Welcome to the inaugural issue of Gartner Business Quarterly. Here is our reason for being: Senior executives have been asking us for help becoming better business partners and enterprise leaders. GBQ will advise you on aligning with others and reaching maximum effectiveness — so your organization can achieve its goals, be bold and principled, and bring employees, investors and the public along for the ride. 

Each edition of this journal will tackle a challenge that cuts across the C-suite and executive teams. This time, we look at how your enterprise can rebuild better from the crisis the whole world faces now.

The pandemic, protests and recession have laid bare and accelerated the impact of tough choices deferred. In this moment of clarity, it’s time to bust myths and break through the bottlenecks that have held back needed change — rethinking cost structure, creating more efficient and responsive projects and processes, and considering larger social impacts. 

The core group of articles in this edition deliver new ways to shift your mindset and take action now. They are based on best practices research and real-world experience shared by global leaders at organizations large and small, including Google, ING, Lloyds Banking Group, Qantas, ZO Skin Health, the Treasury Board of Canada Secretariat and the Finnish city of Turku. 

You can use this information to spend more prudently while also positioning for recovery. Decisions made during this period of uncertainty will forge a new set of winners, just as they did in the wake of the financial crisis. This time, fresh thinking will aid in steering through the “new normal” and beyond.   

GBQ also includes departments that keep you up to speed: Cutting Edge, a graphics-intensive look at thought-provoking new data, and Briefs, a set of short takes about Smarter Spending & Planning, Talent & Culture, Growth & Innovation and Data & Technology. 

We welcome your comments and questions. Please reach out to me at judy.pasternak@gartner.com. 

— Judy Pasternak

New Markets Are Not a Priority for 2021

Almost four-fifths (79%) of chief marketing officers say their companies plan to focus next year’s growth strategy on existing markets — either by increasing sales of existing products there or introducing new products.

Help Vulnerable Customers, and They Will Help You: A Lesson From Financial Services

About half of retail banking consumers and small businesses are financially vulnerable, and they come from all income levels. Don’t make assumptions — use analytics to identify who they are and focus groups to understand how you can address their challenges.