Introducing Connected Commerce: Business Beyond Borders – the GBG podcast

In 2020, the world has had a glimpse of a near-future – where technology doesn’t just improve the infrastructure our lives revolve around, but is the infrastructure we depend on. 

As we adjusted to the conditions of a global pandemic and economic crisis, one change became overwhelmingly clear: the acceleration towards a digital economy, where even businesses and consumers with ‘traditional’ values or far-flung postal codes turned to digital-first services as the new default. 

In that new digital normal, we now take something for granted: business flows beyond borders, in every sense. From video conferencing apps running in the cloud, to startup fashion brands having instant access to the global market through eCommerce platforms, the global economy is increasingly borderless. This is the megatrend we’ll unpack in Connected Commerce: Business Beyond Borders – the GBG podcast series that explores how businesses can prosper online, by building customer trust in a digital-first world. 

Over the course of the first series, I’ll be calling on a range of industry thought leaders to explore both the long-tail trends and short-term acceleration currently being seen, on all things connected commerce. In the opening episodes for example, we’ll hear from Metro Bank on how world-class User Experience has helped them scale a banking challenger brand – and we’ll hear from cyber and identity experts, on the increasingly complex challenge of delivering digital services that fall on the right side of data privacy and public trust. 

Diving deeper into the companies behind this shift, we’ll spend some time shining a light on technology businesses that are not only shaping our expectations as consumers, but also stepping up in their duties as global citizens. As our relationship with nascent technologies begins to evolve and mature, the spotlight is on these businesses to innovate relentlessly without losing sight of their societal role – so how have they fared through the current crisis, and how will their role change in the decade to come?  

As supply chains restructure and reset amid volatile global trade conditions, digital-first success in the wake of COVID-19 will also be underpinned by the ability to reach customers wherever they are in the world. Thorny – and often costly – issues like identity fraud, failed deliveries and ‘final mile’ logistics could well be key barriers holding some businesses back, and slowing our progress towards fulfilling the potential of connected commerce. So, I’ll be asking eCommerce and identity experts from the likes of Ekata and the Emerging Payments Association: how will businesses transact with consumers, as the world goes ‘cashless’; and how can you reach – and trust – a customer on the other side of the world, seamlessly and securely? 

In challenging times, a generation of remarkable, innovative businesses are beginning to coalesce – enabling a borderless approach to business that will shape our economy for decades to come, and make our lives a little easier in the process. I hope you’ll enjoy hearing some of their insights, in this first series of the Connected Commerce: Business Beyond Borders podcast – stay tuned for more episodes, learnings and ideas to come! 

Head over to the Connected Commerce hub to find out more, subscribe and listen to the podcasts on your preferred platform. 

Drop me a line to let me know what you’d love to hear on our podcast: @Chris.Boaz

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