report cloud migration is the primary approach to reducing data center CO2 emissions. This highlights a common misconception that shifting workloads from data centers to the cloud addresses the problem. As a result, many place a lower priority on approaches such as moving to high-performance data infrastructure, even though this has proven to be more immediate and cost-effective.

The study did reveal there are a growing number of leaders who think differently and recognize that modern data infrastructure is pivotal in driving sustainability forward. Companies that aim to boost their environmental performance would be well-served by pursuing the same infrastructure strategy to stay ahead.

In tough times, companies do better when they do good.

Smart companies understand that taking environmental, social, and governance (ESG) matters seriously isn’t just the right thing for our planet. It’s smart business.

It’s never been clearer that the right ESG strategy can help a company control costs, drive growth, and manage risk. In today’s unsettled economic environment, ESG champions are positioned to come out on top. Perhaps that’s why so many companies proudly state their intentions to take on the toughest problems of our time.

But the world needs more than just noble intentions. It’s time to turn intent into impact.Fortunately, organizations have never been better equipped to be bold. As an experienced auditor and finance professional, I know that you can’t manage what you can’t measure. Digital technology gives companies the tools to understand their impact and help them achieve their ESG goals. To be sure, technology isn’t enough. Success also requires strategic acumen and committed and passionate people. The human element is essential.

In the spring issue of Workflow Quarterly, ServiceNow makes the case that organizations can generate meaningful and proven value for all only by bringing all these elements together.

In collaboration with ServiceNow and ThoughtLab we surveyed 1,000 global C-level executives about what steps they’re taking to meet today’s pressing ESG challenges. The results are clear: The most successful companies aren’t just setting targets. They’re intelligently deploying emerging tech to make real progress.

As IT gains increasing responsibility for customer experiences, cloud, cybersecurity, and observability are emerging as key areas of investment.

Elastic and ThoughtLab conducted a global survey of 800 executives in September–October of 2022 to understand how companies and public entities derive value from building a modern data and IT infrastructure. The survey also examined how organizations use technology to improve digital customer experience and trust.

Survey respondents included a mix of c-suite executives, including CIOs, CTOs, and CISOs, and IT decision-makers, such as VPs of Security, IT, Data, Engineering, and Business Operations. These executives worked in eight industries: financial services, healthcare, manufacturing, media and entertainment, public sector, retail and e-commerce, telecommunications, and technology. They were based in eight countries: Australia, Brazil, France, Germany, Japan, Netherlands, United Kingdom, and United States.

In addition to the quantitative survey, ThoughtLab interviewed 10 executives from various industries responsible for IT in their companies to gather qualitative insights about how their organizations are harnessing data and using a modernized IT infrastructure to boost their performance.