CUSTOMER INTELLIGENCE : A REAL TIME CUSTOMER ENGAGEMENT PLATFORM

Whether it’s a B-to-B or a B-to-C model, the consistent delivery of high-quality customer care is a difficult goal to achieve. This is especially relevant in our device-driven world, an “always on” hyper connected environment laced with multiple customer touch points. A superior customer experience enabled by actionable insights is often the holy grail of business for the modern-day enterprise.

BUYER'S ACTION:

• Businesses should assess their customer service requirements to understand how adding more real-time customer information to the process, in the form of fraud prevention, authentication, compliance applications as well as big data and analytics, may enhance sales, customer service and customer retention. For many organizations, historical analysis of data and basic customer profiles may suffice and little value may be added by enhancing their service levels with real-time solutions given the added cost. For others, real-time sophistication may be required to gain or maintain a competitive advantage in the marketplace.

•  Potential buyers of advanced, real-time customer service applications should ensure that their channel(s) of choice are well-trained and certified to assist in the planning, purchase and implementation of such services, which may require a broad perspective of technology, security, privacy and legal matters that pertain to such systems. References from other purchasers should be solicited and verified.

• Users may require additional professional services and/or in-house staff to implement advanced customer authentication technologies beyond resources already available within their organizations. This could substantially increase contact center operating costs that may not be recovered by the economic benefits offered by the new services. Therefore, a business case analysis should be developed prior to implementation of these services by each prospect.

URS Systems implement a customer and channel education program to introduce the benefits of real-time applications to customer service executives across vertical markets which have a proclivity to require high levels of analytical speed and efficiency in their centers. URS Systems also set up training for channel participants selling into these verticals.

For more details visit us @www.urssystems.com

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WELCOME 2015 WITH ENTERPRISE COMMUNICATIONS TRENDS

Continuing evolution in mobility, software-based communications, architectural design, data analytics, and the user experience will keep us hopping this year.

Change will be the norm for enterprise communications this year, for sure. Let's look at the changes through some keywords: mobile, applications, architecture, analytics and experience.

• Mobile: Mobile devices continue to transform everything. Almost everyone is using a smartphone -- aka, a smart, mobile, Internet-connected computer. The phone part of the device is not the first thing folks think about when making a purchase and is definitely no longer the first thing they think about for communications. That mobile computer is the go-to device for texting, email, instant messaging, Tweets, social posting -- all before voice or video even get into the mix. In 2015, the mobile device is likely to transform the communications architecture for mobile employees, as those people click to call from their mobile contact lists and mobile apps and click to conference from their mobile calendars.

• Applications: Software applications have pervaded almost everything we do in a business setting. For example, customer relationship management apps keep track of customers and prospects; enterprise resource planning, logistics and point-of-sale apps keep track of inventory and product location; electronic health record apps track patient care; learning management systems manage educational experiences; and collaborative workspace products (i.e., those that include content management and process coordination) boost the output of development, marketing and professional services. The key for the communications industry is that these apps now have communications built into them. In many cases, the app becomes a communications substitute -- for example, a user tracks shipments in an app rather than by calling the shipment desk. In other cases, messaging, posting and peer-to-peer voice or video are built into the apps. In many cases, we won't even see this transformation happening, but it will -- and we can measure it.

• Architecture: This year we will see a continuing shift in architectural design for enterprise communications. My expectation, based on our client experiences, is that in 2015 and beyond most IT and telecom teams will build their communications system architectures around directories, applications (increasingly cloud-based), gateways, and mobile devices (almost all cloud-based on cellular networks) in the cloud. Of course, it will then take several years for these architectures to shift the market for communications technology purchases. The architecture will still account for IP-PBX and video room systems, which serve specific functions, but the higher-level view will begin with organizational workflows and the design of communications solutions for those workflows and the people -- employees, customers, partners, citizens and so on -- who participate in them. Directories will support addressing; gateways will provide connectivity, protocol conversions, security barriers and some middleware; and the cloud will serve as a host and connection point for apps, devices and users.

• Analytics: Now that almost everything is happening through apps (or the apps behind Web pages), companies are able to apply analytics engines to the massive data trails being created and use the analytical insight to guide or assist with processes, workflows and individual activities. This has been part of contact centers for some time and is now blossoming far beyond through digital marketing. In addition, analytics can now interact to shorten process times, lower costs, and reduce manual effort. Outside of the contact center, our industry has been a laggard in the use of analytics, but that will change, since there is so much to be gained by optimizing the flow of communications and by reducing the communications-based labor content that consumes as much as 21% of enterprise revenues, as I've noted previously. We probably can't even imagine all that will change based on analytics, but the application of analytics will be an investment criteria in 2015 and beyond.

