DEMYSTIFYING PROCESS AUTOMATION

The current digital age is evolving at an exponential rate without historic precedent. Consumer demands for seamless, reliable experiences are driving businesses to dismantle legacy systems and build flexible, integrated processes. These new efficiencies are obscured in a chaotic and contested technological environment; one where transformative solutions are entangled with false promises and pitfalls. Businesses leaders must be able to discern returns from rhetoric, distinguishing mature solutions from prophetic exaggerations to integrate processes that reflect and advance customer outcomes.

DOCUSIGN and Connect Media gathered leading finance, legal and procurement executives from all sectors of the national economy to explore the factors that are arresting digital momentum in Australia. Their conversation uncovered a number of shared frustrations, as well as aligned opportunities – this is what they had to say.

KEEPING COMPLEXITY MOVING

Deepening fissures in globalisation, hostile trade wars, a drift towards isolationism and populism—all signs of a global paradigm shift impacting the movement of goods. Combined with reduced automation costs, consumer demands for seamless service delivery and renewed attention to sustainability, finance and procurement professionals are re-evaluating their priorities for continued success in the digital age – and transparency is climbing to the top.

LEASEPLAN and CONNECT MEDIA gathered leading finance and procurement executives from all sectors of the national economy for a candid and honest discussion on how businesses are navigating this shifting landscape. Our conversation unearthed a number of shared frustrations, as well as shared opportunities – this is what they had to say.

DIGITAL INNOVATION THROUGH COLLABORATION

We are mining the complexities of the world around us in greater detail than ever before. While this ongoing interrogation has yielded great advances and insight, it is also taking a toll on us as employees. In too many cases, systems and processes designed to bring people together in the workplace are causing undue distraction and disengagement.

The situation, however, is far from helpless. As humans we have a tremendous ability to create – the task before us is to make sure that spirit does not lie dormant. DROPBOX is dedicated to this pursuit, making it their mission to unleash our creative energy by creating an enlightened way of working – not by overengineering a complex problem, but by removing all the noise and all the friction.

As part of this mission, DROPBOX and CONNECT MEDIA gathered senior digital, marketing and business intelligence leaders from the retail sector to hear how they are supporting collaborative spaces, where the frustration lies, and where spaces for creation exist. This conversation unearthed a number of shared frustrations, as well as shared opportunities – this is what they had to say.

THE ART AND SCIENCE OF PUBLIC AFFAIRS

Government has long endured its reputation as a digital laggard and rarely elicits the envy of corporates when it comes to data and technological capability. But now the pendulum is swinging.

Government has reached a data saturation point, crossing a critical mass threshold that affords insights substantial weight. For communication and public affairs professionals, this new found meaning is a deeper understanding of consumer voice, contextualised commentary and the nuanced forces driving consumer sentiment.

Threading this logic and understanding back to critical government decision-makers is changing media intelligence, and by extension, affecting how entire communication and public affairs structures and strategies are conceptualised and executed.

MELTWATER is leading this media intelligence renaissance in New South Wales, rejecting out-of-the-box corporate focus solutions in favour of bespoke government models that empower leaders to absorb and react to media forces with unmatched speed and confidence.

The New South Wales Government isn’t the only institution with a growing appetite for digitization. Hungering to change user behaviour, CONNECT MEDIA and MELTWATER gathered leading Victorian public affairs professionals from across the public sphere to examine how media intelligence and communication strategies are evolving, and how data is opening new doors and informing novel approaches to the news cycle.

Conversation was anchored in the work MELTWATER has done for the New South Wales Government, and by extension, what the future holds for communication in Victoria.