Tackling tech business priorities in a time of economic uncertainty
AUTHOR
Explore five actionable tips to confidently manage and meet your tech company’s strategic objectives in an unpredictable market.
For the tech software industry, constant change is one of the few things you can count on. SaaS companies face an amalgam of daunting challenges, including competitive innovations, shifting customer expectations, workforce reductions, and talent retention. To ensure operational efficiency and profitable growth in this tight and uncertain economy, you need the right insight to manage and mitigate them.
Some of the top business priorities across the technology industry include:
Keeping pace with innovation
Are you keeping pace with the rapid technological advancements in the tech industry? How are you leveraging strategic planning tools to fuel growth and optimize costs?
The speed of advancement in the tech software industry is exponential. A recent McKinsey report states that 56% of businesses find that their digital transformation initiatives failed to deliver the anticipated returns on investment1. The complexity of integrating systems and processes leads to inefficiencies that often result in manual processes and poor decision-making.
Advanced Connected Planning solutions and services are becoming increasingly integral. Providing a real-time, collaborative environment, these tools allow businesses, such as Electronic Arts, to strategically allocate resources, conduct “what-if” analyses, and swiftly respond to market changes. According to Gartner, by 2024, 70% of new planning and analysis investments will be in solutions powered by predictive and prescriptive analytics2, underscoring the growing need for such tools.
Developing a data-driven revenue strategy
Are real-time data and predictive analytics an integral part of your market segmentation strategy?
According to the Sales Management Association, companies with effective sales planning are four times more likely to meet sales objectives. But in today’s dynamic and competitive tech landscape, effective sales planning requires more than just setting quotas and hoping for the best. The key lies in unlocking the power of market segmentation and predictive insights to tailor your approach and maximize your success.
The idea is to combine your known, first-party data with extensive third-party information that you’re less sure about (e.g., firmographic, technographic, and intent data) and then analyze it with advanced AI algorithms to generate valuable predictive insights. These insights provide a holistic view of your customer and the intelligence needed to prioritize your sales and marketing efforts, uncover new sales opportunities, and build integrated go-to-market plans.
By embracing segmentation and predictive insights, you can transform your sales planning from a guessing game into a data-driven strategic masterpiece.
Rethinking the budget
As economic uncertainty necessitates tighter control on budgets, how is your organization navigating this challenge? Are you utilizing an integrated approach to drive efficiency and profitability?
The tight macroeconomic climate is pushing tech companies to scrutinize their budgets closely. Sales teams understand that they must be more precise in their work and more effective at extracting value from their efforts and processes. According to a McKinsey CEO Excellence survey, 76% of CEOs say that reducing operating expenses is a priority in response to economic uncertainty. According to Crunchbase, the technology sector cut nearly 200,000 jobs in 20233.
In a time when its essential to do more with less, advanced financial planning software can help provide clear visibility across the financial landscape, driving efficiency and profitability. According to Forrester, integrated planning tools can lead to cost savings of up to 20%4.
The best financial planning tools support an integrated approach, combining financial, sales, marketing, supply chain, operations, and workforce planning. They also allow scenario planning and real-time budget adjustments, enabling businesses to react quickly to change.
Overcoming business silos
Is your organization effectively utilizing advanced planning tools to eliminate operational silos? How has this impacted your operational efficiency and competitiveness?
Operational silos obstruct decision-making and resource allocation, inhibiting growth. As per a recent Deloitte report, 94% of executives believe that removing silos is critical to their business success5.
Advanced planning tools break down operational silos, streamline operations, and enhance competitiveness. With their centralized data model, these tools provide a sole source of truth, fostering cross-functional collaboration.
Managing talent effectively
With the challenges of talent scarcity6, capacity issues, and skillset development, how is your business managing talent effectively? Are workforce and capacity planning solutions helping you predict future talent needs and manage staffing requirements?
Gartner reports that 63% of HR leaders struggle to build a future-ready workforce due to skills gaps and talent scarcity. Businesses need to develop forward-looking talent strategies while balancing cost constraints.
Advanced workforce and capacity planning solutions predict future talent needs, identify skill gaps, and manage staffing requirements. Additionally, they provide scenario planning capabilities, aligning workforce plans with operational strategies and financial budgets.
The value of Connected Planning in tackling tech priorities
These five priorities intersect in a number of ways that underscore the need for comprehensive and integrated business planning solutions. Top tech companies are turning to Connected Planning solutions to help tackle their business complexities in an agile manner that improves operational efficiency, substantially reduces costs, and paves the way to competitive success.
Learn more
To learn more about how Connected Planning empowers tech leaders to meet their strategic objectives in an unpredictable market, check out the following resources:
- Whitepaper: CIO’s guide to becoming a strategic business executive
- Analyst report: The rising expectations for finance analytics
- Video: How HP and Synopsys are driving organizational transformation
1McKinsey Digital. (2021). Unlocking success in digital transformations. McKinsey & Company.
2Gartner. (2020). Gartner Predicts 70% of New FP&A Projects Will Be Analytics-Centric. Gartner.
3Crunchbase. (2023). The Crunchbase Tech Layoffs Tracker. Crunchbase News.
4Forrester. (2019). The Total Economic Impact™ Of Planning Platforms. Forrester.
5Deloitte. (2021). Breaking Down Business Silos. Deloitte Insights.
6Gartner. (2022). Future of Work Trends Post-COVID-19. Gartner.