1. How do you define “intelligent automation,” and what sets it apart from traditional workflow automation in today’s enterprise context?

Intelligent automation is not just the next evolution of workflow automation — it's a steppingstone toward agentic business orchestration. That means blending AI, agents, low-code development, and dynamic business process orchestration into a system that doesn’t just automate tasks, but autonomously adapts, learns, and coordinates across the enterprise.

Where traditional automation is largely deterministic, intelligent automation is context aware. It can interpret signals in real time, prioritize based on urgency or behavior, and respond when business conditions change. But the real breakthrough comes when you shift from automating steps to orchestrating outcomes — across people, systems, and now, intelligent agents.

This is what we call agentic business orchestration: enabling work to move autonomously and intelligently across the enterprise with the help of agents within purpose-built solutions tailored to specific business logic and processes. It’s automation that is guided by human oversight but not constrained by it. To get there, organizations need a unified platform that brings together process mapping, business orchestration, and AI agents with the power of low-code tools in a single architecture.

2. What role does automation play in closing experience gaps across the customer journey from onboarding to support and retention? 

Customer experience isn’t just about front-end touchpoints — it’s about how well the business moves behind the scenes. That’s where automation becomes essential.

By connecting siloed systems and orchestrating cross-functional processes, automation helps deliver consistency and responsiveness across the entire customer lifecycle. It accelerates onboarding by syncing data across platforms, supports dynamic case routing, and enables proactive service through contextual triggers.

When embedded across the value chain, automation becomes the foundation for agentic business orchestration. That means not just accelerating tasks but enabling intelligent agents and workflows to operate in harmony — adjusting, escalating, or resolving customer cases in real time. All of this can also be done autonomously to augment human performance and drive a non-linear increase in efficiency – even with humans still in the loop.

The result is a seamless, end-to-end experience that builds trust and loyalty.

3. What are the most common misconceptions organizations have when adopting automation to improve customer outcomes?

The biggest misconception is treating automation as a band-aid solution — something you add to a broken process and expect immediate transformation. In reality, automation must be part of a broader operational shift.

Organizations that succeed view automation as a strategy to drive business performance: first mapping processes, orchestrating and automating cross-functional workflows, and ultimately layering in AI to drive end-to-end orchestration through purpose-built solutions.

Another misconception is that automation tools can operate in isolation. Without integration, governance, and alignment, they create more friction than they solve. To drive real customer outcomes, automation must be part of a connected fabric — orchestrating across departments, systems, and now, AI agents — so the experience is cohesive, not fragmented.

4. Have you seen specific verticals (e.g., financial services, government, healthcare) realize faster returns with intelligent automation strategies?

Absolutely — financial services, public sector, and manufacturing organizations are seeing strong ROI, largely because of the complexity and compliance demands they face.

For example, financial services organizations, intelligent automation can accelerate loan origination by auto-extracting data from supporting documents, validating it against internal and external sources, and routing applications for approval — all while maintaining a complete audit trail. It can also streamline KYC/AML checks, regulatory reporting, and customer onboarding, cutting processing times from days to hours.

iQumulate Premium Funding leveraged Nintex Automation CE to document and reimagine 150+ processes, created smart forms to streamline communications with brokers, and automated internal quoting — saving 3,000+ hours of employee time.

Government agencies can use automation to manage benefits applications, licensing, and permits. By integrating data from multiple legacy systems and enabling real-time case tracking, agencies can reduce backlogs, improve citizen response times, and ensure compliance with transparency mandates.

Nintex worked with the County Court of Victoria to digitize its paper-based processes so that it could capture information electronically, as well as automate the routing of critical court documents.

For manufacturers, intelligent automation can coordinate supply chain workflows, from purchase order processing to quality inspections. Automated exception handling and compliance documentation help manufacturers maintain production schedules, reduce costly delays, and meet stringent regulatory standards in industries like aerospace and pharmaceuticals.

At Nintex, we helped CORE Molding Technologies automate workflows across the organization, including purchase order, chargeback application, and pricing approval processes.

These industries benefit when automation evolves into agentic orchestration. Instead of relying on static scripts, they can deploy responsive workflows and digital agents that learn from usage patterns, adjust to new policies, and reduce time-to-resolution — all while maintaining governance.

5. What KPIs should companies track to evaluate the success of automation-driven, customer-centric initiatives?

Beyond CSAT, the most meaningful KPIs reflect efficiency, speed, scale, and autonomy.

