Results from the Microsoft Digital Transformation Study among some 4,000 respondents worldwide from various industries ranging from automotive, insurance, financial service, media & entertainment, healthcare and many more showed that 48% of the people surveyed believed that their current business models have less than 5 years to run and 14% said “less than 2 years”. This thus has critical marketing implications for the development of our marketing professionals. From a people capability development perspective, we are often challenged by the questions of what skills and knowledge we need to embrace from our marketing resources in order to survive in today’s rapidly changing and disruptive business environments as well as to grow our businesses financially and significantly. Answers to these questions are often subjective and in many organizations’ questions are left unanswered. Today’s technology produces vast amounts of data and complexity in business management for organizations, while at the same time, offers simplicity and higher satisfaction to consumers. In order to move ahead with such rapidly changing environments and technologies, while staying competitive in the market, organizations need empathetic marketing professionals who have a good understanding of how technology and data can add value to marketing initiatives. An organization that pays attention to it – rather than relying on instinct – identifies and brings opportunities to the market faster. My recent experience working with hundreds of leading marketing professionals in Thailand suggests that marketing leaders in today’s business disruptive world need to transform and adapt themselves to