• User experience: My estimate is that we will look back on 2015 as the year in which the user experience for communications shifted to the application interfaces on mobile devices. I've described the reasons above, and I've seen plenty of evidence already. In addition, new methods such as WebRTC, new services such as Twilio and the creativity of the mobile device OS makers including Apple, Google and even Microsoft Nokia and BlackBerry are dramatically lowering the barriers to embedding communications functions.

    For more details visit us @www.urssystems.com

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GOOD CUSTOMER SERVICE FOLLOWS YOU EVERYWHERE; EVEN INTO THE BATHROOM

Today’s organizations might be perpetually connected to their customers, but a good business knows when to respect boundaries.  That interactions must add value to the customer’s experience, a good business knows that attempting to communicate with a guarded, disinterested customer is not only inappropriate but counterproductive.

Pivotal to recognizing such boundaries is understanding how—and why—they come to exist.  Standard business practice and societal conventions might provide good guidance, but they can never trump the will of the customer.  If a customer is particularly private and particularly disinterested in an open communication link, a customer-centric business recognizes, accepts and adheres to his stricter set of boundaries.

Similarly, if a customer demonstrates an unusual aversion to boundaries and conversational restrictions, the business should feel free to engage with a corresponding absence of inhibition.  In fact, its ability to call itself customer-centric might hinge on its ability to interact on the customer’s weird, unconventional terms. Even if those terms involve a bathroom encounter.

Other businesses must take note. Customers will use Twitter for urgent, conversational matters.  When doing so, they will expect the business to take urgent action.  To successfully satisfy today’s omni-channel customer, a business must be capable of meeting the demands of that urgency.

The customer needed action; he did not simply need to be heard.  If the business operated in accordance with standard boundaries – rather than the unique ones of a customer in a unique situation – it potentially would have shied away from the action that needed to be taken.

While few businesses will find themselves in this particular predicament, virtually all businesses will encounter scenarios in which standard norms, expectations and policies will prove insufficient.  The mark of a customer-centric business comes from its ability to adapt to the specific needs of its customers.

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BOOST TO BUSINESS: OPERATOR STRATEGIES AND SOLUTIONS FOR ENTERPRISE CUSTOMERS

In recent years, enterprise-based offerings have emerged as a strong component in operators’ service portfolios, with the Indian telecom market moving away from being purely voice led to becoming data oriented. This trend, coupled with the growing demand for communication services and technology platforms from enterprises across various verticals, has made a strong business case for operators, who have been struggling with dwindling profits. The introduction and large-scale adoption of virtualisation, cloud services, big data analytics and machine-to-machine (M2M) communications have opened new windows of revenue and growth opportunities for operators.

The enterprise market in India is estimated to grow at 10 per cent annually over the next five years. The contribution of this segment to operators’ total revenues currently stands in the range of 8 per cent to 12 per cent. This number is set to grow manifold as contemporary enterprise solutions such as cloud-based storage, data centre services and managed services gain traction.

Operator performance and strategies

Telecom operators have formulated various strategies to leverage the enterprise advantage. Some have defined their focus in terms of audience; Bharti Airtel, for instance, continues to stay focused on small and medium businesses (SMBs) while BSNL and RCOM have a strong presence in the government domain. Others have differentiated themselves on the basis of service offerings. Videoconferencing has found favour across all industry verticals. Enterprises are also shifting from traditional leased lines to multiprotocol label switching solutions in a big way. In addition, operators are investing significantly in the areas of integrated platforms and converged services. The IP transition of enterprises is giving way to a greater deployment of unified communications.

Key trends

• Evolving managed services models: Managed services have become a norm for large enterprises, which have been outsourcing their communication needs to telecom and IT partners in a bid to focus better on core areas. However, the scope and nature of managed services have evolved significantly as operators have expanded their offerings from traditional managed network or application services to managed videoconferencing, managed security and managed cloud.  Enterprises today demand network optimisation, custom reports and regular auditing of networking infrastructure in addition to network monitoring and uptime.

• New focus areas: With enterprises demanding applications that can perform real-time tracking and capturing of meaningful data, cloud-based services and big data analytics are witnessing increased uptake. Vodafone India has announced its plans to start a cloud services marketplace to widen its range of offerings to corporate and business customers. In another instance, Tata Communications recently became an authorised partner of Google Cloud Platform. Under the terms of this agreement, Google’s new service, Google Cloud Interconnect, will connect with Tata Communications’ IZO Public platform, which enables companies to set up cloud computing facilities.

