B2B Tech Tuesday is our weekly check-in here at Spreckley, where we share all the most interesting and useful B2B and enterprise technology news, innovations and trends.
This week, we look at Forbes’ recommendations for a new post-pandemic enterprise tech strategy for the next decade, Forrester’s digital privacy and cybersecurity predictions for 2021 and news on a new €150 million fund from venture capital firm UVC Partners for industrial tech, B2B software and mobility startups.
“Customer obsession” the new driver of enterprise tech innovation
Firstly, Forbes notes, with customary understatement, that the rapid acceleration of digital transformation strategies to cope with the mass WFH migration over the last seven months of lockdown means that:
“If the rest of the decade is anything like 2020, tech leaders are in for quite the ride. With an overnight forced migration to all things digital and virtual, projects that previously took two years, were rolled out in two months – or even two weeks.
“With shifting consumer and business behaviours likely to stick even post-Covid, it’s clear that most old-style tech strategies are not up for the challenge. Which is why it’s time for a new approach.”
The driving theme of this new enterprise tech approach recommended by Forbes for the post-pandemic decade is that of ‘customer obsession’.
“What we heard from leading firms was a spirit of innovation, driven by pandemic-fueled focus and enabled by prior investments in digital technology and talent. Firms taking a customer-obsessed approach were able to quickly see shifting needs and reconfigure their capabilities to deliver new solutions to market. They were also quick to adjust how they funded and sourced solutions. In short, they had become not just more adaptive, but also more creative and resilient as well.”
Forrester’s 2021 cyber security predictions
Next up, we look at Forrester’s latest privacy and cybersecurity predictions for 2021, as reported over on Information Age this week.
“The welfare of consumer and employee data is set to be more important than ever,” Information Age reports. “As companies look to transition to a new normal in 2021, Forrester has forecasted that data privacy matters will become more pressing, while potential budgeting issues and evolving international relations are set to impact cyber security professionals.”
Forrester has identified the following three privacy-related trends that it foresees underpinning organisations’ shift to what it calls the new normal:
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“An ever-increasing appetite to collect, process, and share sensitive personal data from consumers and employees;
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“Despite the recessionary economy, values-based consumers will increasingly prefer to engage with and entrust their data to ethical businesses;
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“Regulatory and compliance complexity in relation to data privacy will increase further.”
As a result, Forrester predicts that data privacy matters will become more pressing, while budgeting issues and evolving international relations will impact cybersecurity professionals.
Some of the key predictions include: regulatory and legal action relating to privacy rising; an increase in data breaches caused by insider incidents (either accidental or malicious); more CISOs being dismissed for toxic security cultures; and an increase in retail and manufacturing breaches due to a shift to direct-to-consumer sales models, which requires a greater number of applications and, in turn, increases the attack surface.
Here Be B2B Unicorns
Finally, a new 150 million Euro fund has been announced from venture capitalists UVC partners, for the industrial tech, B2B software and mobility sectors.
EU-Startups.com reports:
“Following the success of its first two funds, UVC Partners has launched a new fund with a volume of €150 million. Even during the corona pandemic, the team managed to raise more than 70% of the target amount during a first closing thanks to its extensive network and established investor base. With its third fund, which seamlessly continues to invest in outstanding European B2B startups, UVC Partners keeps up its successful strategy as the leading venture capital 3.0 investor.”
The new UVC fund’s focus will be on early-stage startups, in the Seed or Series A round of investment.
“The deal flow in our sectors has been rising continuously and strongly for years,” notes UVC’s Johannes von Borries, who is absolutely convinced of the third fund’s high growth potential. “This proves the enormous demand for innovative hard- and software solutions in the B2B segment. We are confident that the next wave of Unicorns will emerge right here.”