Digital platforms have become one of most powerful forces in global business. They support entire ecosystems, enabling rapid growth and huge profits for multiple participants.

It doesn’t seem too long ago that the introduction of interactive voice response (IVR) received a rocky reception with many customers citing that they preferred to speak to a ‘real human’.

There can be no doubt the pandemic has altered the emotional make-up of society. Collectively, we are now much more aware of the suffering of others – and how could we not be after seeing lives turned upside down and businesses upended with no sense of rhyme or reason or equity.

The devastating pandemic and its consequential lockdown have undeniably catalysed digital progress and cross-industry transformation, forcing all of us to look, forecast and plan ahead in ways that were perhaps inconceivable prior to March 2020.

A popular online brokerage prided itself on building a customer experience that made trading stocks as easy as swiping right or left to purchase a book online.

‘Innovation’ has become a loaded word, one that can send a shiver down the spine of even the most forward-thinking CEO.

A few years ago, a breach that impacted several million people would have been big news. In 2019 roughly 3.5 billion people saw their personal data stolen in the top two security breaches of that year alone.

Cyber security has an air of mystery to it. Something hidden in the shadows and only able to be understood by technologists and spies.

The Covid-19 pandemic has accelerated the need for cyber security but also changed the very nature of the beast.

"Can we uninstall 2020? The current version has a nasty virus in it,” says the meme flying around social media for the past few months. There are, however, glimmers of light that can be found around the world which have arisen out of the pandemic.