Manish Sinha

Top five reasons why Startups fail to raise Angel Funding

2018-02-07T09:21:00.001+05:30

Angel investors, among other things, usually prefer startups that have a rock-solid team that knows the market and has its skin in the game.

Today, in the startup world, angel investors are oft times compared to real angels, especially by startups. Why? Simply because angel investors help startups in the early times where institutional funding is rare. Let’s be honest, these guardian angels of startups all around the world often help bring several innovative ideas to life that would otherwise wither away due to the lack of financial assistance. Angel funding, being usually the first third-party validation of a startup, also acts as the most pivotal factor in a startup’s life.

Long story short, angel funding is crucial to the world of startups, particularly those who are still in their early stages.

There is no doubt that angel funding is of consequence in the context of startups, and yet a lot of people seeking investment fail to obtain funding for their ventures. One may be inclined to think this scenario is counter-productive to the entire cause. And it is. See, the thing is that many looking for angel funding aren't aware of what investors are looking for in not just the person or people who are pitching to them but also in the idea and the company before they make a commitment. Are all angel investors looking for just an exceptional idea? Or is it that the pitch should have been more effective? Could it be also from the startup's team and their collective personality? The truth is, there are different reasons and factors that angel investors rely on to evaluate the startup's scope.

And here are the top five reasons why startups are unable to secure funding from angel investors.

Team

The number-one causative factor behind the failure to acquire angel funding is the team. To understand why you must be cognisant of the fact that early investments in a new venture rely extensively on the 'right' people to solve a problem. Team-Problem Fit is extremely critical. The company must also ensure that the team has the right complementary skills so as to make certain that they don't need external help that would slow the execution.

Market

It is important to know that the market for the company's product or service is large enough or not. Getting this one right may seem like a no-brainer to a lot of people but the fact remains the founders of most startups get so caught up in trying to solve too small a problem that they fail to consider scalability in the market, which can prove to be a big issue even if their product or service is able to get it right. The market itself may put a ceiling to the growth of the startup and thus discourage angel investors. Another factor could be that the market is already too crowded or not ready for a startup to make a dent in acceptable costs.

Skin in the game

It is extremely important to give your venture your 100 percent. It is understandable that a vast majority of people who establish their own startups do not have financial security and thus want to have a monetary fall-back option i.e., a second job or a consulting assignment. Unfortunately, founders who moonlight and hope to jump into their startup full time once they receive funding almost never get funded. Thus, one must give the venture they're all. This also helps Angels to evaluate the commitment of founder and team to building the company.

Focus

During the early stages, the most critical of a lifetime of a startup, it is important to undertake a few experiments albeit with focus.

However, most startup founders get caught up trying to do too many things at once instead of concentrating on doing a just a few things right. It can't be stressed enough that diversifying into too many things in an attempt to project higher valuation to investors or a five-year-long plan will always hurt the startup's chances of acquiring funding.

Customer validation

More often than not, founders simply assume that the solution their venture offers is required without actually validating it with real customers. And a word of caution: friends and family buying your product or service or even media accolades and awards do not constitute proper validations. Founders must ask themselves: "Are there any real customers who have paid for the service or product that you are offering?" And, remember, intent to buy is not the same thing as buying.

These are the primary reasons why startups are unable to find the much-needed angel funding, though these are not the only reasons. Nonetheless, it would never hurt to check these points off your checklist before you set out to seek funding for your startup.

Source : yourstory.com

Yoga can help you a lot before important Business Presentations.

2018-02-06T16:44:00.000+05:30

We can create a dynamic presentation using great words and illustrative images and info-graphics. But when we speak of presentations, it is not just what is projected on the screen but also the energy that is projected from you.

When you are going to a presentation, you need to have clarity about what you are talking, what you are going to say and what your flow would be. For that, you need to do your homework before presenting. When we say homework, it does not just mean working on the presentation, but also taking on detailed research on the person you’re going to present it to. You might not need it for the presentation but knowing the persons' hobby or a little about his family always comes handy

However, no matter how and where you are trained, if your state of mind is not right, you will not be able to present your work well. We have a list of asanas and pranayamas you can do five minutes before the presentation that will calm you down and help you stay composed. Each of this has its own benefits, follow the instructions and the flow before your presentation for positive business growth.