• Growing enterprise mobility market: The enterprise mobility market has expanded significantly as enterprises move beyond emails to adopt enterprise resource planning, customer relationship management, supply chain management, sales force automation, etc. Insurance, pharmaceuticals and logistics companies have emerged as the biggest users of such solutions, owing to a strong field sales force. In fact, several companies are now planning to mobilise these solutions and make them accessible through employee handsets. The bring-your-own-device concept is also finding favour among several enterprises, though security remains a concern. By mid-2015, the Indian enterprise mobility market is expected to reach $1 billion, as per some industry estimates.

• M2M and the internet of things: The industry is optimistic about the wide-scale adoption of M2M solutions across automotive, utility and retail verticals in India. For instance, Vodafone India has put bar-coded SIM cards in Mahindra Reva cars through which information like service requirements, battery charge and remote instruction downloads for maps can be retrieved on a real-time basis. Enterprises in the logistics, manufacturing and transportation industries are also increasingly adopting M2M services to automate processes.

Government emerging as a key vertical

With the launch of its ambitious Digital India programme, the government has opened new doors of opportunities for the telecom and IT sectors. The programme requires creating digital identities, making documents and certificates available on a cloud platform, making government services available on online and mobile platforms on a real-time basis, ensuring electronic and cashless financial transactions, and the seamless integration of government departments. Government businesses are already moving from e-governance to m-governance models, wherein most services can be accessed through handsets.

The Rs 1,130 billion Digital India initiative aims at transforming India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. This cannot be done without the active participation of the telecom sector. Government departments will turn to operators in large numbers for the deployment of cloud and storage solutions, big data analytics, etc.

The establishment of 100 smart cities, as envisaged by the government, will also require significant support from telecom operators in terms of M2M communications and converged platforms. A smart city makes extensive use of information and communication technology (ICT) to facilitate advanced communications infrastructure like back-end intelligent systems to manage traffic flows, real-time monitoring and video surveillance to ensure public safety, and the installation of utility meters and systems for traffic information.

The way forward

Owing to its potential for high revenues and margins, the enterprise segment will attract significant attention from operators in the coming years. Factors such as digitisation, ICT adoption by government agencies, the upgrading of IT infrastructure by large and small companies, the usage of enterprise mobility solutions and the adoption of cloud services will drive growth in the segment, thereby promising a significant revenue potential for cash-starved operators in the future.

For more details visit us @http://www.urssystems.com

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HIGHLIGHTS OF E-COMMERCE INDUSTRY IN 2014:

# US-based Amazon commits $2 billion in India’s e-commerce space

# SoftBank invests $627 million in Snapdeal, $210 millin in Ola cabs

# Flipkart gets $1.7 billion in funding, taking valuation to $7 billion

# Reliance Group exits Yatra.com with 12-fold increase in original investment

# Footfalls during festive season drop in shops in favour of e-commerce

# Physical retail segment demands level field, regulations vis-a-vis e-retail.

E-COMMERCE SALES SHAKE UP PHYSICAL FORMAT IN RETAIL SPACE

It’s still a small component of India’s Rs.38 trillion ($600 billion) overall retail trade industry. Yet, the e-commerce format with sales of Rs. 1 trillion ($16 billion) managed to create a buzz in 2014 like never before – not just with mega promotions but also with mergers, acquisitions and some crazy valuations.

Earlier in December, the Anil Ambani-led Reliance Group sold its 16-percent stake in Yatra.com, a leading consolidator of travel products, for an eye-popping 12-fold jump in initial investment made in 2006, to value the portal at $500 million.

This was followed by a $700 million fund-raiser by Flipkart, that came over and above the $1 billion the company had raised in July – that had taken its valuation to a whopping $6 billion overnight. Flipkart also decided to merge Myntra, another leading e-retail firm, into it.

Similarly, one saw Japan’s SoftBank make a commitment in October to invest $627 million in SnapDeal, a major player again in the Indian e-commerce space, and pick a $210-million stake in Ola that offers car rentals in 19 Indian cities through its mobile platform, web site and call centres.

Not to be outdone, the US-based Amazon said it will invest $2 billion in India’s e-retail space.

Data on Internet penetration in India backs the scales of operation.

There are currently some 250 million Internet users in the country. As per various estimates, the e-commerce industry, now valued at $16 billion, is growing at 30-40 percent each year and will top $100 billion in the next five years.

