The World Has Shifted - Again
With Donald Trump re-asserting his particular brand on the global stage, the aftershocks of tariffs, reversals, threats and turbulence are already rippling through markets, supply chains, and boardrooms. UK businesses - especially those with a global footprint, international customer base, or heavy reliance on overseas tech and infrastructure - are now facing heightened pressures and uncertainty.
While the headlines focus on macroeconomics, digital leaders have a unique opportunity (and responsibility) to take action.
This isn’t just a trade issue. It’s a digital issue. It’s a resilience issue.
So, what should CMOs, digital transformation leaders, and IT executives be doing to prepare? And more importantly, where are the opportunities to outpace slower-moving competitors
1. Reframe Resilience as a Strategic Imperative
Resilience used to be about disaster recovery and redundancy. Today, it’s about adaptability. Digital leaders should work with their boards to redefine resilience in terms of:
👉 Action: Conduct a digital resilience audit across platforms, hosting, integrations, and customer touchpoints. Identify single points of failure or high-risk vendors and decide now what your contingency processes might be.
In times of uncertainty, customers become more discerning. They want transparency, trust, and value. That means a high-quality digital experience is no longer a ‘nice to have’—it’s a critical commercial differentiator. CMOs should focus on:
👉 Action: Review your DXP and martech ecosystem. Are you using all the tools you’re paying for? Are you getting value from your investment in digital? Are there gaps that should be addressed to protect your brand?
Tariff-driven cost increases will likely impact operating budgets. That’s a clear call to reassess your tech stack. Many UK firms are carrying bloated, underperforming platforms that no longer serve them.
Senior IT leaders should focus on:
👉 Action: Understand the value your platform delivers . If your CMS or DXP is costing more to maintain than it delivers in value, it’s time to consider a change.
Businesses that can test, learn, and pivot fast will always have an advantage. Over the next 12-18 months however this is likely to be even more of a differentiator, and applies as much to digital channels as it does to supply chains.
Optimizely’s experimentation and content orchestration capabilities, for example, are ideal tools for rapidly adapting to shifting customer needs. Yet many UK firms that have content orchestration and experimentation in place aren’t using them to their full potential.
👉 Action: Empower marketing and product teams to run high-frequency experimentation and have clear systems to act on the outcomes. Build a culture of test-and-learn. Rapid iteration beats aiming for perfection when context is changeable.
Many digital agencies will talk about “transformation,” but when the pressure hits, everything defaults to just keeping the lights on.
This is the moment to assess whether your current digital partner is preparing you for what’s coming—or reacting after the fact.
The right partner should:
👉 Action: Reassess your partner ecosystem. Look for alignment around shared strategic goals - particularly in sectors like memberships, utilities, pensions, NFPs, and manufacturing, where disruption may hit in different ways.
Periods of instability tend to separate leaders from laggards. While many organisations will react to uncertainty by retrenching, freezing budgets, or delaying innovation, this also offer those in digital a chance to lead.
By simplifying tech stacks, deepening digital capability, and reinforcing customer trust, you’re positioned well to not only survive the disruption - but also grow through it.
Digital vision statements created even 12 months ago may now be out of date. In 2025, a robust digital vision must be:
Your digital vision must reflect the world as it is becoming, not as it was. This means digital leaders should work closely with the C-suite to refresh and align them with today’s business context.
👉 Action: Ask yourself, “Does our current digital vision account for economic protectionism, AI acceleration, and data localisation?” If not, it might be time to reframe it.
A volatile global economy demands an operating model that is fit for purpose and capable of rapidly adapting to new conditions. The 2025-ready digital operating model for a CMO should:
👉 Action: Review your digital operating model, where decisions get made, and how quickly changes can be executed. Consider whether your current structure supports agility or hinders it.
Traditional roadmaps often assume stability and that internal change happens in a vacuum. But the best roadmap thinking provides multiple pathways towards positive outcomes, with options to adapt quickly when things change.
A resilient digital roadmap should include:
👉 Action: Shift from static Gantt charts to living roadmaps that are reviewed regularly. Introduce scenario planning and budget buffers for reallocation when volatility hits.