These include:

· Touchless resolution rate — the percentage of workflows or business process steps completed without manual intervention

· Time to resolution — how quickly business or customer-focused workflows are completed

· Human effort saved per workflow — the percentage of workflows that are automated

· Cost per transaction — measuring sustainable operational impact

More advanced teams also look at the volume and performance of agent-led tasks — a signal that they’re progressing toward true agentic orchestration.

6. What does the future of customer-centric automation look like, especially as AI and low-code/no-code platforms mature?

The future of customer-centric automation lies in systems that are not only intelligent but also adaptive and deeply embedded across the business. As agentic AI evolves and low-code/no-code platforms become easier to build with, organizations will shift from rigid, step-based processes to dynamic, context-aware workflows that can learn, adjust, and act in real time.

Rather than relying on disconnected point solutions, businesses will be empowered to build their own tailored applications — designed around their unique models, systems, and customers. This enables faster time-to-value, fewer dependencies on specialized development resources, and greater flexibility as needs evolve.

Importantly, this shift won’t just improve customer experiences — it will make organizations more efficient, more compliant, and more scalable in how they deliver value. By combining AI, automation, and applications in a unified platform, businesses will be able to proactively solve problems, reduce operational complexity, and build long-term customer trust.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

1. How critical is continuous investment in AI and personalization technologies for maintaining a competitive digital edge? 

In marketing, AI for personalization is quickly transforming from a luxury into a default for brands to make the most of every interaction. It’s changing how content is created, enabling marketers to scale more individualized messaging to targeted audiences and enhance experiences across channels. Hyper-personalized touchpoints that feel tailor-made can help brands reach customers in an oversaturated marketing environment.

AI personalization tools will only continue to advance, so brands need to adopt nimble, tech-forward tools now that continuously integrate modern capabilities and allow them to confidently prepare for a highly personalized, autonomous, and data-driven future. Those who stay on the cutting edge of this technology and invest the time and resources to grow and learn with it will find themselves ahead of the curve. 

2. How prepared is your organization to adopt composable content infrastructure to support flexible, omnichannel experiences? 

Contentful helps brands deliver seamless, connected experiences that meet customers wherever they are, and empower marketing and developer teams to access and manage content, data, and logic within a single tool. 

We’ve seen how traditional monolithic content management systems can slow teams down by locking content into rigid templates or keeping it siloed across channels. With our composable architecture, teams can experiment with campaigns at scale, increasing their output and enriching their insight loops to make more informed, data-driven decisions. Contentful’s API-first framework also helps marketing teams deliver cross-channel personalization through unified audience models and AI-assisted content operations, automating translation, tone shifts, and variant generation to deliver precise messaging at scale. 

Many of our customers implement a phased adoption approach, starting with a specific use case, such as a localized campaign or homepage refresh, and expanding from there. But, we are seeing more and more brands realize the immediate value of our platform and opt for a faster transition and full deployment to Contentful, including not only the CMS itself but also Contentful Personalization and Studio, our Visual Experience builder. In addition, our API-forward platform can run alongside existing systems, maximizing relevance and speed, enabling brands to stay ahead with infrastructure that adapts just as quickly. This allows marketing and development teams to access content and collaborate more efficiently and deliver consistent, omnichannel experiences that scale, while reducing operational risk and accelerating time to value.

3. What percentage of your budget is allocated to R&D or product innovation, and how is that expected to evolve? 

The digital experience platform (DXP) space is experiencing rapid growth, a testament to escalating customer needs and undeniable market demand. To better understand our role and impact, we’re increasing our investment in research and development by more than 20% this year – allowing our teams to accelerate innovation, better understand how to incorporate AI capabilities, and set a new standard for what customers can expect from a DXP:

● Improving operational efficiency by leveraging AI to automate repetitive tasks and optimize how content is created, accessed, and distributed.

● Embedding an intelligence layer with AI-driven insights that guide more effective personalization strategies and predictive recommendations.

● Breaking down silos by deploying AI and agent-based automation to unify data, channels, and content, ensuring consistent messaging across communications and social platforms.

4. To what extent is your organization leveraging partnerships with third-party AI and content platforms to accelerate innovation?

Partnerships are central to how Contentful drives innovation and supports our customers. Our composable platform is a strategic nexus, integrating with leading tools across AI, marketing automation, and commerce, helping teams deliver content with greater speed, flexibility and precision.

