Companies and prioritising sales and operations over tech and marketing. It’s a wise strategy

During the height of the pandemic, there was a surge of activity in recruiting people for senior roles in digital, data and marketing. The future, it seemed, had arrived faster than anyone expected.

How times have changed. Speaking with CEOs across the retail, consumer, leisure and even tech sectors, we’ve seen a distinct shift in priority towards getting core operational and commercial roles secured. Outside of high-growth companies, most simply do not have the money to invest in large data, tech or marketing projects.

This may surprise some people, given the buzz about generative AI in particular, but the health of the real economy in the UK is not measured in the performance of the NASDAQ.

And while there is still real interest in the productivity-boosting applications of new technology, sluggish consumer demand and high interest rates have necessarily focused minds on the things that pay the bills: finance, sales, business development and operational delivery.

Don’t expect this to change with a new government. The other week I was reading David Smith in The Times, pointing out that the economy had grown by barely more than one percentage point a year since the financial crisis, compared with an annual average of nearly 3% for the preceding 50 years.

High growth companies can continue to invest in marketing and digital capabilities in an environment like that, and we are seeing them continue to do this.

But most others face a choice between developing a competitive advantage for tomorrow with keeping the business strong today. Unless or until large language models start to deliver the macroeconomic effects that advocates predict, the pendulum will continue swinging back to the latter.

Besides, there’s an argument that the scramble to secure top commercial and (non-digital) operational talent for senior teams represents a necessary correction to years of over-emphasis on digital and technology.

Don’t get me wrong, these have had exciting and transformative effects on the sectors we work in. But there was a time when you couldn’t have a ten-minute conversation in retail, for example, without the words ‘mobile-first’ or ‘e-commerce-first’ spilling from someone’s lips.

In many businesses that meant that career progression was neglected for people in sales, retail ops and central ops, and business development, with unintended spill-over effects years later on the available talent pool with those skills.

Does this mean tech’s all-conquering march has been halted in its tracks? No. But it is a reminder that no matter how our industries change, some things never do – and the ability to deliver product, service and sales is one of them.

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