Of the nearly 30,000 global consumers that Bain & Company recently surveyed, more than 70% said they are interested in having their primary bank use their personal data if it means their banking experiences will be more personalized. This is among the findings of Bain’s 2023 “Customer Behavior and Loyalty in Banking” report.

As technology leaders navigate the hype cycles of emerging technologies like Web3 and the metaverse, they are also contending with obstacles such as technical debt, a shortage of talent and skills, and a turbulent global economic environment that is prompting companies around the world to examine their broader innovation strategies and spending on new technologies.

Global consumer spending on games is set to reach $215 billion by 2027. The transmedia space continues to expand and profit as more video game franchises make their way to large and small screens. Streaming services need more content to monetize their services and reach profitability as consumers demand more and more content. The days of poor-performing titles are long behind us. High-scoring TV series such as Netflix’s ‘The Witcher’ or HBO’s ‘The Last of Us’ prove that quality, investment, and writing across the adaptations are of a superior level.

The outlook for the global economy took a positive turn in the first half of 2023 as inflationary pressures began to ease, but ongoing geopolitical tensions and domestic challenges in key markets are slowing any return to sustained growth. According to KPMG’s latest report, global energy prices returning to levels last seen prior to the invasion of Ukraine, combined with easing commodity and food prices, have helped put further downward pressure on inflation for the rest of 2023.

68% of marketing leaders believe collecting first-party customer data with an appropriate balance of customer value exchange and privacy will become more challenging in 2023, according to a recent Gartner survey. The survey revealed that 85% of respondents had implemented a formal policy to manage customer data, yet privacy remains an ongoing challenge.

The ballooning cost of living has been a well-publicized global issue. Audiences are continuing to tighten their belts in response to the crisis. Recent research from Futuresource Consulting shows key European markets like France, Germany, and the UK have been hit especially hard, with over 50% of consumers financially worse off than they were six months ago.

Worldwide spending on security solutions and services is forecast to be $219 billion in 2023, an increase of 12.1% compared to 2022, according to the new Worldwide Security Spending Guide from International Data Corporation (IDC). Investments in hardware, software, and services related to cybersecurity are expected to reach nearly $300 billion in 2026, driven by the ongoing threat of cyberattacks, the demands of providing a secure hybrid work environment, and the need to meet data privacy and governance requirements.

Leaders tasked with bringing their offerings to market must urgently address a single question: How can we do more with less? The question is once again front and center as concerns about inflation and recession cloud the outlook for 2023 and beyond. The answer to this question, however, is likely to be far different today from the path pursued in past downturns, according to Walt Horstman, senior vice president of monetization with TiVo, a wholly owned subsidiary of Xperi Inc.

Despite the current economic uncertainty, 72% of high-tech leaders in the U.S., Canada, and Western Europe have plans to grow revenue in 2023, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. Furthermore, nearly half of those leaders believe they will be able to outperform their competition this year.

After being hit by production delays and cancelations caused by the COVID-19 pandemic in 2021, content origination by the world’s leading online streamers rebounded in 2022. Netflix, Amazon, Apple TV+, Disney+, HBO Max, Hulu, Paramount+, and Peacock collectively released a total of 1,752 titles and 4,878 hours of first-run original content in 2022, a YOY increase of 60% in titles and 87% in hours.

A new consumer study finds younger households are at higher risk for canceling their professionally monitored security, even as plans to cancel have dropped among all households. The research firm reports that 38% of Gen Z home security monitoring subscribers intend to cancel their contract, while overall, only 17% of those with pro-monitoring report a likelihood to cancel.

The role of mainframe computing among large established organizations appears to be rising – not falling – as enterprise technology leaders move forward with technology modernization initiatives to support long-term business transformation objectives.

Companies across industries are underutilizing automation capabilities and underestimating the challenge of transitioning workers to jobs of the future, according to new research by Bain & Company. Survey findings show that workforce augmentation across industries has reduced costs by as much as 30%.

Outdated short-term growth strategies that focus on extracting value from customers no longer work. Dramatic changes in buyers’ behavior, evolving business models, and technological advances mandate a shift in how companies design their strategies and operate their organizations. To drive profitable and sustainable business growth in this environment, alignment in B2C firms is critical to powering a customer-obsessed growth engine.

The internal audit profession faces stiff competition for talent, especially talent capable of addressing a broadening array of risk topics and well-versed in emerging technologies that can drive the function into the future, according to Protiviti’s 2023 Next-Generation Internal Audit Survey.

Several factors will make 2023 a true test of the resolve of governments and the automotive industry in driving battery-electric vehicles (BEVs) forward. The spike in electricity prices in Europe makes BEV running costs less attractive, and some countries, like the U.K., Switzerland, and Australia, are starting to introduce EV taxation.

Firms with high levels of alignment across customer-facing functions report 2.4x higher revenue growth and 2x higher growth in profitability than those without alignment. According to Forrester’s customer-obsessed growth engine research​, outdated short-term growth strategies that focus on extracting value from customers no longer work.

Global shipments of wearable devices declined 18.9% year over year in the fourth quarter of 2022 (4Q22) to 138.7 million units, according to new data. Shipments for the full year 2022 were down 7.7% compared to 2021, marking the first year of decline for the category due to challenging macroeconomic conditions and difficult comparisons to the strong results of 2021.

As competitive pressures and customer expectations rise in the uncertain economic outlook, boards and senior executives are revisiting technology modernization and business transformation strategies. All major IT investments – including those in enterprise applications – are being analyzed to ensure high-performance levels as increasingly complicated heterogeneous infrastructures are embraced. When it comes to modernizing Oracle application management strategies in today's hybrid, multi-cloud environment, the principles that should guide the decision-making process include:

Over the past decade, home internet adoption in the US has grown steadily and accelerated during the pandemic, when approximately 8M households signed up for home internet service. Parks Associates estimates over 105 million US households will have high-speed internet delivered to their home by 2023. Overall internet adoption – including mobile broadband-only households – will reach 119M.