Pranayam

Here are a few yogic processes to build yourselves before powerful presentations

Right nostril breathing (Surya Nadi)

The Right nostril is called the Surya nadi. This prananyam helps reduce anxiety, depression and also helps increase oxygen flow to the brain. It stimulates your left brain and thought process.

Procedure:

Sit in comfortable posture-sukhasan

Spine erect, head straight, shoulder relaxed

Hold Prapthi mudra on knees (gupta nadis)

Close left nostril, inhale and exhale through right nostril only

Benefits:

Rejuvenates the entire physical body

Brings a glow to your face

Restores brain imbalance

Increases body heat and energy levels in body

Cures acidity and improves digestion

Powerful pranayam to prepare for meditation

Creates a lot of energy

Left nostril breathing (Chandra Nadi)

The left nostril is called Chandra nadi. The left nostril cools the body. The moon corresponds to the reflective, passive and artistic aspects of an individual’s personality. This pranayama is extremely beneficial to calm your right brain and thoughts.

Procedure:

Sit in comfortable posture -sukhasan

Spine erect, head straight, shoulder relaxed

Hold prapthi mudra on knees (gupta nadis)

Close the right nostril with a finger and inhale and exhale through the left nostril only

Benefits:

Cools the body temperature

Cures heartburn

This pranayam balances emotions in the body

Mind is strengthened as mind is controlled by the moon and 'taste' of life is improved

Enhances taste sensitivity

Calms the brain

Both nostrils breathing

This pranayam is useful to calm the central brain area. Here, you can feel energised and joyful. Sushma is a central channel in our body that keeps the calm and tranquillity in our body.

Procedure:

Sitting erect with your eyes closed; sit comfortably and steady.

Breathe, feeling the sides of the lower rib cage expand and contract with each breath. Breathe like you’re inhaling and exhaling from the bottom of your spinal cord

Your abdomen is relaxed and also moves naturally with the breath.

Benefits:

Deepens tranquillity and inner peace

Helps with mind and body coordination

Helps with patience and attentiveness

Relaxes the body

Brahmari Pranayama

The most important pranayam for this will be the bramhari pranayam. This pranayam will help you keep your left and the right brain in sync and will help you stay composed.

Procedure:

Sit in comfortable pose-sukhasan

Spine erect, head straight

Hold prapthi mudra on knees

Plug both ears with the thumb, index finger on forehead, middle two fingers on eyes, gently pressurising the right (surya nadi) and left (Chandra nadi) sides and the little finger at the bottom of each nostril. Elbow raised to shoulder level.

Inhale deeply and exhale with "omkar" slowly making a buzzing sound like that of a bee and tongue slightly touching palette

Benefits:

Helps in transformation and creating special energies for body to calm the body

Increases sensitivity to tastes and fragrances

Relieves stress/anger/anxiety

Powerful in creating our own nature

Asana

Tadasan

Tadasan is the most basic asana in yoga and also a very simple one. Although a simple asana, this will help in improving the posture and has several other benefits.

Procedure:

Begin by standing straight in Samasthithi

Raise your arms above your head with your elbows straight

Your palms must face each other and point your fingers up to the sky

Slowly lift your heels off the floor and point it up

Look up and balance your body weight with your toes

Benefits:

Improves posture

The spine gets flexed

Calms your breathing

Improves concentration

Keeps you relaxed

Improves sense of balance

Brings stability to your mind and body

Relaxes stiff shoulders

Practice these techniques for one minute each before going into the meeting room and you will see the difference. Yoga can help you a lot before important presentations.

