Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Technology. Show all posts
Monday, 2 May 2016
Wednesday, 9 March 2016
BMW's Digital Reboot
A former Google manager has to revamp
BMW's digital strategy and spearhead connected driving options at the world's
largest luxury carmaker, business weekly WirtschaftsWoche has learned. CEO
Harald Krüger will present a new strategy for the 100-year-old carmaker next
week.
Harald
Krüger, BMW’s chief executive since last May, will celebrate the carmaker’s
100th anniversary on Monday, but the truly important event will take place
a week later.
The
50-year engineer will next week present the luxury carmaker’s strategy
until 2025 and the main focus will be digitalization, business weekly
WirtschaftsWoche, a sister publication of Handelsblatt, has learned.
“The
subject of digitalization cuts across every area of the company,” Mr. Krüger
told WirtschaftsWoche. “That must be optimized.”
BMW
is still the world’s largest maker of luxury cars, but it is seen as
a laggard in developing a successful electrically-powered car as Silicon
Valley-based Tesla Motors has done. There are also fears that Google, Apple and
ride-sharing firm Uber might overtake the Munich-based firm when it comes to
connecting the car to the Internet.
To
boost BMW’s digital operations, the carmaker has recently named former Google
manager Jens Monsees as its vice president for digital strategy, the
highest-ranking digitalization post at BMW, WirtschaftsWoche has learned.
Moreover,
the company will announce a partnership with Austrian IT firm Loxone
Electronics next week, when BMW will also present its annual results. Loxone
Electronics offers the connectivity of almost all electronic functions and
devices and appliances around the home.
BMW
will most likely bring to the cooperation its home storage battery and its new Open Mobility Cloud, an
online platform that makes available such things as the charging status of
electric car batteries, the weather report and movie theater schedules.
Mr.
Krüger also plans to restructure BMW’s development department as the carmaker’s
digitalization and IT department are in a trench war and two high-ranking
managers, leading electronics and IT respectively, are not working as team
players, WirtschaftsWoche has learned from people familiar with the matter.
The
development department’s restructuring could start on April 1 – no joke – and
could result in a new executive board position for digitalization, the people
told WirtschaftsWoche. Mr. Krüger declined to comment on the planned changes.
Whether
Mr. Monsees, a 45-year old business economist, will become the new
digitalization executive was not clear, but in his currernt role as vice
president digital strategy he reports to BMW strategist Markus Schramm, who
does not sit on the executive board.
Mr.
Monsees had worked at BMW before he left for Google seven years ago. As
automotive director at the Internet giant, Mr. Monsees developed digital marketing
strategies for all the major German automobile companies. Following that, he
restructured sales and information technology (IT) as chief digital officer on
the executive board of Arvato, a marketing subsidiary of Germany’s
largest media group, Bertelsmann.
Mr.
Monsees is slated to build up a new division with a staff of about 20 that will
bring under one roof the group’s existing projects and devise new business
models, from car sales over the Internet to 3-D printing in production to use
of big data, which means analyzing huge amounts of data and discovering ways to
benefit the company.
Mr.
Monsees is considered to be a digital innovator. The first time he worked for
BMW, he developed BMWTV, an award-winning Internet website that featured videos
about the company’s events and new products.
“To
digitalize a company means not only to introduce new technologies but above all
to change the organization, culture and communication,” Mr. Monsees once said
at a public appearance.
BMW
has lost ground in automotive engineering and innovation compared with that of
the competition. In an index based on data from the Center of Automotive
Management, BMW ranks behind five other automakers.
That’s
a problem that Mr. Krüger inherited from his predecessor, Norbert Reithofer,
who is now BMW’s non-executive chairman. Mechanical engineers and engine
developers still rule at BMW, while IT and software personnel are “at the very
bottom of the food chain,” according to an insider involved in digitalization
projects at BMW. “IT functions are regularly forgotten or thought about too
late in the development,” the person said.
BMW
hasn’t succeeded in hiring enough IT experts, and hundreds of such positions
are still open. The current 4,000-plus software experts are overworked, one
employee said. After a number of reshufflings, the source said, the
division is on the verge of incapacitation, it has an extremely bad reputation
inside the company.
If
Mr. Monsees wants success, then he’ll have to convince the BMW boardroom to
break with traditions. That also includes being more aggressive in presenting
innovations.
