Companies such as Netflix, Uber, Deliveroo, Amazon, Slack, Zoom, AirBnB, Lyft and Wish have changed the way people live by redeveloping the customer experience. Their business is in providing flexibility via new technologies and information. They incorporate access to technologies and solutions such as mobile payments, social media, content everywhere, smart infrastructure and predictive analytics.

Optimisation of resources and supply chain, automation of internal and external procedures, primary data collection coupled with advanced analytics of users' behaviour and needs and the ability to execute on the above are a domain of information-driven companies. Access to data and transformative technology is critical, however this requires cultural adoption and frequent behavioural change. From a technology stack point of view, it is easier to build a digital company from scratch than go through the pain of transformation. At the same time, building new business and growing it while managing a well-known portfolio allows capitalisation on existing assets.

The four pillars of digital transformation:

· operation and management

· customer acquisition and marketing

· R&D and innovation efforts

· products and services

IHS Markit asked 200 decision makers which of these four was their key transformation project in 2019 and which is going to be their next priority. As of 2019, 65% declared that operation and management is the most critical, followed by products and services, customer acquisition and marketing, risk management and R&D. Operation and management will remain a key priority for almost one third of companies through 2021, while for over one fourth, customer acquisition and marketing is next on the agenda. Activities falling under operation and management are key priorities for digitisation as they aim to reduce the cost of current operations, increase flexibility and ease adoption. If properly deployed, operation and management supports marketing, understanding clients' needs and preparing solutions that correspond with these by segmenting opportunities and providing targeted messages.

In the digital age, innovation is critical to capitalizing on new opportunities. Various start-ups offer solutions that established corporations would have until recently considered to be not feasible or simply not worth spending money on. Today, these corporates need to adjust and often reform their business models and go-to-market strategies to catch up. Newcomers usually have no burden of owning a technology stack, have no physical presence and operate in the virtual world. That world enables access to millions of customers, their habits and preferences, which are defined as the biggest asset in an information-driven reality.

Today's challenge is not just in analysing data, but more urgently in protecting it from various types of attacks and scams. Two examples are the security of sensitive customer data and protection against piracy of digital content. Hackers do not discriminate against attacking small and large companies, governmental institutions, individuals and corporates. The personal data of customers and employees at Yahoo, Marriot, eBay and Sony's PlayStation Network, amongst many others, have been hacked, proving that successful cyber fraud, malware and ransomware attacks happen every minute. Stealing content, and often sharing without permission, is less harmful from an individual's point of view, but directly impacts the authors, sponsors and those who paid for it. Illegal sharing is not just about P2P services with links to new movies or TV shows but also streaming of services (often Sports content) via paid websites. Both types of attacks not only damage citizens but also the global economy.