For example, our partnership with SAP enables both consumer and B2B brands to build commerce experiences across channels that build loyalty and growth. We also integrate with Braze, an industry leading omni-channel marketing automation tool, that makes it easier to safely deploy content stored in Contentful to all marketing channels with real-time sync. 

Another example is our partnership with Shopify. Through this integration, we connect content and commerce in one workflow – improving storefront design flexibility, streamlining localization, and activating AI-powered personalization. Our new Shopify app and content connector allow marketers to synchronize product content and deliver more relevant, engaging shopping experiences at scale.

By expanding our curated partner ecosystem, we continue to give teams the tools they need to experiment, personalize, and scale across channels. These collaborations are helping our customers move faster and stay ahead in a competitive digital environment.

5. How do you measure success when deploying modular or API-first content delivery systems? 

An API-first development process fuels digital transformation by enabling measurable marketing and operational impact. Success isn’t just about the technology, but what it empowers teams to achieve. Marketers can measure success through outcomes like:

Speed to market: How quickly new content or updates reach customers across channels.

Experimentation velocity: The number of campaigns, tests, or personalized experiences that can be launched in a given month.

Content reuse: The percentage of content efficiently repurposed across regions, brands, or platforms.

Experience sophistication: The ability to deliver dynamic, data-driven front end experiences without bottlenecks.

An API-first content system, where the API is the single source of truth, underpins these results. By streamlining workflows and freeing teams from repetitive tasks, it creates space for more creativity, faster iteration, and scalable brand impact.

6. How important is executive leadership experience in scaling enterprise platforms when evaluating digital transformation partners or solutions? 

Executive experience matters, but what matters more is how you apply it: by choosing solutions that drive agility, accelerate time-to-market, and ensure brand consistency across every channel. The leaders who succeed are the ones who embrace the processes and partners that deliver real business outcomes, rather than clinging to old systems.

Today’s consumers have constantly changing expectations. Our customers count on us to help design, implement, and deploy unified brand experiences that meet them where they are. We admire brands that can adapt flexibly to meet any customer need, and are proud to partner with innovative companies to help digital brands unlock their full value by building, launching, and shipping websites and content faster.

My own journey starting my career as an academic mathematician shaped me into the leader I am today as Chief Product Officer at Contentful. Mathematics is about tackling hard problems by embracing their complexity. It also teaches the critical skill of finding the right abstraction model, the optimal framework for solving a problem. The same applies to building software applications: building with the right models and components will ensure true transformation and impact. Ultimately, it’s equally important to have partners who are both forward-looking and have demonstrated their ability to pivot quickly alongside the evolving industry.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

1. What are some common insights marketing teams find using this integration to make more informed business decisions?

Unlocking the power of data has never been more critical, especially as today's B2B marketers are required to deliver clear and measurable business impact from their social media investments.  With the Oktopost Power BI integration, B2B marketers can build dashboards that bring together social media performance alongside key business data, such as website traffic, CRM activity, and sales outcomes.

This integration allows teams to visualize how social media influences areas such as lead generation, revenue growth, and customer engagement, all in one place. Teams can track trends, analyze which campaigns are driving results, and generate reports that connect social performance directly to business objectives. It's not just about proving value, but seeing it in real time and optimizing accordingly.

2. How does this integration eliminate the mundane and time-consuming task of consolidating siloed data?

Before this integration, marketing teams often spent hours collecting data from multiple platforms and then tried to reconcile that data into one narrative. The process was slow, expensive, error-prone, and rarely produced a complete picture. 

Oktopost’s Power BI integration removes that burden by automatically consolidating siloed data to create reports and enabling the generation of data-blended reports, empowering B2B teams to make informed business decisions.

This makes it possible to provide stakeholders with clear, data-driven insights, without spending time manually pulling numbers. With automation in place, teams can focus on interpreting data, not chasing it.

3. According to PWC research, 93% of CMOs struggle to show marketing's role in growth. How do you help close that gap?

93% of CMOs say that positioning marketing as a 'growth driver' at their company is challenging, as many B2B marketers struggle to connect their social media efforts to broader business outcomes. That’s often because the data needed is either inaccessible, siloed, or not tied to outcomes that leadership cares about.

Oktopost helps close that gap by integrating social media insights into tools like Power BI, where marketing, sales, and executive stakeholders are already looking. With this setup, marketers can clearly show how social media contributes to pipeline creation, accelerates deal velocity, and supports customer retention.

