Looking for more insight into what customers might be up to? Here are three items that could give you an edge with a customer or two, focusing on tighter information security in the healthcare industry, finance leaders' struggles with digital transformation, and the impact of artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things on insurance technology startups.

GOT HEALTHCARE CLIENTS THAT NEED STRONGER SECURITY?

As if the U.S. healthcare industry didn't have enough on its plate with rising insurance premiums and the debate over the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. Cybersecurity Ventures and managed security services provider The Herjavec Group believe ransomware attacks on healthcare organizations will quadruple by 2020, helping fuel more than $65 billion in spending on cybersecurity products and services from 2017 through 2021. Cybersecurity Ventures anticipates cybersecurity market growth of 12 to 15 percent year over year through 2020, according to Steve Morgan, founder and editor-in-chief at Cybersecurity Ventures. Atif Ghauri, CTO of The Herjavec Group, encourages healthcare organizations to increase their defenses, and invest in employee training, technologies, processes and incident responses plans to get ahead of ransomware attacks.

ACCENTURE: ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE AND IoT DRIVE INVESTMENT IN INSURANCE TECH STARTUPS

Ready for potential technology-induced disruption in the financial services industry? Artificial intelligence and the Internet of Things account for almost half of all investment in insurance technology startups, according to a new report from Accenture. The report said the combined number of deals across AI (including automation) and IoT (including connected insurance) increased 79 percent in 2016, accounting for 44 percent, or about $711 million, of all investment in insurance technology, more than four times what it was in 2015. The report says the insurance industry views AI and IoT as critical to delivering increased levels of personalization and better real-world outcomes for customers. For example, AI has the potential to transform the insurance industry from simply assessing risk based on past experience to monitoring risks in real-time and mitigating, or even preventing, losses for customers, the report said.

DO FINANCE PEOPLE NEED HELP WITH DIGITAL TRANSFORMATION STRATEGIES?

Finance leaders recognize the performance improvement benefits that digital transformation can bring. That's the good news. The bad news is that most of them lack a comprehensive strategy for it and don't have a clear idea where or how to deploy digital tools to their best advantage, according to research from consultancy and business benchmarking organization The Hackett Group. The research also found that gaps in significant skills and competency are preventing finance organizations from taking full advantage of digital transformation.

So, does this spell opportunity for solution providers? Quite possibly. Finance organizations "recognize the tremendous potential to change the way they operate. But in this early stage of the digital revolution they are struggling to determine how to move forward, and how to truly attain the greatest benefit," said Nilly Essaides, senior research director at The Hackett Group. "There’s a significant opportunity for companies that can figure this out and make the necessary changes to technology, processes and people."