To serve them, there are some one million online retailers — small and large — which sell their products through various e-commerce portals, according to a report by the commerce ministry-promoted India Brand Equity Foundation (IBEF).

The year, however, did not pass without some hiccups.

Flipkart had to face much embarrassment when its “Big Billion Day” Oct 6, meant to attract online shoppers with steep discounts, crazy deals and lucky draws on a range of products, boomeranged as its website crashed and social media was abuzz with allegations of cheating against the company.

Flipkart apologized to the people for the inconvenience. But it also announced that it had got a billion hits and sold products worth $100 million (Rs.600 crore) that day including some 500,000 mobile phone handsets, an equal number of clothes and some 25,000 TV sets within minutes of starting sales at 8a.m.

This set the regular retailers thinking and fuming as well.

The Confederation of All India Traders, an umbrella body for regular retail trade industry, cried foul and urged the commerce ministry to regulate the e-retail business, look into their trade practices, which they alleged were not exactly as per rules, and create a level-playing field.

But some leading industry chambers cautioned against over-regulation and the matter died down.

Going forward, experts expect several developments in the e-retail space.

Besides logging a 40-45 percent annual growth, they feel huge investments will flow into logistics to overcome the challenges of last-mile reach. They also expect large retail chains of Reliance Industries and the Aditya Vikram Birla Group, among others, to go online.

“The coming year will be more dynamic. A lot of niche e-commerce players will emerge. We expect to see a good number of traditional businesses also leveraging this channel in both the B2B and B-2-C space.

Experts also predict some initial public offerings in the near term not just because existing investors will seek to realise value but also since the e-retail industry will need funds for infrastructure, logistics and warehousing — estimated at $500 million now and 1.9 trillion by 2017.

 “We will see more consolidations. Public issues will also happen. The industry is keenly awaiting the GST (goods and service tax) to get cleared. It will help in seamless movement of goods among states. It will give the e-commerce industry wider operations and a major push.”

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TRENDS TO WATCH IN 2015: IN THE NEW YEAR, MOBILITY EVOLVES, THE HYBRID CLOUD GROWS, AND BIG DATA WILL NEED MORE PEOPLE SKILLS

They're in no particular order, and most are not new -- they're just more relevant in 2015 given the long lead time for mass corporate adoption of new technologies, practices, and thinking despite what industry pundits get excited about and predict.

Continued cloud adoption, with growth in hybrid cloud

In 2015, IT organizations will continue to move IT services to third-party cloud service providers. Security will continue to be a cause for concern -- especially as the media's frenzied coverage of data breaches continues -- but integrations and service availability will rise to be two very practical concerns for enterprise cloud adoption.

The hybrid cloud, defined by analyst firm Gartner as "a combination of private, public, and community cloud services," will rise in popularity during 2015 as companies look to get the best benefits from the private cloud such as cost savings, flexibility, or scale and from public cloud such as cloud cost savings while still meeting internal or external governance requirements.

From an IT management point of view, companies will continue to seek out people with the ability to manage suppliers and cloud service delivery over the technology itself.

Increased automation

There's no escaping that people costs -- by that I mean the people who operate a corporate data center and its services -- continue to be a big part of total IT costs. The increased use of cloud services will continue to reduce people costs, but there's still a need to reduce human touch points, and the associated costs within corporate data centers and operational environments with speedier delivery and fewer human errors as benefits. In 2015, we'll see even more adoption of automation tools like Puppet and Chef by corporate IT groups under pressure to reduce costs and show business value.

The BYO epiphany and mobile pervasiveness

This is where corporate IT organizations will finally wake up to see that Shadow IT, BYOD, or BYO-anything are not being driven by consumer IT and cloud service providers, but by the IT organization's inability to meet stakeholder and user expectations across usability, cost, service, and agility.

The 10 years of "consumerization of IT" talk, with a focus on consumer gadgets, has thus been a red herring -- hiding the true root cause of customer discontent with existing IT supply. With this epiphany, corporate IT organizations will need to change quickly by placing more emphasis on how IT services are consumed and the expectations of the service experience. Additionally, improvements in and demand for anytime, anywhere, any device access to data and services will require better mobile apps, and most likely the continued use of personal devices for work purposes.

Not only will this dictate the need for better service and app design and delivery and more intelligent approaches to BYOD, but also the need to (re)consider the security implications of mobility such as data segregation issues -- with personal and business data and applications isolated from each other on the same device.