Instead of relying on soft metrics or anecdotal success, they can point to data that connects campaigns to revenue. This gives CMOs the clarity they need to reinforce marketing's role as a strategic growth driver within the business.

4. What kind of impact have you seen from employee advocacy on brand reach and engagement, and how does Power BI help measure that?

When employees share authentic yet on-brand content, it doesn't just increase visibility; it builds trust. It shifts the message from corporate to personal, which resonates more strongly with today's prospects and customers.

Oktopost makes it easy for employees to participate in these programs at scale. The Power BI integration enables marketers to measure the exact impact of advocacy on key business outcomes, including lead generation, pipeline velocity, and customer retention.

This allows organizations to measure how the brand performs and how individual leaders are influencing the market.

5. Many tools are built for B2C marketers - what are the unique measurement needs of B2B marketers that you address?

Most social media platforms were built with consumers in mind. They’re designed to measure volume, impressions, clicks, and likes, but those aren’t metrics that demonstrate value in B2B.

B2B marketers need to measure business impact over time. They work in environments with longer sales cycles, high-stakes decisions, and complex buyer journeys. Compliance, trust, and engagement matter more than reach, which is why we built Oktopost specifically for this reality. It offers advanced analytics that connect social activity to real business outcomes, from pipeline generation to revenue attribution to customer lifecycle metrics. When integrated with Power BI, B2B marketers gain a complete view of how social contributes to both short-term wins and long-term value.

6. What are the biggest misconceptions companies have about social media’s role in B2B growth today?

That social media is just a branding tool - a way to drive awareness, but not something that directly influences the bottom line. Another is the idea that only company pages matter, and that executive or employee profiles are secondary.

The truth is that social media plays a central role in the B2B buyer journey. It's where buyers do their research, evaluate vendors, and build trust long before they ever talk to sales. Yet many companies still rely on outdated tools that isolate social metrics from the rest of their analytics stack. The rise of AI is making social even more strategic. Social platforms provide massive, dynamic datasets that feed large language models (LLMs), influencing how brands are discovered and how content resonates. Organizations that master social are able to shape how their market perceives and selects them.

Oktopost’s Power BI integration challenges that by bringing social data into the same environment as CRM and sales reporting, creates a full-funnel view of how social drives business results. And with Oktopost’s native conversion tracking technology, companies can now measure executive visibility, tracking how leadership content builds engagement and contributes to the sales pipeline.

This reflects a broader shift in how B2B marketers approach their strategies. Social media is no longer a side channel, but a strategic, measurable lever for growth, and a channel that innovative organizations are learning to treat with the same rigor as every other part of their go-to-market strategy.

Thought: If you want social media to be taken seriously in the boardroom, connect it to the tools your business already trusts. Connecting Power BI to Oktopost isn’t just a reporting tool; it bridges marketing efforts and business impact.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

1.What role does marketing and communications leadership play in supporting your brand’s international visibility and competitive differentiation?

A brand is only as strong as the problems it solves for its clients.

That’s why everything we do at DXC focuses on innovating for our customers—solving the challenges they face today and preparing them for tomorrow.

In this context, marketing has moved beyond traditional branding and advertising to become a key lever for business growth, encompassing a broader range of strategies to engage with customers, build advocacy, manage experiences, and gather valuable insights to create authentic connections.

We shape global perceptions of our brand by strategically engaging audiences across diverse channels, ensuring our message resonates and builds trust.

By creating compelling content, telling impactful stories localized for different global markets, and using data to refine our strategy and make smarter decisions, we’re able to position our brand as an innovative leader and thought leader around the world.

At the same time, AI has completely changed the game and redefined what’s possible.

It has created efficiencies that give our marketing teams the freedom to focus on strategic priorities, rather than work in silos.

The technology has facilitated cross-functional collaboration among marketing, sales, product and strategy departments to improve business outcomes and drive revenue growth.

AI’s democratization — of both data and knowledge — has meant that teams of all sizes, budgets and skills have been able to put AI tools to work across the value chain and to increase creativity and experimentation across marketing departments and companies.

2.How is your organization supporting senior leaders in becoming recognized thought leaders in areas such as AI or digital transformation?

In today’s AI-driven landscape, authentic thought leadership is more important than ever.

We’re working side by side with the business to combine DXC’s strategic priorities with meaningful storytelling that engages audiences and builds trust, credibility and competitive differentiation in the market.