Source : yourstory.com

25 motivational quotes from entrepreneurs that will inspire you to keep dreaming

2018-01-23T09:25:00.003+05:30

“Why do we fall, sir? So that we can learn to pick ourselves up.” Michael Caine/Alfred Pennyworth’s quote from the 2005 movie Batman Begins is one of the most defining lines of the Dark Knight trilogy, as well as one of the finest motivational quotes ever spoken on-screen. In your moments of greatest despair, when all hope seems lost and you’re wondering why you even bothered to work so hard in the first place, it is important to remember that failure is not the end. Using the lessons taught by the failure to come back stronger is not only the best way to improve, it is also incredibly satisfying.

We all have our own daily bouts with our personal demons, and the biggest one of them is losing inspiration when the going gets tough, or even worse – quitting. Feeling hapless or an overpowering sense of disillusionment while chasing the entrepreneurial dream is part-and-parcel of the journey. It would be surprising if you didn’t have that feeling every now and then. Perhaps, these pangs can be associated with a need to introspect rather than giving up on your aspirations. So if you are caught up in a similar situation, then words of advice from these entrepreneurs are probably just the positive reinforcement you need to hopefully set you back on track.

Keep your passion alive

There are several instances where individuals precariously step into the world of entrepreneurship without realising if they are truly driven by passion or just allured by stories of success. Then there are others who have some initial bouts of passion which soon burn out; if they fail to realise it, they get caught in the same old cycle of mindless drone-work. So it is always a safe bet to take time and understand if your passion is still intact; if not, what can you do to prevent the work seeming like any other menial task?

“Work is something that excites. I don’t mind working on weekends since I never feel that work is a punishment. I am lucky that every morning I wake up looking forward to the day ahead and that’s my biggest driving factor.” – Sujal Kini, Partner, Bell Paints

“It’s phenomenal if you’re blessed that what you love and what you’re passionate about, which could easily have been your hobby, is also your profession! And that doesn’t come to everybody. So you need to be lucky about that.” – Ronnie Screwvala, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

“If you don’t fall in love with the problem, then chances are that you won’t find the best solutions.” – Nikhil Rungta, Intuit

Chase your dream till you live it

Dreams are great, but basking away in their make-belief magnificence without achieving them is pure delirium. If you have your mind set on certain goals, then you need to take measures to not just pursue, but to attain them as well.

“Dreams do come true if you believe in them and go all out to pursue them.” – Durgesh Khandelwal, Founder, Wassup Flea

“The universe falls in love with a stubborn heart! What you wish for always comes true if you work hard for it.” – Major (Retd) Vandana Sharma, Founder, StartupPeopleConsulting

“If you’re not stubborn, you’ll give up on experiments too soon. And if you’re not flexible, you’ll pound your head against the wall and you won’t see a different solution.” – Jeff Bezos, Amazon

“It can be fairly lonely being an entrepreneur, but it is the focus and grit that keeps you going.” – Madhurima Agarwal, Senior Manager, NetApp Excellerator

“Believe in your ability to make your dreams come true.” – Pamela Malhotra, Co-chairperson and Secretary, Sai Sanctuary Trust

Never fear to lock horn with your challenges

The pursuit of success or achieving your dreams is replete with numerous challenges. The scars of these battles are proof of your tenacity and fearlessness to meet and overcome any challenge. Facing up to your challenges and defeating them is the true test of your character, and you should not shy away from it – embrace it instead.

“Every day starts with a new challenge. Every sunset gives a new achievement.” – Dr Ranjana Bansal, Ashok Auto

“Being an entrepreneur is always challenging. The ability to multitask, prioritise, and keep re-prioritising without losing the big picture is a crucial skill for any entrepreneur. It’s also very lonely sometimes, but who said it was going to be easy?” – Sanjay Swamy, Prime Venture Partners

“Find a new way to change the status quo. Be sure you are willing to commit to entrepreneurship and make the sacrifices needed to be one – remember the quote – no one said entrepreneurship is easy but only that it will be worth it.” – K Ganesh, GrowthStory

Success needs grit and vision

Tough times will test you, investors will question you, and the market might be unaccepting of you. These are very real and probable scenarios that any and every entrepreneur meets. What differentiates greatness from mediocrity is the grit to stay on-course and the vision to see beyond the horizon, what many are incapable of.

