IBM’s 2012 Global CEO Study undertook an extensive exercise to interview more than 1,700 CEOs in an effort to understand how the top corporate honchos perceive the future. The study can provide interesting insights for medical and dental professionals looking to expand their practices in the face of growing competition and the onslaught of online medical marketing and SEO from all directions.

The IBM study reveals that a majority of CEOs are of the opinion that technology will be the most critical factor that will impact the structure of any organization over the next three years. In an increasingly interconnected environment, creativity, communication and collaboration will be the key to success. Internet-based technologies are bound to influence the future of many businesses during this period.

The IBM report also takes a look at how CEOs leverage the growing power of social media networks to enhance their connectivity with consumers. While at present only 16 percent of CEOs are making use of social networks to reach out to customers, but according to IBM’s estimates, this trend will rise to 57 percent over the next three to five years.

Medical and dental marketing professionals can draw their own inferences from how global CEOs are looking at the future business and marketing approaches. Collaborating at scale is one of the critical precepts, according to the IBM report, for businesses and professionals that aim to outperform their competitors. It is crucial to treat and engage each customer as an individual, respond to them in a focused manner, and be present where the customer expects you to be.

The surveyed CEOs in the report believe that Internet technology and social networks can help deepen relationships, and not necessarily de-humanize them. A greater level of engagement, empowerment and amplification can be achieved through social networks than ever before. Dynamic social networks can leverage collective knowledge to unlock new models of participation and collaboration, from the point of view of independent dental and medical marketing professionals.