We take a deliberate, multi-channel approach that includes high-impact speaking opportunities at global conferences, industry forums and executive roundtables where our leaders can share insights on emerging technologies and enterprise transformation.

These platforms position DXC at the forefront of innovation.

Our marketing and communications teams also work in close partnership with leaders to develop compelling thought leadership content (from bylined articles and LinkedIn pieces to industry spotlights and strategic customer narratives) that reflect their vision and our broader innovation agenda.

Our focus is on industries where our experts understand the unique business processes and challenges companies face.

We share insights shaped by real client engagements, and we approach thought leadership as a collaborative effort— drawing on perspectives from partners, customers, industry and academia to enrich the conversation and create shared knowledge that moves the world forward.

3.As AI reshapes business landscapes, how are you translating technical capabilities into business impact narratives for customers and stakeholders?

We frame every conversation about AI around what matters most to our customers - their goals, pain points and opportunities - rather than solely on the technology itself.

AI becomes real when it’s grounded in purpose and focused on outcomes that truly move a business forward.

That’s why we bring it to life through real-world examples that matter to our customers.

Whether it’s reducing the processing time of insurance claims, automating hundreds of banking processes, predicting equipment failures before they happen, or providing insights that improve inventory forecasting, we demonstrate how AI delivers measurable outcomes that make a difference.

Many of our customers are benefiting by starting small with AI and then scaling up as they see results over time.

This theme is powerful because it meets customers where they are— acknowledging both the opportunities and uncertainties of AI adoption.

For example, Singapore General Hospital empowered doctors to make critical decisions on antibiotic use in 90% of the time; Equitable Holdings cut customer service response times by 80% with a GenAI chatbot built and deployed in just 30 days; and the Italian Ministry of Cultural Heritage used AI agents to sift through decades of bibliographic data, linking millions of digital materials from more than 6,500 libraries.

These examples illustrate our commitment to real, measurable impact—showing how AI drives meaningful progress across diverse fields.

We focus our narratives on stories of progress—not perfection—highlighting practical wins, lessons learned and the human impact behind the technology.

Our approach embeds AI seamlessly into our customers’ operations, making it a core part of their business strategy and go-to-market, not just an add-on.

4.What KPIs or performance indicators do you use to measure the impact of global marketing and communications efforts on brand equity and market perception?

Our focus is on client centricity, a practice grounded in data, driven by listening and placing the customer experience at the center of every business strategy and execution decision we make.

Our strategy starts with first-party signals: real-time feedback, advocacy indicators and the insights our customers share with us every day.

This intelligence is more than informative; it’s the golden thread that shapes how we design experiences, evolve our go-to-market approach, and continuously raise the bar on relevance and responsiveness.

By connecting insights across the full customer journey, we’re able to reinforce trust, deepen loyalty, and ensure our brand remains relevant in a world of constant change.

We’re also using analytics and real-time feedback to fine-tune what we say, how we say it, and where we show up.

Whether through digital channels, events, or executive engagement, we’re focused on being timely, credible and value-driven in every interaction.

And through our DXC Client Insight Exchange, a new white-glove program that we launched in February, we actively listen to our customers, gather direct feedback, and prioritize their unique needs at every turn.

We also collaborate closely with the CIO’s office to uncover more agile ways of aligning efforts—not only in demand generation, but throughout the entire funnel, all the way to conversion to drive business growth.

This is where tight collaboration between sales, the CIO’s office and other teams becomes crucial.

Our focus is always on the customer and the unique value we provide.

5.How do you ensure alignment between corporate messaging, innovation roadmaps, and public narratives communicated by executives and PR and marketing teams?

We ensure alignment by fostering close collaboration across teams, creating regular opportunities for knowledge sharing and maintaining a deep understanding of our business and our customers.

We do this by bringing together stakeholders from industry, offerings, marketing, communications and executive leadership to co-develop a unified narrative that reflects both where the business is today and its future direction, while staying grounded in feedback from customers, employees, partners and other key stakeholders.

This shared foundation helps us consistently articulate our value—from internal teams to the boardroom to the marketplace—with a clear focus on customer impact, innovation leadership and strategic differentiation.

DXC helps keep some of the biggest companies in the world innovating and growing, thanks to its strong global footprint and local expertise.

And I’ve witnessed the amazing drive and tenacity that keeps our consultants, experts and engineers focused on our clients’ desired outcomes.

To that end, we ground our storytelling—whether from executives, in press coverage, or through marketing and communications content—in real progress and outcomes.