While
Elon Musk of Tesla Motors makes a show of presenting himself as the bringer of
salvation to electric mobility and the decentralized supplying of energy, the
Bavarians tend to make themselves appear rather small and conventional. The
whole world is talking about Tesla’s solar-electric home battery pack,
Powerwall, but no buzz exists about what BMW recently presented: its comparable
home system to charge electric cars.
“We
can’t leave the public discourse about the future of the automobile industry to
Tesla or Uber,” Mr. Monsees said recently.
As
his mission, Mr. Krüger will present out the comprehensive digitalization
strategy for now through 2025. At the same time, he will have to address the
company’s problems in its traditional business. Car sales are not running as
hoped, above all in Germany. Daimler is about to dethrone the Bavarians in
their home market.
“The
3 series and 5 series are getting me nowhere,” said the owner of a dealership
that sells about 4,500 BMWs and BMW Minis annually. Sales of the BMW 1 series,
however, are lagging behind expectations as is those of the 2 series Gran
Tourer. At the moment, a discount of 20 to 40 percent is offered on some
vehicles.
Above
all else, Mr. Krüger must improve BMW’s presence on the Internet. So far,
BMW customers in Germany have been able to order only the electric cars i3 and
i8 online. In Britain, the whole range of BMW vehicles is available via the
Internet. The British dealers are connected with customers via phone, live chat
and email.
The
model is “very successful” said Mr. Krüger, which is why BMW is examining
“expanding it worldwide.”
What
also is key is what Mr. Krüger has planned for the “sad subject of i,” as one
BMW dealer referred to the company’s electric cars.
Mr.
Krüger’s predecessor had carbon-fiber models developed while competitors were
making cars built with sheet metal and aluminum frames. Even with special
equipment and low prices, sales of the BMW electric models languished. Ever
since it became known that new models were coming with more powerful batteries,
few customers were interested in the older versions. BMW has sold only 50,000
i3 and i8 electric cars worldwide since 2014. Tesla sold that many electric
Model S cars alone last year.
Mr.
Krüger is now putting his hopes on the crossover i5 – as well as government
subsidies for electric cars.
Some
guests at the anniversary celebrations this coming week might be especially
hopeful and happy about new developments at BMW. Namely, the guests are the
members of the Quandt family. As major shareholders, the Quandts received €815
million in dividends from BMW last year.
Monday, 29 February 2016
Why limit business to offline market. Expand online with Sanicon Digital Solutions
With the advancement of technology, the market is not limited to the local segment of people who are mostly your regular customers. For growth you need to join the online world where you get the opportunity to know more people and expand your business. If you are not sure how to go for it. No worries. We are there for your help. We at sanicon digital solutions works together with you in marking your presence online and promoting your brand to the world.
Wednesday, 24 February 2016
Make your business available 24*7 for the customers.
In today’s market conditions,just being available to customers for 8-10 hours does not help you to grow. The time is not enough to reach to the world and to gain bigger market. Then why to limit yourself ? Why not make use of technology and expand which of course is every businessman’s wish. To reach the aim, the world of digital marketing is the perfect path. Digital marketing helps you not only to expand your market but also to be available for the customers round the clock, round the year.
Monday, 8 February 2016
Give Traditional Marketing Techniques A Spin In The Digital World
Over recent years, as digital has grown, our attention has moved away from traditional advertising such as print and even TV towards electronic devices, as much more time is spent on mobiles and tablets.
Smartphones have played a huge role in this and they have increased at such a rate that the number of global smartphone users will surpass 2 billion in 2016. This growth of smartphones means that consumers can be reached on various different platforms instantly - as they allow access to the internet and brands apps 24/7.
There are many ways technology has changed marketing such as being able to reach a wider audience, target individuals, deliver timely content quickly and the list goes on. But, most importantly, it has also created new forms of marketing that enable these to happen.
If you are more of a traditional marketer and are primarily using original, but now slightly outdated, marketing techniques, here is how you can give them a spin in the digital world:
Leaflets Through Doors – Text Messages to Phones
To target people directly and make the communication seem personal, leaflets were often dropped through doors so it became part of the home owner's post.Now, rather than landing on their doormat, the information can land in their inbox. Through the likes of Global Messaging companies can connect, communicate and engage with customers via an SMS campaign.
Billboards – Ad banners
Traditionally adverts were placed on billboards, so that you could see them as you drove or walked down a road. These are, of course, still a popular form of advertising. However, as large as these are the time you spend in front of them is limited (unless you are stuck in a traffic jam) and therefore the time you have to read them is also limited.The spin on this in the digital world is the ad banners that appear across websites. The benefit of these is the customer has the time to read them and, rather than having to remember information, they can click straight through to the website to find all the information they need and purchase immediately if they wish.