“The ones who can see the vision when no one else can, and work on it like there is no tomorrow, will succeed. The rest will follow.” – Ajay Naik, Co-founder and CEO, Letcetra Agritech

“Entrepreneurs are different from ‘inventors’ – dreaming is a necessary but not a sufficient virtue.” – Sanjay Nath, Blume Ventures

Taking failure in stride

The taste of victory is even sweeter once you’ve tasted the bitterness of defeat. Don’t let our failures get you down; each time you stumble, just use it as a learning experience to come back even stronger and wiser.

“Failure is a comma, not a full stop...Failure is inevitable. Embrace failure.” – Ronnie Screwvala, Entrepreneur and Philanthropist

“Startups must accept failure and learn not to look at it as a negative.” – Rachna Aggarwal, Indus League

Your team is the wind in your sail

No matter how versatile or great you are as an entrepreneur, you won’t go far without the backing of a strong team. Ensure that the people you have on board recognise your vision, and work not just for payslips but for the realisation of the greater goal.

“We are building a team and not employees, and that is a distinction you need to keep in mind.” – Naiyya Saggi, CEO and Founder, BabyChakra

“Great people working together can achieve great things.” – Ambareesh Murty, CEO, PepperFry

“Everybody can influence the culture of a team, but it is started by the leader.” – TN Hari, HR Head, BigBasket

“When you get one good employee and offer him a chance at growth, you automatically enhance your brand in the eyes of other employees.” – Sagar Daryani, Wow! Momo

“There should be a balance between transparency and diplomacy in a founder.” – Amitabh Mishra, Founder and CEO, GoFro.com

“We need bias-free organisations with diverse and inclusive cultures to create happier workplaces.” – Viji Hari, KelpHR

So, put your mind over matter and ensure you stay determined on this path that you have chosen for yourself, ’cause only you know what this journey means to you. Although sometimes the dream might seem to fade away, believe it is always within reach. Just ensure that when you reach out, you stake claim to it with your doggedness and uncompromisable vigour.

Source : yourstory.com

‘In the word entrepreneurship, E is for empathy’ – 60 quotes from Indian startup journeys

2018-01-23T09:07:00.000+05:30

Building a company is larger than just raising money and cashing out. - Kavin Bharti Mittal, Hike Messenger

Companies compete not only for customers but more importantly for capital. There will be consolidation for companies that cannot raise money. - Sajid Fazalbhoy, Blume Ventures

The universe falls in love with a stubborn heart! What you wish for always comes true if you work hard for it. - Vandana Sharma, StartupPeopleConsulting

A good entrepreneur is like a pro-surfer. – Shishir Gupta, Oakter

No analysis of a startup can be complete without a serious look at the passion that drives the team. - Sushanto Mitra, Lead Angel Networks

Learn where your passion is and where your passion and talent meet the world’s needs. – Melinda Gates

Don’t do it for the money, do it for the passion and love. - Kubra Sait, comedian

Passion without competence can be a dead end. – Pavan Soni

It is important to keep educating oneself, in order to learn and grow. - Monika Manchanda, Sin-a-Mon Tales

The ability to learn is the most important quality a leader can have. – Sheryl Sandberg

With practical work experiences, you can translate learning into habits that will make you a true professional. - Iyinoluwa Aboyeji, Flutterwave

Don’t just say smart facts. Give a story and interweave the facts into the story. Be a writer and not just smart. – James Altucher

You need communication skills because the idea behind the startup is to be able to showcase something new to the world. - Divyandhu Poddar, Rocketeers

Business models can have a very big impact on the valuation of a firm. - Uday Phadke and Shailendra Vyakarnam, ‘Camels, Tigers and Unicorns’

The government cannot fix healthcare by itself, it needs technology, innovation and private entrepreneurs to lead this change. - Prashant Tandon, 1mg

It is always good to work with people who make you feel insecure about yourself. That way, you will constantly keep pushing your limits. – Sundar Pichai, Google

