Planning and Budgeting Strategies for 2024: focusing on growth & innovation
Where to Amplify Your Investments
As the business landscape evolves, leaders face a pivotal juncture in planning and budgeting for the upcoming year. Many renowned market research & advisory firms advocate for a balanced and strategic approach, emphasizing the need for realistic expectations while maintaining an eye on growth.
Those who have been with us know how we HRGs believe in the convergence of business and technology to drive growth and foster innovation. This has been particularly backed by market experts who have discussed this in some year-end and forecasting reports and blogs.
Market Insights
According to Forrester, a well-known advisory & research firm, embracing realistic budgeting expectations while steering away from a purely defensive approach is crucial. While stakeholder expectations for growth are unrelenting, leaders are urged to explore avenues that align with the evolving demands of digitally empowered customers. Their advice? Embrace and invest in AI as a catalyst for growth when planning and budgeting.
AI: Powering Growth and Innovation
The renowned research and advisory group from Cambridge (Massachusetts) highlights the transformative potential of AI across various operational facets, underlining its capacity to generate customer value, streamline complexities, and fuel innovation. The versatile nature of AI positions it as a pivotal tool in 2024’s budgetary landscape.
Areas Deserving Increased Investment
Forrester's 2024 Planning Guides pinpoint key areas warranting heightened investment:
AI Strategies for Customer Value: Leveraging AI to enhance efficiency and effectiveness, employing synthetic data for AI model refinement, and utilizing AI-powered TuringBots to expedite software development while reducing costs.
Digital B2B Interactions: Reimagining go-to-market strategies to cater to the evolving dynamics of B2B interactions, emphasizing seamless digital experiences for independent product purchases via websites, marketplaces, and app stores.
Areas for Budgetary Constraint
In contrast, Forrester advises organizations to reassess investment in certain domains:
Redundant Cloud Environments: Evaluating the necessity of additional cloud environments by gauging their ability to seamlessly manage workloads and contribute to broader IT designs.
Digital Service Providers: Scrutinizing partnerships with service providers to ensure alignment with customer-focused solutions and the organization's overarching business strategy.
Areas of Strategic Experimentation
Forrester advocates for exploration in forward-looking domains:
Advanced AI Capabilities: Encouraging experimentation with autonomous workplace assistants (AWAs) to bolster workplace productivity and innovation.
AI and Machine Learning Security: Exploring new frameworks and vendors in AI-driven security to harness generative AI's potential while mitigating associated risks.
Sharyn Leaver, Chief Research Officer at Forrester, urges caution in budgetary decisions amidst economic volatility. Prioritizing investments that foster customer value, efficiency, and differentiation will be pivotal in the upcoming fiscal year.
As businesses navigate the uncertainties of 2024, embracing strategic investments while judiciously reassessing budget allocations will chart the course toward sustainable growth.
How would this affect our community of sales, customer success, and marketing professionals?
In our opinion, the impact of these strategic shifts in planning and budgeting would significantly influence sales, customer success, and marketing roles within organizations and we advocate for innovation and early planning to achieve the desired growth in the upcoming fiscal year. But let’s look at how each of the roles may be affected.
Sales
Customer-Centric Selling: With a focus on enhancing AI strategies to deliver greater customer value, sales teams might witness a shift in their approach. They may need to align their sales strategies with the seamless digital experiences being crafted for buyers. Understanding the intricacies of AI-powered customer solutions can empower sales teams to articulate these values effectively to potential clients.
Adaptation to Digital B2B Interactions: As businesses move toward more self-serve routes to market, sales professionals might need to recalibrate their engagement models. This might involve supporting customers in navigating the digital purchasing landscape, providing value-added services, and leveraging data insights obtained from AI-driven customer interactions to refine sales approaches.
Customer Success
Enhanced Customer Experience: With investments directed towards AI strategies aimed at delivering customer value, customer success teams could anticipate an enhancement in their ability to foresee and cater to customer needs. The adoption of AI-powered tools might provide deeper insights into customer behavior, allowing for proactive solutions and personalized experiences.
Adoption of New AI Tools: Integrating AI-powered tools like TuringBots could streamline customer success operations, enabling faster response times and more efficient issue resolution. This may lead to a more efficient handling of customer queries and concerns.
Marketing
Refined Targeting and Engagement: The shift towards digital B2B interactions and self-serve routes demands an evolution in marketing strategies. Marketing teams would likely need to craft content and campaigns that facilitate independent product purchases. They might leverage AI-generated insights to tailor marketing efforts, ensuring they resonate with digitally empowered buyers.
Utilization of AI-Powered Analytics: Marketing roles might see greater integration of AI-powered analytics tools. This integration could enable a deeper understanding of customer behavior, facilitating more precise targeting and personalized communication strategies.
In essence, these strategic shifts in planning and budgeting would necessitate a level of adaptability and agility across sales, customer success, and marketing roles. Embracing AI-driven solutions and aligning strategies with the evolving digital landscape will be pivotal for these functions to remain effective in delivering value and fostering growth in the current changing business landscape.
Finally, here's a table outlining typical do's and don'ts for investing and planning revenue budgets in 2024, focusing on integrating AI and innovation:
Guidelines for planning 2024 to achieve growth while investing in innovations.
The table above underscores the importance of strategic investments in AI and innovation for revenue growth while cautioning against pitfalls that could hinder revenue generation in 2024. Of course we recommend adjusting these guidelines to align with your industry, market, and business specifics for effective planning.