Word of Mouth – Social Media
Before digital you had to rely on your customers having conversations with their friends, telling them about your company and how great it is and why they should use it themselves. However, with the rise in social media you can now spark these conversations yourself and then watch as customers discuss, even being part of the conversation yourself, if you wish.
TV adverts – You Tube Videos
TV adverts again are still a key part of an advertising campaign, however their spin in the digital world is that they can be uploaded to YouTube. As many adverts are becoming more a mini film than an advertisement, such as this one, they can show a longer version if they wish. This can then be shared and discussed as part of the conversations on social media.
Column in the Paper – Blog
Written communication and announcing news about your company was often done through a column in the newspaper. Now, this can be done through a company's own personal blog – which again can be shared across social media or text messages, to reach a wide audience quickly. This can include images and videos as well as the written content and can link back to the company website.The most important thing with marketing is to combine and link all these techniques, both traditional and digital together, to create a powerful and successful overall campaign.These are only a few of the ways that traditional marketing techniques can be given a spin in the digital world, and with the speed that it is changing, we can only imagine how these will develop in the next few years.
Tuesday, 2 February 2016
How kirana stores are embracing technology to engage better with customers
BENGALURU: P Mahendran's Muthukani Stores in Chennai's Villivakkam is like any other kirana store, but with a slight twist. If you were to enter his shop, you will find an LED screen showing various offers and also a custom-made tablet to generate bills and keep accounts of customers.
Muthukani Stores is one of the many kirana stores across the country that have embraced technology so as to engage better with the customer, even as a bunch of startups, such as Snapbizz, Applicate and Goodbox, exploit this largely untapped space through retailer only or consumer-facing apps.
"We are trying to disrupt the biggest space of retail business in India, much bigger than the size of all ecommerce put together. The potential and scale of opportunity is huge considering that 90% of the $500-billion retail market is still being serviced by these small retailers," said Ranjeet Kumar, founder and chief executive of Applicate IT solutions, whose product Trade Gini is targeted at retailers.
The retailer app connects the kirana store to various authorised suppliers of brands, helps them keep a track of the inventory, generate bills, decide various offers based on suggestions, and updates the retailers on prices, schemes and offers.
"We give the retailers a custom-made tablet, a printer, a scanner and a wireless LED TV. The TV can allow brands to connect to the customer at the point of sale — images keep popping on the screen. The retailers can earn money out of this, too. One can now give printed bills and also connect with the customers through SMSes," said Prem Kumar, CEO of Snapbizz. According to the startups, the entry of technology brings down transparency issues and creates a level-playing field.
"Before, if there was an update from the company only, say 30%, of retailers would get to know," said Kumar. "We even have a helpdesk to address all issues and connect to the brand directly for any queries. We are also working on bringing in more languages."
Bengaluru-based Goodbox offers a consumer-facing app, integrated with MobiKwik payment gateway and caters to even local restaurant brands and government agencies like Bengaluru's electricity board, BESCOM, other than the local grocery stores.
"Our app's backbone is a chat platform, which is a connect between the customer and the retailer. The app user has options of 'My list' and 'Near Me', where they can have a record of all the items they buy and see all the merchants near their location, respectively," said Abey Zachariah, cofounder and CEO of Goodbox.
The business model of these startups revolves around taking a cut from the suppliers and companies for visibility, or raising money through subscription.
The kirana stores are welcoming technology as it makes a difference in their daily lives.
Friday, 29 January 2016
Govt to allow Google, Microsoft pilots to expand Internet reach
After initial reservations, the Centre is now open to allowing pilot projects and technological experiments by companies such as Google and Microsoft for expanding their Internet reach in India.
However, the final approval for projects such as Google’s Project Loon and Microsoft’s Project White Spaces would be subject to these projects being deemed as consistent with India’s broader security requirements.
“We must be liberal in permitting experimentation of new technology for connectivity. Let there be pilots, Project Loon and Microsoft’s project (White Spaces), let the new experimentation happen… When the results come, we will take policy initiatives consistent with security requirements. I am very open with experimentation of new products,” said Minister for Communications and Information Technology Ravi Shankar Prasad.