Many municipalities have realised that private players need to be incorporated for running an efficient waste management system. - Jabir Karat, Green Worms

You can’t be on the cusp of innovation and at the forefront of technology if you’re wearing blinders. - Gwynne Shotwell, SpaceX

Security for gated-premises is a multi-billion market that is fundamentally underserved. - Vijay Arisetty myGate

Nothing guarantees customers satisfaction as much as getting to see the product before buying it, and for that, having a physical store is the best bet. - Nishant Makkar, MPC

The past does not belong to us. It is not acceptable to simply demolish our architectural history. - Jyotsna Habibullah, Daan Utsav

Commercial spaces also have a duty to become cultural spaces. – Sumi Gupta, Whitefield Art Collective

The most common concern among potential online shoppers is data loss. - Shivananda Koteshwar, Sparsha Learning

$1 out of every $4 dollars generated from app stores, in-app ads and mobile commerce is generated by the Chinese market. - App Annie

Aim for the sky, but move slowly, enjoying every step along the way. - Chanda Kochhar, ICICI Bank

There are no boring brands; there are only tired brand managers. – Lucas Watson, Intuit

Creativity and innovation should be at the heart of every business. - Prabhakar Mundkur , HGS Interactive

Finance and business growth have a symbiotic relationship. - Marc Steifman, InMobi

Nudges should be clearly communicated to an audience, non-compulsory, and be advantageous to both the “nudgee” and “nudger”. - Kiara Feliz, Unitus Seed Fund

Everyone wants to control the big things. But you need to control the daily. - David Allen, ‘Getting Things Done’

History has shown us that courage can be contagious and hope can take on a life of its own. – Michelle Obama

A certain bravado comes with watching an action movie or playing a video game; you enter a certain world. - Venkat Raman, Riddleroom

Why buy depreciating assets, when you can rent and pay as per use! - Neerav Jain, CityFurnish

No matter for how many years you've been flying the plane, you've to go through the check list every single time. - Shivananda Koteshwar, MediaTek

Past performance is not indicative of future returns. - K Ganesh, GrowthStory

In the word entrepreneurship - E is for empathy. - Shikha Uberoi, Indi.com

Without being a source of energy for others, very little can be accomplished. - Satya Nadella, Microsoft

The best founders will figure out the right solutions and the right roadmap if they have conviction, and the right partners. - Madhur Deora, Paytm

Mini-grids are the most capital-efficient way to help reach 100 percent national electrification goals. - Manoj Sinha, Husk Power Systems

There is no better energy than harnessing the power of the sun. - Chetan Maini, Sun Mobility

The user comes above everything else. – Robin Li, Baidu

Greater diversity leads to better outcomes, more innovative solutions, less groupthink, better stock performance, and GDP growth. - Susan Wojcicki, YouTube

The only way to compete with the search and social giants is to go deeper in the vertical and build a niche. – Ravi Bhushan, PropTiger

In a country where 2.1 percent of the population is disabled, why is it that almost all major public places are still not accessible? - Disha Chhabra, ‘Because Life is a Gift’

Pollution is nothing but the resources we are not harvesting. - Buckminster Fuller

The future of technology doesn’t just belong to mega corporations; it belongs equally to smart and visionary people working in small companies and startups. - Sunil Kant Munjal, EDF

Digital is more than a trend, it is now a transformation in art. - Krishnamachari Bose, Kochi Biennale

Various areas from e-governance to business to smart administrative solutions can be implemented through blockchain. - Rashesh Shah, FICCI

Conversations on data monetisation will take centre stage in 2018 as more IoT projects move from proof of concept stage to full-scale deployment. - Rishi Mohan Bhatnagar, IET

India has a handful of AI engineers. Most AI engineers are entrepreneurs here; we have to ramp up. - Kamal Karanth, Xpheno

Connected and autonomous vehicles require some of the most complex software ever developed. - John Chen, Blackberry

Data event chains will create new opportunities for graph analytics and novel new AI algorithms to consume relationship data at scale. - Scott Zoldi, FICO

