Has the pandemic led companies to prioritize customer experience technology over traditional concerns for security and cost reduction? This Harvard Business Review Analytic Services study for Apptio found that corporate managers ranked customer experience at the top of their list of strategic goals for tech spending. But don’t get too excited: an IDG survey of mostly IT managers found they (still) put cybersecurity, analytics, and business process management ahead of customer experience spending.

Few IT departments want to build their own adtech, which leaves the field open for companies like Vistar Media, a specialist in digital out of home programmatic ad buying, selling, and network management. They just raised a $30 million Series B. Funds came from outdoor ad seller Lamar Advertising, which will gain a minority stake in Vistar.

Just over half of consumers (54%) like to receive personalized messages because they show the consumers are known to the brand, plus they can be time savers. The rest (46%) find it at best unimportant, at worst creepy. Relevance far outstrips personalization when it comes to driving email opens (54% vs. 19%). Takeaway: treat each customer the way they prefer.