Asked on the security clearances required for these projects, Prasad said, “They need (clearances). They are in process, there are many requests but let them formally come to us. Satya (Nadella) had also come to us, they are also very open, some (pilots) they have started in Andhra Pradesh and then Sundar Pichai also had come… Let them come.” In mid-December, the Ministry of Communications had said that the frequency band proposed to be used by Project Loon, through which Google plans to provide internet connectivity using balloons, was already “being used for cellular operations in India” and that “it will lead to interference with cellular transmissions”. Microsoft Chief Executive Officer Satya Nadella and Google Chief Executive Officer Sundar Pichai had met Prasad later in December, wherein they are believed to have discussed the viability of their respective projects. Google defines Project Loon as a “network of balloons travelling on the edge of space, designed to connect people in rural and remote areas, help fill coverage gaps, and bring people back online after disasters”.
Project Loon balloons will travel in the stratosphere, approximately 20 km above the Earth’s surface, latching on to layers of wind as directed by software algorithms to determine where they need to go. In the end, they will form one large communications network. Each balloon can provide connectivity to a ground area about 40 km in diameter using wireless communication LTE or 4G. Project Loon partners with telecom companies to share cellular spectrum. It has already tested this technology in New Zealand, California and Brazil.
To use LTE or 4G, Project Loon partners with telecom companies to share cellular spectrum so that people will be able to access the Internet everywhere directly from their phones and other LTE-enabled devices. Google uses solar panel and wind to power electronic equipment in the balloon throughout the day. Microsoft through its White Spaces project proposes to utilise the unused spectrum from television for internet connectivity. Srikakulam district in Andhra Pradesh has a pilot project already in place for the White Spaces project. The company is seeking free unlicensed spectrum for which the telecom companies have been eager to know the policy stand of the government.
Thursday, 21 January 2016
How to manage digital transformation
I was recently talking to CMO of a large white goods brand where he expressed his frustration about not being able to move fast enough on digital transformation initiatives. He talked about the omni-channel digital vision and the kind of customer experience he wanted to create. This is something I have heard so many times from top decision makers in different companies not only in India but across countries like US and Europe. It is clear that senior executives realize the importance of going digital, but execution remains a challenge due to a number of reasons, which is quite worrisome.
No transformation is possible without changing the attitude of management and having everybody on the same page, hence the need to paint a vision of what the business will look like if it were to double down on digital. This includes defining how product/service delivery and customer experience are going to change for the better. In this new era of connected and digitally empowered customers, experience is the brand. The emphasis should change from being a company centric view to customer centric view to delivery a consistent and experience across product, services and content.
Business Impact
Digital initiatives are going to take a lot of investment and it is advisable to map out the impact it is going to have. Some of the key questions to ask are:
This is often an overlooked aspect of the plan which results in lot of pain down the line. An organization may be collecting and storing data at different touch points in different departments (and perhaps silos). For any successful digital transformation initiative, it is absolutely critical to bring data from different sources to create a 360 degree view of the customer. This may include systems like CRM, web analytics, Point of Sale, mobile app, ERP etc. How can these data silos be broken? Does it need organizational changes or buy-in from respective teams? Without leveraging the "Big Data" lying within your organization it is impossible to create personalized experiences for customers. Secondly it's important to map out data which will be collected from each channel going forward.
Thanks to rapid penetration of internet and smartphones, the change of consumer behavior is happening at lightening fast speed. According to the latest study by KPMG and IAMAI, India is going to have about 350 million internet users and 200 million mobile internet users in 2015 which is likely to become 500 million and 300 million respectively by 2017. Government's Digital India focus is likely to provide further impetus to this. In such an environment, no company can afford to be left behind. Chances are that some startup is already planning to disrupt your industry by fundamentally changing the way how the content, service or product is delivered. Speed of execution is critical.
Here are some thoughts on creating a high impact digital program:
Digital Vision
Some of the questions which must be answered are: * What really matters for our customers/users? It will help to think from "first principle" here rather than keeping any baseline. * What are the different touch points and what is a typical customer's purchase path? * What information do we have about the customer at each touch point? How can it be leveraged to create a personalized and wow experience?
Data is the glue which makes everything come together. Ability to collect, assimilate and take action in real time is what differentiates a winning company from others.
People
According to a recent "Cracking the Digital Code" survey done by Mckinsey, 31% of respondents mentioned lack of talent as the no. 1 challenge faced by companies in meeting their digital priorities. Although this problem exists across industries but the situation is more acute for digital due to high demand of skills like big data, web/mobile development, information architecture etc. It's not going to be easy to hire and create a winning team especially for companies which don't have IT in their genes.