The need to manage more complex IT supplier environments

This will happen as enterprises exit outsourcing deals that have failed to deliver against expectations of service improvement, cost savings, and innovation. In 2015, the need for service integration capabilities, often called service integration and management (SIAM) or multi sourcing services integration (MSI), will come to the fore.

And this will happen not only for larger companies replacing previously outsourced scenarios across different suppliers, but also smaller organizations needing to manage a portfolio of third-party -- often cloud service -- providers. During 2015, SIAM will require companies to invest in people and skills, new or revised processes that manage third party services, and technology that enables this.

Big data insights

While there will continue to be big talk about big data, the real big data issue for 2015 will be the availability of big data people, and their big data skills, rather than big data technology itself. Companies will need big data people with analytics skills and also skills for building the new data architectures required to handle unstructured data and real-time input. Other advances will be required in areas such as product innovation, customer insights, internal decision-making, or IT service availability as the focus on large data sets continues to disrupt business and IT operations.

And finally...

Unicorn chasing will continue

Whether it's the large-scale use of cloud technologies or more DevOps strategies, enterprises in 2015 will continue their fascination with the IT operations of technology giants such as Amazon, Google, and Facebook.

Business leaders will also continue to ask why their IT organizations can't match these technology giants for unit costs, service levels, service experience, customer support, and agility. Thus, they'll continue to chase these unicorns, but I'm not sure that 2015, 2016, or even 2017 will be the year anyone catches them. But this won't stop business stakeholders from having elevated and probably unrealistic expectations of their IT peers.

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TIPS FOR GOVERNMENT IT MODERNIZATION

Over the decades, agencies' application environments have evolved into daunting sets of complex and often interrelated combinations of commercial-off-the-shelf software and homegrown applications, along with terabytes of data. While these complex, siloed environments may initially inspire a "rip-and-replace" mentality, below are five simple tips that can guide government IT leaders on a path to cost-efficient and incremental IT modernization wins.

1. Know what you have in place by establishing an IT and enterprise architecture (EA) governance model. 

Modernization considerations should begin with an understanding of what's currently in place within your IT environment. As agencies continue to consolidate, document, and clean up their data centers, proper governance can ensure that IT continues to meet the needs of stakeholders well into the future. Establishing a governance framework can ensure all IT changes are coordinated and communicated, requests for duplicate services are eliminated, licensing requirements are met, and solid architecture principles are followed. It is important to evolve enterprise architecture guidelines with change in mind. Proper EA tools will help with further audit ability and historical record-keeping to understand who changed what, when, and why.

2. Prove technology fast and efficiently. 

Proving out a new technology that the agency is considering should not take long. A vendor that suggests more than six weeks for its technology to demonstrate value within the agency's environment should raise a red flag and questions. A prove-out period should to be as efficient as possible, so planning ahead is a must, as well as ensuring that you know what metrics the "prove-out" will be tracked against. As an organization gains experience in the process of managing vendor proving phases, taking on bigger projects becomes easier.

3. Start small.

A greater number of government executives have grown weary of making significant IT investments before the target solution is proven out in their own environment with their own data. Agencies should not need to spend millions of dollars to get started. Most new technologies are great at scaling, so starting small makes more sense, not only to make sure things work in the agency's environment, but to set a strong foundation to scale up from there. By starting with one small project, organizations can tackle larger and more projects as lessons are learned.

4. Leverage subject-matter expertise from vendors. 

There are many great integrators and resellers in the community, and they have important roles in the ecosystem. But vendors can also bring subject-matter experts who have been on the front lines of implementations that have and haven't been successful. These lessons learned are valuable intelligence that can help your agency adopt best practices. The key is to build a good level of trust with your vendor partners and demand integrity. Let it be known that everyone must stay committed to the success they agreed to at the start of any project.

5. Remember security.

Understanding the security requirements for every component in the agency's infrastructure is no longer just wishful thinking -- it's critical. Components with high security requirements should not be combined with low-security components. Ideally, agencies shouldn't stop at tracking network requirements; they should include storage encryption requirements, facility-location and ITAR considerations, and audit ability. Utilizing solid EA tools to plan the lifecycle of components, ensuring all elements are within current support from OEMs, will ensure a safe foundation for modernization initiatives. Weak links within an environment can have a ripple effect on cyber security.

With budget constraints and continuous change being the new norm for government IT leaders, many are taking action by embracing new and more productive ways of helping their agencies achieve their respective missions. By following these five steps, government organizations are sure to be on the path to fostering long-term value and growth.

For more details visit us @http://www.urssystems.com

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