Industry focus

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Making pension data-driven

It’s an interesting time in today’s pension market. By 2025, a new legal framework will come into play that makes one’s pension more personal but also more risk-carrying. This is against the backdrop of a population that increasingly got used to being in control of its own life decisions. Be it execution-only mortgages, do-it-yourself investment platforms or Siri/Cortana as the PA-for-all.

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Early disruptors

How online-first players succeeded

SparkOptimus has worked with many digital native companies, helping them redefine their strategic focus, shape their growth strategies, and overcome scaling challenges. We have coached executive teams, professionalized structures, streamlined processes, onboarded new talent, and aligned business objectives with personal targets and incentives.

3 mins

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Travel and media

Where digital disruption hit first

What happened Around the start of the century, travel was ripe for disruption. Booking a holiday meant a trip to the travel agent, involving long queues, poor information and high cancellation fees. Fast forward to 2020 and the industry has changed dramatically: booking takes place overwhelmingly on digital platforms, and suppliers like big agencies and […]

3 mins

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Retail

Shaping the omnichannel retail landscape we know today

By the early 2010s, global ecommerce sales had already grown to a significant size. Front-running disruptors such as Amazon and Zalando were aggressively tearing down consumer adoption barriers, for example by offering free shipping and free returns, and it was becoming increasingly apparent to incumbent retailers that the shift to online could no longer be ignored.

4 mins

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Consumer goods

The key to survival in a disrupted CPG reality

Over the last decade, the traditional strengths of Consumer Packaged Goods (CPG) companies have been slowly eroded. Companies no longer need to own factories to produce goods, Amazon sells anyone’s products, the power of mass-marketing through traditional media is dwindling, talent favours startups, and innovation happens increasingly outside corporate R&D centres.

3 mins

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Industrial goods

Tailoring digital solutions for the B2B marketplace

By the mid-2010s, consumer adoption of digital was widespread, but in industrial B2B markets it was still in its infancy. However, strongly influenced by their consumer experiences, business customers were starting to ask why their B2B interactions were so slow, opaque, and dated in feel in comparison.

3 mins

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Financial services

Transforming the customer experience of financial products

For many decades, banks, insurance companies and mortgage lenders enjoyed dominant positions in high-margin markets, protected by strict regulation, strong customer lock-in and high capital requirements. However, even they have not been immune to disruption.

3 mins

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Mergers and acquisitions

Bringing investors and digital disruptors together

Early disruptors were often owned by private capital or visionary private equity firms. As these disruptors scaled, more capital was needed, and with sufficient backing some were able to overthrow existing markets and create new ‘blue oceans’.

3 mins

Industry focus

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