We elevate real-world examples and measurable outcomes to show how our technology delivers value today, while signaling where it’s going next.

This is how we build trust, reinforce our position as an innovation partner, and ensure that we’re speaking with one voice, across every channel.

6.How is your marketing and communications strategy adapting to disruption in global technology markets, particularly around AI and enterprise transformation?

It feels like every day there’s a new AI breakthrough or use case that captures our imagination and sparks our creativity.

But this next wave of AI won’t come from quick fixes or isolated projects.

Instead, it will be driven by leaders and teams who are building on early successes and embedding AI deeply across their entire organization.

At DXC, we believe AI must be pervasive, not just used by leadership.

That’s why we’re building a culture where everyone is encouraged to use AI to do more meaningful, high-impact work.

For example, AI is rewriting the marketing playbook, with agentic AI automating workflows and freeing marketers to focus on strategy, customer connections and personalized experiences.

Building on this shift, my teams are embracing a hands-on approach to AI — experimenting with new tools and techniques that not only optimize click-throughs, but also to inspire better thinking, deeper human insight, and create more resonant storytelling.

And we’ve cut content creation and video production time by 30%.

This has enabled us to uncover faster, more effective ways to engage our audiences, transforming the function and sharpening our team’s strategic and creative edge.

A ‘learning by doing’ mindset sharpens our strategies in real time, helping us adapt quickly to market changes and deliver more personalized, impactful experiences.

But AI alone can’t drive growth — a human touch is essential to unlock its potential.

In lead generation, for example, AI now qualifies prospects so sellers can focus on relationships and marketers on strategic creativity—proving this isn’t about replacement, but about being better, bolder and faster.

The result: a new breed of super learners who embrace every opportunity to cultivate new skills, are nimble in the face of change, and are empowered to pivot into new areas of opportunity and push the limits of what AI makes possible.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

1. How can AI and automation be effectively deployed to track sentiment, misinformation, or reputational risks across diverse media channels?

AI and automation have become essential tools in navigating today’s complex and fast-moving media landscape. With billions of data points generated daily across print, broadcast, digital platforms, and social media, AI excels at sifting through this vast sea of information at scale and at speeds no human team could match.

Modern AI systems, including large language models and multimodal analysis engines, go beyond simple keyword scanning or sentiment scoring. They can detect nuanced tone, sarcasm, polarizing narratives, or shifts in public opinion — even across languages and regions. These capabilities are particularly powerful in identifying misinformation patterns, coordinated disinformation efforts, or emerging reputational risks before they escalate.

However, the real effectiveness lies in the synergy between artificial and human intelligence. While AI identifies trends and signals early, human analysts are essential for interpreting these signals through a strategic lens – understanding the “why” behind the data, not just the “what.” This human-in-the-loop approach ensures that insights are not only accurate but also actionable, helping organizations protect and strengthen their reputation in real time.

2. What key challenges do organizations face in managing real-time media monitoring at scale, especially in the era of digital and social media?

The core challenges can be summed up as volume, velocity, and veracity. The sheer scale of content produced across digital and social platforms every second is staggering – far beyond what manual teams can process. At the same time, the velocity of online conversations means that a local issue can escalate into a global reputational crisis in minutes.

Compounding this is the challenge of veracity: not everything that gains traction is accurate or trustworthy. Cutting through the noise to identify what truly matters requires more than just data collection – it demands intelligent filtering, source verification, and contextual prioritization. AI is a critical enabler here: not only does it automate collection and classification, but it also unlocks new capabilities — like real-time narrative mapping, risk scoring, and predictive modeling. It helps teams shift from reactive monitoring to proactive intelligence.

Human oversight is critical to interpret nuance, assess reputational impact, and provide strategic direction. It’s this human–led, data-fed collaboration that transforms raw media signals into meaningful, real-time intelligence.

3. How can organizations ensure consistency and relevance in media insights when operating in both global and local contexts?

Striking the right balance between global consistency and local relevance calls for a well-designed hybrid approach. Standardized KPIs and harmonized methodologies provide a shared framework for generating insights at scale, creating alignment across teams and geographies. At the same time, local analysts contribute the cultural fluency, language nuance, and market-specific context needed to make those insights truly meaningful and resonant on the ground.