The trick is to work with right vendors. Shortlisting and finding the right partner to execute needs sufficient due diligence. The focus should be on getting a high quality team with proven experience. Being too price sensitive may jeopardize the whole project. The focus should be on getting partners who can share the same vision and have a team capable of executing.* Is going digital critical for your business or your industry? What if you don't invest in it? What is the risk? * Is it for revenue growth or cost cutting? What are the key metric where digital can move the needle? * Are there emerging trends which are pointing in a certain direction?
At the end of the day digital transformation is not just about technology and its implementation. It's much more about about looking at the business through the lens of technology and figuring how it changes the revenue generation and operating capabilities.
Execution
Data
Data is the glue which makes everything come together. Ability to collect, assimilate and take action in real time is what differentiates a winning company from others.
People
According to a recent "Cracking the Digital Code" survey done by Mckinsey, 31% of respondents mentioned lack of talent as the no. 1 challenge faced by companies in meeting their digital priorities. Although this problem exists across industries but the situation is more acute for digital due to high demand of skills like big data, web/mobile development, information architecture etc. It's not going to be easy to hire and create a winning team especially for companies which don't have IT in their genes.
The trick is to work with right vendors. Shortlisting and finding the right partner to execute needs sufficient due diligence. The focus should be on getting a high quality team with proven experience. Being too price sensitive may jeopardize the whole project. The focus should be on getting partners who can share the same vision and have a team capable of executing.
Wednesday, 6 January 2016
Start-up action plan: Govt to seek inputs from VCs, incubators
The detailed action plan for propelling start-ups to be unveiled by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on January 16 would include various facilitation steps and exemptions for new-age ventures.
Top government brass, venture funds, financiers and incubators will convene on January 16 at Vigyan Bhavan to deliberate on the detailed “action plan” for start-ups. The proposed plan will be presented to the Prime Minister at the end of the day.
“The action plan would include the definition of start-ups and incentives for them. Innovation should be the key to qualify as a start-up unit. They have to be technology driven,” an official said.
The entire ecosystem for start-ups will be covered in the action plan and that would consist of a mix of exemptions and facilitation steps, the official said.
The Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion (DIPP) is also developing a ‘portal’ and an interactive ‘app’ for them.
Modi in his monthly radio programme ‘Mann ki Baat’ yesterday said that the Action Plan of the ‘Start-up India, Stand-up India’ will be unveiled on January 16. Modi had announced the campaign — Start-up India; Stand up India — to promote entrepreneurship in his Independence Day speech.
Hectic parleys are going on among the PMO, DIPP, Department of Telecommunications, Cabinet Secretariat and Department of Electronics and Information Technology for preparing the action plan.
On January 16, about 10-11 sessions would be held to discuss issues such as financing, mentoring, seed capital, linking companies with universities and institutions, marketing support, consultancy on intellectual property rights and providing easy regulatory mechanism for them.
The day-long programme will be held on the lines of ‘Make in India’.
As per estimates, there are about 3,200 tech-led start-ups in India, with 800 coming on board every year.
The government is also planning to give exemptions to start-ups for participating in government procurements.
Currently, a unit which participates in a government procurement programme has to show its “prior experience and turnover” but “we are planning to give exemptions to start-ups in this,” an official said.
The official also said that a facilitation cell may be established to help them comply with the laws.
“Start-ups face problems in complying with laws such as Minimum Wages Act and Employees’ State Insurance Act. To deal with this, we are thinking to set up a kind of cell which would help them,” the official added.
Meanwhile, the DIPP has invited bids for appointment of digital amplification and social analytics agency for ‘Start Up India, Stand-Up India’ programme.
DIPP said it intends to undertake on-line international promotion and media campaign including digital amplification, digital media and non-media campaign across all mediums (website, electronic, social media) across the world to brand India as an investment destination for new entrepreneurs and start-ups.
The objective of the campaign is to generate awareness about the government of India’s efforts to promote entrepreneurship, innovation and design, it said in its request for qualification-cum-request for proposal.
“The main objectives of the assignment are sourcing a digital marketing vision and formulating and implementation of a detailed marketing strategy for domestic and international markets for three year starting from 2015-16 for promoting India as an investment destination for new entrepreneurs, innovators and designers and amplification of digital marketing communication and messaging through planning and execution of a digital marketing campaign,” it said.
The government intends to launch ‘Start-up India’ initiative to create a strong ecosystem for fostering innovation and start-ups in the country.
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