Exclusive Trusted Magazine Q&A with Trevor Gordon, Transformation Director, Digital Director, Technology Director.
How could you describe your career path in a few words?
I have been very lucky in my career to work with some fantastic brands, some great people and had a lot of fun along the way. Having started as a Direct Marketer at the beginning of my career over 20 years ago, I shortly after that started getting involved in the early days of Digital Marketing/e-commerce which was a fantastic grounding in all things Digital. As a Digital, Tech & Transformation Leader, my career journey spans global leadership roles in fantastic organizations like Diageo, Vodafone, Sodexo, Vue Entertainment, and Autotrader, on both client and consultancy side. With a forte in driving comprehensive business transformation, I've navigated complex landscapes by redefining strategies, reinvigorating growth, and spearheading multi-dimensional digital makeovers.
My expertise spans diverse domains: from digital commerce and technology strategy/delivery to agile transformation, AI/ML integration, and omnichannel retail. Acknowledged for building high-performing teams, managing substantial budgets, and translating visionary strategies into tangible results, I've consistently fuelled growth and innovation across multiple industries. With extensive experience leading organisations through digital transformation, which reignited company purpose and growth covering strategy, data, tech, products, processes, operations, capabilities, and culture., my journey reflects a commitment to steering organizations towards digital excellence and sustainable growth on a global scale. Lastly, a golden thread throughout my career: keep learning, work with awesome people, and make sure to have fun!
What are the highlights of the key digital innovation trends for 2023? Can you give us some major examples?
In 2023, the advancements in technology, data/analytics, and key digital innovation trends continue to reshape industries, businesses, and consumer behaviour worldwide. Following on from the pandemic, customer expectations and behaviours are constantly evolving, and successful businesses need to understand these changes as they happen and become customer-centric in their strategic approach. This is combined when businesses need to have laser like focus in ensuring their technology investments and roadmap is aligned to delivering their strategic plan, objectives, and roadmap.
Organisations embracing Web 3.0 technologies such as blockchain and NFTs drives transformative change, revolutionizing ownership, digital assets, and decentralised applications. Additionally, both AI and machine learning applications evolve, augmenting decision-making and personalisation across sectors like personal finance, healthcare, and fitness/well-being.
Successful businesses really continue to leverage their data/analytic capabilities across all areas of their business, this could include using automation/optimisation in back-office areas like finance & supply chain, to better using customer analytics/AI in their omnichannel orchestration.
Based on your experiences, what are the impactful trends in digital innovation that are becoming more important in the context of 2024? In your opinion, how can they create high value for organizations?
The rapid acceleration of the new technologies, digital innovation, and data/analytics represents a great opportunity for businesses to really transform their businesses, and drive game changing growth and improvements. Crucial for organisations is to not only make the right investment in their selection/roadmap, but also to ensure they are putting in the necessary activity to ensure that any innovation or new technology is successfully implemented, embedded, and driving sustainable transformation.
Some of the potential areas for 2024:
Metaverse expansion will continue to become a focal point particularly in consumer facing industries, transcending entertainment to redefine social interactions, commerce, and workspaces. Quantum computing advancements grow at an amazing rate, providing unprecedented computational power, revolutionizing data analysis and cryptography.
Health-tech and Fin-tech witnesses a surge with telemedicine enhancements and AI-driven diagnostics. Tech in clean energy/Sustainability continues to gain traction, with IoT, renewable energy innovations, and circular economy initiatives redefining environmental responsibility.
Digital Commerce accelerates and evolves with virtual try-ons and augmented reality, enhancing customer experiences. Lastly, cybersecurity innovations grow, focusing on AI-driven threat detection and zero-trust frameworks to combat sophisticated cyber threats.
While not new for 2024 and having been around for a while, these trends mark a shift to a more interconnected, intelligent, customer centric, and sustainable landscape, driving innovation across multiple sectors in 2024.