The most effective organizations bridge global and local perspectives through integrated platforms, real-time collaboration, and continuous feedback loops. One international public-sector client, for example, operates on this model – combining a centralized insight framework with localized media analysis across more than two dozen countries and in over 30 languages. This enables them to understand how overarching messages are perceived at the local level and to adapt their communication strategies accordingly. The result: media insights that are not only consistent and credible, but also relevant, timely, and actionable across diverse and dynamic markets. 

4. How are institutions particularly in the public or governmental sectors adapting their communication strategies in response to media intelligence data?

Public institutions are increasingly using real-time media intelligence to shift from reactive to proactive communication models. By closely monitoring public discourse, they can adapt messaging quickly, address misinformation early, and engage more strategically with different stakeholder groups.

A strong example is a major international public institution that leverages media intelligence to understand sentiment across countries, anticipate politically sensitive topics, and coordinate communication efforts across languages and cultural contexts. Rather than waiting for narratives to unfold, this organization uses insights to proactively shape and tailor its messaging – ensuring it resonates locally while supporting broader strategic priorities.

This data-informed approach enables public institutions not just to respond more effectively, but to lead the conversation, strengthen transparency, and build public trust in an increasingly complex and fast-moving media environment.

5. What governance frameworks should be in place to oversee responsible use of media listening technologies?

Responsible use of media intelligence demands more than powerful tools – it requires robust governance. Organizations must establish clear, enforceable policies around data collection, usage, storage, and access. These should be grounded in privacy laws, ethical guidelines, and a firm commitment to transparency.

Governance should also be cross-functional. Involving legal, compliance, IT, and communications teams ensures that media listening practices are aligned with both regulatory standards and corporate values. Regular audits, training, and scenario planning are essential components. Ultimately, governance is about safeguarding both the organization’s integrity and the rights of the individuals whose voices are being monitored.

6. How can organizations future-proof their media and reputation strategies amid rapidly changing news cycles and digital ecosystems?

In a media environment where narratives can shift overnight, future-proofing means building for change, not permanence. Organizations must invest in adaptable technology stacks that allow for real-time monitoring, predictive analytics, and seamless integration of new platforms and data sources.

Equally important is cultivating organizational agility – training teams to interpret signals quickly, act decisively, and learn continuously. Strategic partnerships with media intelligence experts, combined with scenario planning and crisis simulations, can help stress-test reputational strategies before real-world events hit.

At its core, future-proofing isn’t just about tools – it’s about mindset. The organizations that thrive will be those that embed resilience, foresight, and curiosity into the very fabric of how they communicate.

Get in touch with our MarTech Experts.

1. How do you see organizations leveraging video formats (e.g., behind-the-scenes) to build trust with Gen Z and Millennial audiences?  

Video has evolved beyond a digital marketing tool to become a powerful force for human connection, especially among Gen Z and Millennial audiences. Social video is less about persuasion, as one might see with traditional advertising, and is more about entertaining and informing users: as iStock’s global research platform, VisualGPS, found, about half of Millennials (45%) and Gen Z (50%) say they use video‑first platforms for entertainment. Additionally, the VisualGPS research shows that 31% of people globally seek out videos on social media for inspiration and to learn something new. With these insights in mind, brands and SMBs should focus on video content that adds value to people’s lives to build interest in their brand by teaching viewers something new or sharing a personal story.

A staggering 98% of people say they value authenticity in the visuals they consume, which is one reason that behind-the-scenes content is becoming such a popular (and powerful) format. At a time when audiences are deeply skeptical of content they encounter online, video content that humanizes a business and comes from a place of authenticity is more likely to foster trust. To do so, businesses are adopting popular social video formats that mirror the content users are already looking for.

For example, a local bakery might work with one of their employees to create a “day in my life” video – a common lifestyle video format – to showcase the bakery from a behind-the-scenes perspective while giving audiences a personality to connect with. Meanwhile, a beauty brand might debut a new line of products with a “get ready with me” (GRWM) video–a format that is as much a vehicle for powerful personal storytelling as it is for showing the look and feel of a product. Our research shows that video-led personal journeys inspire empathy and engagement, and these first-person, narrative-focused formats are deeply compelling while fairly simple to produce 

All this to say, many small businesses don’t have the time or resources to produce 100% of their own content. They may also want to include visuals they can’t capture locally, or represent more diverse identities in their videos. To solve this, small businesses are utilizing stock footage to augment their video content. The right pre-shot imagery and footage can evoke a certain mood, heighten the impact of their message, and allow more audience groups to see themselves reflected in a brand’s content.

