Privacy, Data And New Tech: Telling The Best Stories Means Collaborating

Innovation Privacy, Data And New Tech: Telling The Best Stories Means Collaborating Agur Jõgi Forbes Councils Member Forbes Technology Council COUNCIL POST Expertise from Forbes Councils members, operated under license. Opinions expressed are those of the author. | Membership (fee-based) Aug 10, 2022, 07:00am EDT | Share to Facebook Share to Twitter Share to Linkedin CTO of Pipedrive with expertise in scaling technology and organizations.

Experienced as an innovator, founder and C-level manager. getty The way the web works and how we market and sell to consumers is going to change dramatically in the next decade—Web3, the nascent metaverse, the death of cookies and Google’s canceled FLoCs (now pivoting to “Topics”). It’s a time of technology creativity and change.

Privacy and marketing are going to be reshaped when Chrome decides on how it will phase out advertising cookies. Then add in Apple’s own moves as it carves out a reputation for user privacy. Google’s dominance in the browser market will have far-reaching technology and marketing implications for CTOs and CMOs.

CTOs must be across the change. Some we will invest in to shape our own products and services, some will shape internal services—but all will shape the market. Technologies in marketing have become immeasurably more sophisticated since the early days of the web, but we have grown to depend on cookies—and, specifically, on clicking “OK.

” It’s an indictment of the process when our prospects and customers are resigned to dealing with these exchanges as a cost of entry to the web. It’s not only an issue for CTOs. Today’s marketing—including financial planning—is used to making decisions based on very accurate data.

In essence, each web user’s journey is tracked, which is increasingly at odds with the desire for privacy. The CTO and CMO must also take on the chief data officer to decide what and how much is ready to move from accurate to generalized data. There will soon be a staggering set of consumer choices from a variety of new platforms and activities to immerse in.

CTOs, company leaders and marketing and sales need to align so marketing can serve the business appropriately and technology can cleanly support these goals. This is extremely important as the consumer experience becomes immersive. Prospects cannot be turned off with heavy-handed permission requests—or with underhanded ones.

The way we navigate through emerging digital spaces cannot be the mess of cookies, permissions, data breaches and misapplied regulations. We must make the experience work better for all. MORE FOR YOU Google Issues Warning For 2 Billion Chrome Users Forget The MacBook Pro, Apple Has Bigger Plans Google Discounts Pixel 6, Nest & Pixel Buds In Limited-Time Sale Event Today, companies know when a customer came to a page, what they viewed, how long they clicked and where they navigated.

In the future, it may not be related to a unique user or visit. The CMO must learn to decide on imperfect data, and the CTO must ensure that the company knows the degree of data imperfection. Keep To Your Principles The world was intensely focused on the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) for a couple of years, yet the fifth anniversary went by with little fanfare.

For a few years, levels of concern were on a par with Y2K. However, any change in compliance, as with technologies like cookies, is a chance to prove commitment to principles. Any serious technology leader should encourage their teams to hold to a “north star.

” Keep it simple, for one. Aim for efficiency, measure twice and cut once. This is all plain, old-fashioned advice.

However, where principles are practical, logical and are focusing technology creators and providers on smart ways of working, take the advice. Codifying principles and returning to them, embodying them, can help the culture of your organization live them. Developers, software engineers, salespeople, marketers—each team should understand at every moment of uncertainty that if they take the action in accordance with the right principles, the results are immaterial.

They will have done the right thing. That’s what really matters to customers. Take GDPR again.

When new regulations are mooted, the wise leader researches, considers and seeks to turn moments of change into ways to boost the likelihood of success. Every moment of change is a moment to focus on adapting and improving the people, processes and technology at your disposal. Every crisis is a chance to become stronger.

Decide on the principles that can help your organization and business teams flourish, and maintain their autonomy while they achieve success. Relish The Challenge New technologies—from the growing popularity of VR in consumer and specialist fields to the growth of online worlds that may become the metaverse (or a set of metaverses)—are likely to provide a continuing set of moments of focus and challenge. These are likely to come fast, so tech leaders who don’t relish the challenge and aren’t enthused by the cycle of change, adaptation and improvement may not stay the course.

Those C-suite executives who move jobs every one to three years are unlikely to help organizations maintain agility and the right momentum to face shock after shock as technology and regulation beat a faster rhythm of change. Encourage A Sense Of Adventure Make no mistake, this is a journey into the unknown. In the lifetime of a CTO, technology has changed several times over, and technology has become central to the success and growth of virtually every organization.

Most businesses are incredibly alert to the advent of new technologies. Analysts and developers have become like rockstars bringing in the innovations to power business hypergrowth. Map Your Plans To The Best Representation Of Reality Be alert to signals of change.

Review and revise plans regularly, but strike a balance between change and constancy. The best way to do that is to rely on great data. Reliable market, customer and business data will only grow in importance.

Using the best technologies to ingest and provide understanding will become a crucial differentiator. Make this central to every decision-making process. Tell The Best Stories Your team buys into the company mission and roadmap.

Your customers buy into your creative vision and delivery . Our ability to tell great stories motivates all stakeholders, and this is true of CTOs. Privacy, data, technology—it’s an exciting adventure story.

Demonstrating that to users is vital. Using technology to tell these stories is central to the modern experience. Design and use your principles to ensure that each of these factors works for your organization to lead in what is sure to be the most turbulent decade in its history.

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