Broad Reaching Survey Shows Insight Into Both Progress and Trends In Sustainability lt;p style=quot;font-family: Calibri; font-size: 14px; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-weight: 400; letter-spacing: normal; text-align: start; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; word-spacing: 0px; -moz-text-size-adjust: auto; -webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; text-decoration: none; caret-color: rgb(0, 0, 0); color: rgb(0, 0, 0);quot;gt;lt;span style=quot;font-size: 12pt;quot;gt;lt;span style=quot;font-family: quot;Times New Romanquot;, serif;quot;gt;lt;span style=quot;font-family: Calibri, sans-serif;quot;gt;In the third annual “lt;igt;A World In Balance 2024lt;/igt;” report by Capgemini Research Institute, 6500 consumers over the age of 18 and 2152 executives employed at 727 organizations with more than $1 billion in annual revenue were surveyed on their views, investments, and progress in sustainability. Overall findings show how organizations have prioritized investments with tangible return on investment (ROI), improved sustainable design, and doubled down on measurement. Key regulations such as the European Union’s corporate sustainability reporting directive (CSRD) will drive continued investments to address regulatory compliance.lt;/spangt;lt;/spangt;lt;/spangt;

The recent backlash on diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) programs stems from both the lack of quantitative data showing how diverse teams improve performance and the discriminatory nature in how these teams were constructed. In 2015, a McKinsey study lauded the dividends to be gained from diversity. The well meaning Davos set used this study to launch a movement for diversity, resulting in hundreds of billions spent on diversity programs across businesses, the public sector, and non-profits over the past decade.

AI Begins And Ends With Nvidia Despite the massive buzz on AI, only a few core companies that power the Age of AI will succeed. The high capital costs of research and development investment, the time required to take a product to market, and the ability to cross competitive moats create a massive barrier to entry. In fact, only a few vendors have shown significant profits in AI:

Take A Measured Approach To AI Adoption The rush to AI projects often comes as an all or nothing approach. However, lessons learned from Constellations Executive Network (CEN) members show a gradual and measured approach. Constellation sees five phases to adoption from both a business and cultural point of view:

IBM's Focus On AI Built From Data And C

What Every Tech Vendor CEO and CFO Should Know About Their CMO’s Wasted Investments In Vanity Metrics Marketing professionals face massive pressure to show that their marketing investments have paid off. In a zero-interest rate environment, budgets were flush and marketers had a lot of leeway in building brand, hosting amazing events, and buying ads to improve market presence. However, a shift to a five percent interest rate environment has many CMO’s focused on performance marketing, showing return on investment, and moving MQLs from SQLs as fast as they can.

Most professional services firms have operated in a pyramid model where the most senior owner of a PL would have a staffing ratio of 1:3 to 1:5 and their next reports would have a staffing ratio of 1:5 to 1:10. This pyramid structure would continue until the last level.

The Leap Year Brings A New Copilot - Finance Microsoft announced the public preview of Copilot for Finance. With tools such as Copilot, the user experience begins and ends with generative AI. In conversations with Vice President of Business Applications Engineering - Charles Lamanna, Corporate Vice President of Business Applications Marketing - Emily He, Vice President of AI-led ERP Engineering - Georg Glantshnig, users can now apply geneative AI across departments such as sales, service, finance, and IT with Copilot for M365, Copilot for Sales, Copilot for Service, Copilot for Finance, and Copilot Studio.

The World Economic Forum's Four Themes Seek To Rebuild Trust The 54th annual convening at Davos brings 2700 delegates from over 130 countries to officially attend the World Economic Forum’s event. Meanwhile, an additional 5000 individuals join events around Davos in a series of programing known as UnDavos. This year’s official Davos proceedings center on four main themes:

Two Year IPO Drought Coming To An End In 2023, only 148 companies completed an initial public offering (IPO). This was the worst year on record and followed a 15% decline from the number of IPO's in 2022, another disappointing year. In 2023, ARM was the sole blockbuster tech IPO. After a brutal two years with a paucity of tech IPOs, the market is poised for a resurgence in 2024.

lt;span style=quot;font-size:11ptquot;gt;lt;span style=quot;font-family:quot;Verdanaquot;,sans-serifquot;gt;\With artificial intelligence (AI) projects all the rage, organizations must make a strategic determination to create a new CxO role at least at a functional level if not at a title level.. This decision should not be made lightly, however. Although the chief AI officer (CAIO) role is critical to an organization’s success, the level of collaboration across business, IT, finance and operations, HR, and legal risk and compliance requires an unprecedented level of cooperation and orchestration. Boards will also want to consider AI at the same level as CyberSecurity.lt;/spangt;lt;/spangt;