Technology – Page 2

What Really Matters

Every business acknowledges that the reason for their existence is the Customer. Every business wants to design products and services that are meant to address their customers’ needs. Yet, almost every business struggles to understand what their customers really want from them.

Is it any wonder that billions are spent worldwide in trying to gauge the truth of the matter, via interactions driven by focused groups and metrics like C-SAT and NPS? To make matters worse, in this Age of Digital and A.I., the “Customer” is also ever evolving!

How do you make sense of it all?

Yes, customers do exhibit different personalities and needs. But, there are a few insights and common traits that can help most businesses get going.

Here are some of my learnings…

In the India context, it helps to keep in mind that the first 100 Mn Digital Consumers were Younger, More Urban, More Men, More Desktop, while the last 100 Mn are relatively Older, More Rural, More Women, More Mobile.

That said, customers all over the world are figuring out how they can leverage the abundance of Technology that now comes embedded in most platforms, products and services.

They want more and more to happen via Digital channels, so they can access it On-The-Go.

They want lesser clicks, faster page loads, shorter queues, reduced turnaround times, smaller forms.

They want more self-service options (Starbucks?), and want less IVRS interactions (Your call is important to us…?).

In other words, they want their interactions with your brand to be relevant, useful and enjoyable.

Oh, and thanks to online forums, reviews, ratings, and social media exchanges, they probably know more about your product or service than your Sales agent does!

Keep these factors in mind when trying to improve relevance of your offerings, instead of simply believing “you know what’s best for them”. And, don’t leave any opportunity to talk to a real customer – to listen to what really matters to them.

After all, there is just no substitute for a real conversation.

Survival of the Fittest

This post was also featured on the CRMAsia blog.

The headlines keep spewing out paranoia:

AI is taking over hundreds of jobs!
Uber and Ola have all but replaced traditional cabs!!
The hospitality industry objects to predatory pricing by Oyo!!!

So, what does all this mean for corporates, marketers and industry professionals like you and me? Should we become paranoid too? Should we be doing something else instead? Is it already too late?

Here are some interesting statistics compiled by HostingFacts:

There are 4.1 billion Internet users in the world (Dec 2018)
China has the most Internet users for any country (~802 million or ~20 percent of total), trailed by India (~500 million)
Amazon is responsible for more than 49 percent of all online sales and about 5 percent of all retail sales in the U.S.
There are 3.7 billion global mobile Internet users (Jan 2018)
About 75 percent of ecommerce sales in China are done via mobile devices
Mobile traffic is responsible for 52.2 percent of Internet traffic in 2018

The combination of super-cheap data plans (as in Jio) and super-cheap smartphones (as in Android + China) is already making a dent in India. With a plethora of payment platforms (PayTM, RuPay, etc.) that enable everything from micro-payments and P2P money transfers to mutual funds and ticket booking, Indians are also embracing newer ways of dealing with money. And, we are only at the nascent stage of this ‘perfect storm’, as it were.

Whichever way you look at it, the Indian consumer is doing more on their mobile phones today than ever before. Even without the local language content that millions of them want and need. Even without high-speed internet access in their semi-urban and rural towns. Even if it means that their first exposure to the world wide web (remember WWW?!) is on a 2-inch device in their pocket.

So, if you think “going digital” means creating a website and posting some brochureware content on it that gets updated every quarter, you’ve got another thing coming. If you already have a web presence but it doesn’t render elegantly on a mobile screen, you have a lot of catching up to do. If you’re a marketer who thinks all this “AI” stuff is for the geeks in your IT department (or even for your ‘Digital’ team), you may need to learn some harsh truths real soon. And, if you think your business is all offline, so you can continue to manage it the way you have been doing for decades – may be you do need some paranoia in your life.

Voice, Video and Vernacular (content) are going to be the success drivers of tomorrow. Add Velocity to the mix, and you will have a potent combination of forces at play. The environment is certainly ripe for disruption. The only question is will you be making it happen, watching in wonder as it happens, or wonder what happened?!

This post was also featured on the CRMAsia blog.

Beginner’s Guide to Smart Devices

Everyone and their cousin seems to be talking about Smart Homes, lately. TV ads are filled with mentions of “OK Google” and “Alexa…”, banner ads want to make us buy Smart Wearable devices & Smart Lights, while contests like #GetFitWithFlipkart are trying to make us go outdoors and get more active.

But, is it all hype? Is India ready for the #SmartHomeRevolution? And, do you need be a techie to try out some of these new technologies?

As a matter of fact, what earlier used to involve technical know-how has now reached the Consumer market. India boasts of the second-largest Internet user base in the world (after China). And a large majority of us are experiencing the Internet mostly through our smartphones. The bottom line is that if you have a smartphone and access to WiFi in your home, many of the “Smart Home” devices are already within your reach.

Here are a few examples you can get started with:

1. Smart Speakers

Google Home and Amazon Echo offer multiple devices (with varying sound quality) that enable you to do a variety of tasks by simply “talking” to your speaker! They easily connect to your home WiFi, and have built-in capabilities for Internet Search and streaming music (including Indian services like Saavn). Adding reminders or checking appointments from your linked calendars is also a breeze. You can also connect multiple devices from different rooms for a seamless experience.

Benefit: Fill your house with Music + Search at the tip of your tongue.

2. Smart Cameras

There are hundreds of models of WiFi-enabled cameras available online, that can be easily configured to work with your home WiFi network without breaking the bank. Also called IP-cams, most offer a mobile app that can be used to access the live feed from any of the linked cameras. They typically have a micro-SD memory card slot (just like your smartphone) to store recordings from their feed. Higher-end models also enable you to “talkback” from a remote location, and have “night vision” to see better in dim light conditions. So, choose the model that best suits your needs.

Benefit: Easily monitor your children/maid/aged-folks from outside your home.

3. Smart Watches

This is a category that has a huge range of devices in all shapes, sizes and costs. Basic ones offer a “pedometer” that counts the steps you take to keep track of your activity level through the day. Advanced features include “inactivity alerts” (that remind you to get on your feet every X minutes), “sleep mode” (that tracks the quality and quantity of your sleep) and “heart rate” (that tracks your heart rate when evoked). Most come with companion apps for smartphones that can be used to store past data and access more detailed analytics of your behavior. The key here is battery life, since models range from those that need charging daily to those that need charging just once a year. So, choose wisely. I should also mention that some of the inexpensive models are highly inaccurate when it comes to the basic task of counting steps. So, do read reviews before you buy one.

Benefit: Know how active (or inactive) you are, and take steps to improve.

As you can see, there are a wide variety of “smart” devices that just need a smartphone and a WiFi connection to deliver their smarts. So, don’t be afraid to take the plunge and give it a try.

Who knows? Your’s may just turn out to be the “smartest” home in your neighborhood!