Overall, a combination of stock footage, smartphone video, and user-generated content will help brands and businesses to strike that coveted balance between authenticity and polish. 

2. Which platforms are brands prioritizing in their video distribution strategy (e.g. Instagram, YouTube), and how do they adapt content formats to meet each platform's expectations? 

Brands are going where their audiences are going. Which social platforms they target will vary depending on which audiences that brands want to engage, where their brand social accounts already have a strong presence, and where they hope to grow. From there, brands are creating video content in line with the expectations of users on a certain platform. For example, TikTok content might play to a trending format or make use of a viral audio file to increase discoverability, while YouTube videos could be tailored for more intentional, appointment-style viewing.

A major trend of note is long-form content, which is gaining widespread popularity across platforms. It’s a shift that defies the reality of our shrinking attention spans and speaks to consumers’ appetite for valuable, authentic content. This is not to say that every brand should be churning out hours of video entertainment. Rather, the growth of long-form video gives brands more time and freedom to tell their stories.

3. How effectively does video content reflect a brand’s personality—whether fun, premium, or purpose-driven?

If every piece of content is an opportunity to create a personal connection with a potential customer, then it’s best to portray your brand honestly and authentically. In engaging today’s consumers, personality and credibility go hand-in-hand. Video content that effectively showcases a brand’s personality is content that focuses on who the brand is, not just what it sells or how it operates.

Brands should also account for industry-specific nuances when creating content that expresses their personality. For example, health and wellness brands might consider showing how their products and services improve the lives of everyday people, rather than leveraging paid influencers, as 81% of people prefer to see real individuals actively improving their well‑being over aspirational imagery. Even sleeker, more “premium” brands can humanize their content by showing the passion and care that goes into the work. It’s all about leaning into personality in a way that compels audiences, but also feels truthful.

4. Are SMBs using video to demonstrate products (e.g., unboxings, tutorials, testimonials) in ways that reduce buyer friction and increase conversions?

According to VisualGPS, 72% of consumers prefer video for product demonstrations, making them a crucial way for SMBs to help audiences understand their product and make informed purchasing decisions. Video allows for a 360-degree view that static online shopping doesn’t offer, as well as the injection of customer testimony or expert commentary from the seller. The more questions a business can answer about how their products look, feel, and function, the more likely they are to convert.

Fortunately for small businesses, these kinds of videos are not excessively expensive to produce, and audiences will value the authentic, realistic look at the product. These videos also offer another chance for SMBs to show off their personality, building further trust and amplifying the chance of conversion. 

5. How do you quantify the impact of video storytelling on long-term customer loyalty and brand trust?

Our ongoing VisualGPS research looks at consumer sentiment over time, and our latest video insights reveal that approachable content told through diverse, creative formats are what resonate most with consumers, building loyalty and trust.

As for quantifying the impact of an individual campaign, each brand has its own specific metrics that matter most, but video content has been expressly linked to higher conversion rates, social engagement rates and improved SEO. SMBs and brands can also use UTMs to see if videos are driving web traffic and monitor for an uptick in product reviews, location check-ins, and social mentions.

And it’s not just quantity that matters: when posting visuals on social media, comments and direct messages from audiences can be valuable sources of qualitative feedback to help SMBs determine whether their video campaigns are resonating.

6. How are you preparing your teams to scale video storytelling as part of a broader digital engagement strategy in a “video-first” environment?

Video content has been a core part of our offering at iStock, and we work with our content creators to produce compelling clips and footage that can be used for just about any project, whether it's for social media, paid ads, websites or digital banners. Creating and scaling original content, especially high-quality video content, can be cost-prohibitive for SMBs; stock footage enables businesses to create varied, personalized and more creative videos to engage a wider variety of audiences. With the variety of dynamic video options available to today’s businesses, it’s easy for them to find something that feels like a true fit for their brand and the story they’re trying to tell.

Scrolling and watching videos online is how so many people fill the downtime in their days, so brands and businesses want to enter these spaces without being invasive and overly advertorial. Video content that models what users are already seeking, while coming from a place of honesty and authenticity, is the ideal way in.

The secret to scaling storytelling is to mobilize your teams as storytellers. It’s important to look at the metrics and understand which content attracts which audiences, but the human element is what truly unlocks scalability without requiring a massive budget. Audiences have a keen sensibility for what’s real and what isn’t, and the best way to keep them engaged is through storytelling that feels honest.

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