In this article, we take a look at some key trends shaping agency client collaboration. From digital transformation to the importance of artificial intelligence (AI) – these developments play a crucial role in the future of the industry. The Bundesverband Digitale Wirtschaft (BVDW) eV conducted a study with 159 digital agencies – with interesting results. Among other things, the study presented theses that the agencies either agreed with or did not consider important. Here are some of the results:
Thesis 1: “digital transformation: The challenges and, above all, the solutions to them are still an important strategic topic for our customers and the customer projects we support. 86% agreed .
Thesis 2: “Agile ways of workingsuch as Scrum, Kanban, Design Thinking characterize the cooperation with agency customers and classic working methods (with longer project cycles) are taking a back seat .” 76% agreed .
Thesis 3: “Conversational Commerce: The dialogue between companies (agency customers) and their customers is increasingly conducted via automated applications such as chat, messaging services and bots. 46% of agencies agreed .
Thesis 4: “social commerce: Influencers are increasingly becoming creators. Customers and entrepreneurs are increasingly using influencers/content creators to advertise/sell products and services more directly/more successfully.” 40% of the agencies agreed with this .
Thesis 5: “KI or AI: Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligencewill profoundly change the economy and our society and will also play a very important role in our industry.” This trend is obviously very strong, with 86% of agencies agreeing.
AlthoughVirtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR)and climate change are considered important issues, only about 25% of agencies and their clients deal with them. This is also reflected in public discussions: Many see these topics as hype and do not believe that it could really become a relevant topic for e-commerce. Here the future will show what will really become reality and what will only remain as a vision in people’s minds.
What is alarming, however, is that only 27% of the agencies state that customers are increasingly thinking of ESR. Say: Theclimate changeand the resulting issues are obviously not yet important for German retailers. She already has that Study by Asendia shown: Germany brings up the rear when it comes to sustainability. Sad I think.
You can read more interesting results of the study for yourself. The study is freely downloadable.