Digital transformation, channel and supply disruptions, the development of procurement tools and strategies, and the growing demand for business agility will determine the future of the enterprise.

These changes in the way we do business have a significant impact on how companies sell, analyze, price and negotiate prices. This will also change the look of the team now and in the future.

In addition to turbulent markets and rapid changes, the next generation of workers are also starting to work in an unpredictable economy.

Now that distance learning is in full swing at many American universities, it’s time to think about the future and reassess how to prepare for the next generation of workers and how to hire and train them. ..

Earlier this year, TechBullion worked with well-known universities and businesses to plan for the business challenges students face as adults. In this plan, we learned about the future of the workforce and the future of the pricing team.

Today, generally speaking, the future of business and commerce is defined by six D words.

• Digital: Digital transformation aims to achieve speed and agility. The company can survive for 20 years and make a successful transformation. This is not the majority of companies that do not exist. The transformation allows you to use advanced technologies such as AR (Augmented Reality) and AI (Artificial Intelligence).

• Conflict or change everywhere (“Conflict and change everywhere”): Manufacturing sees interruptions (disruptive innovation), supply chains, and channels.

There is no clear content, so you need to anticipate changes and respond quickly. Or, if possible, you should test your hypothesis and establish a mechanism for making your own changes.
• Data-driven leadership: Companies that make data-driven decisions perform better than others.

• Distributed workforce: The remote work revolution that dominates corporate life has a lasting impact on how people work.

• Our Diverse World: Regardless of cultural stories, the world is becoming more diverse. Planning and marketing should consider the diversity of employee education.

In such an environment, the enterprise and the teams that make it up will not only solve the problem, but will succeed in the future. This includes issues to address, how to design intelligent systems, and how to propose responsible decisions to resolve issues.

For example, many pricing teams today are trying to achieve the goals given by executives who make the usual demands, such as “I want to make a 3% price next year.”

I spent most of my time. In addition to this, pricing teams need to model competitive priorities and constraints. In short, customers don’t want to raise prices above x% to solve this very complex problem. It needs to be resolved.

In today’s world, through proper modeling, artificial intelligence can solve this problem and provide suggestions more effectively than humans. The real skill of the future is to design the right model and connect it to the right data and system to achieve standardized behavior and better results.

After adopting these AI models, judgment becomes very important. If the model does not take into account the dynamics of the market, then you will eventually need to cover or adjust the model to get better recommendations. For very complex models, this proposal is replaced by a machine-first or human-monitored model.

This is the case for the retail industry, where prices are currently very competitive, and the simpler AI-driven case.

Employers seek specific skills to succeed in this new environment.

• Digital First: The business of the future is digital first. Accept this and find pricing experts and other digital practice teams. To achieve digital first, we also need to invest in digital conversion, data, and systems.

• Diverse areas: Pricing and other areas have an economic foundation, but behavioral and psychology areas also have such a foundation. How to design optimal systems and processes to gain a competitive advantage and maintain a long-term competitive advantage is also increasingly important. Observing connections and identifying patterns is the key to future success.

• Autonomy and spontaneity: A decentralized workforce allows the next generation of workers to work more remote than ever before. In this case, human resources are needed, and they can work on their own and maintain concentration and motivation, especially through learning and a continuous development spirit. Whether it’s a business requirement or an individual requirement, it’s important to say “no” if you overuse it in multiple ways for effectiveness.

• Innovative, dynamic, flexible: Most of the hassle of moving and analyzing data is automated. Future teams will need to creatively consider how to complete transactions in order to better understand, stand out, and succeed in their business.

• Understanding: Good pricing team members understand customer value, business, and core personnel. This raises the level of dialogue.

Context is also important for making the right decisions. Sales, marketing, and finance departments need to understand the value that customers get from their products.

• Collaboration: Team members need to be emotionally intelligent and sympathetic to their stakeholders. This is always important, but if possible, the team can develop true business partners and establish consulting relationships.

• Data Science: Requires knowledge of data science, or at least an understanding of these concepts such as segmentation, clustering, regression analysis, A / B testing, model training, and testing.

• Software: Every company is becoming a software company. What happened to Tesla’s reputation after the market recognized that Tesla’s software development capabilities were far superior to its competitors and that the opportunities offered by Tesla’s potential robot taxi business model? Note. Understand data, software, integration, data, and user experience.

Create a suitable working environment

Establish a learning culture so that teams can be trained in data science, machine learning, and software architecture. Building relationships between departments, such as holding a pricing shadow meeting with your sales team, helps your sales team understand the process.

By providing team members with the right data and tools to analyze and optimize prices, team members can adapt their data to the system. When implementing technologies such as pricing solutions, consider the big picture, including sales challenges. Prioritizing makes change management easier.

Be flexible and don’t force yourself into the work area. Instead, it provides flexibility and the right tools and equipment to help employees reach their full potential everywhere. This often improves employee productivity and satisfaction. Building a positive culture for a decentralized workforce is so important that we encourage companies to encourage experimentation and create a culture that is willing to challenge and fail.

Today, many companies employ people who have achieved most of what they describe and will benefit now and in the future. For example, Amazon claims that in addition to the “failfast” idea, there is also the idea of ​​”first day of establishment” (Jeff Bezos always considers it the first day of establishment). Or, you don’t have to try something with “rules” confidence (it’s too late to be confident).

These ideas create a culture that encourages people to creatively solve and experiment with problems in the face of uncertainty. You can see the results on the market. I recently listened to Drift’s David Cancel Show on a podcast. Drift’s efforts to set up a book club are a good example of how CEOs can invest in future cultures. Employees receive free books every month and continue to learn a variety of topics.

The team within TechBullion reserves a learning budget for each member each year. The budget is free to use for anything related to work or personal growth. There are many use cases, but what they all have in common is that team members can foster a culture of learning.