The future is a combination of data science and fast computing to help companies connect with their customers better. - N Shanmugam, [24]7.ai

There is an urgent need for identifying genetic markers of oral cancer that can be detected early in patients. - Rosy Mondal, IASST

Instead of a few leaders deciding for customers, we should enable rural communities to decide for themselves. – Madan Padaki, 1Bridge

India does not have a sports culture. Unless there is a synergised sports culture you will never win a string of medals. - Boria Majumadar

The government needs to be startup friendly on the ground - need to match words with action. - Apremeya Radhakrishna, angel investor

Indian startups almost always come across regulatory uncertainty and must do whatever it takes to be prepared. - Aditya Shrivastava, IPleaders

An average truck driver drives 17 hours a day, six days a week. It is clear that human errors will increase accidents in India. - Jayaram Raju, LOBB

Sindh witnessed numerous invasions for centuries, but Sindhis not only survived them but also thrived despite them. - Ashok Hinduja

Today, India has about 500 million internet users, 75-80 percent of them being mobile. Of these, 200-300 million are likely to be regional language users. - Mayank Khanduja, SAIF Partners

Vernacular content consumption in India has witnessed a meteoric rise in the last 2 years growing from 42 million in 2011 to 234 million in 2016. - Ankush Sachdeva, ShareChat

The Indian fintech landscape is complex and exciting at the same time, especially with the massive and continued push from the Indian government. - Abhijit Bose, Ezetap

Fintech is becoming a game-changer, both for the financial and technology sectors. - Chetna Gogia, PayU

Source: YourStory.com

28 Retail Marketing Predictions To Watch In 2018

2018-01-23T08:50:00.001+05:30

2017 was the year where the marketer's role in retail changed drastically and retail businesses (both pure-play and omni-channel retailers) had to come to terms with a new playing field that required them to disrupt their own strategy at every turn. Amongst a very long list, this included understanding the next generation of customers, learning how AI can help them in their role, maximising sales during Black Friday and key shopping days, preparing for GDPR (in Europe), building personalisation into the core customer experience, implementing new solution providers to the marketing stack and experimenting with new technologies and tactics to see what works.

Senior executives and C-suites from leading retail and marketing technology companies share their views here on what they predict 2018 holds for retail and marketing:

New Roles “Brands that are leveraging data science today are largely forced to do the heavy lifting themselves. That will change in 2018 - we’ll have tools that won’t just manage analysis; they’ll also prescriptively recommend and execute the best course of action based on a marketer’s desired outcome. Not only will the technology actually deliver on those promises, it will also be broadly accessible to all growth-oriented ecommerce brands. All of this will culminate in the marketing function shifting away from monotonous administrative tasks. Roles that are nearly entirely dedicated to operating software, for example, will start to be phased out - both in house and across the broader services industry. Marketers will be forced into - or more accurately, will finally be able to experience - roles that are increasingly strategic, creative, and above everything else: customer experience oriented.” - Agata Celmerowski, VP of Marketing, Klaviyo.
Email, SMS and Push Notifications “Multichannel marketing - targeting consumers at each stage of their path to purchase through email, SMS, push notifications and more will cease to be an afterthought and instead become a baseline necessity for successful marketing in 2018.” – Joshua Neckes, Co-Founder, Simon Data.

Visual Search “The use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and particularly visual recognition will continue momentum in opening up new and exciting sales opportunities for retailers. For example visual search for products will grow particularly via mobile and the monetisation of eCommerce imagery via automated product tagging will bring new revenue streams in 2018.” - Alex Vaidya, CEO & Co-Founder, StoryStream.
Multi-Format Video “Broadcast TV and digital will roll into a single, more aligned cross-screen video campaign strategy. Instead of television functioning independently of data-driven digital approaches, marketers will begin to integrate the big screen into more commonplace addressable tactics (desktop, mobile, social, native) to deliver relevant advertising experiences at the household level. I expect advanced marketers to test this in the first part of the year and for this to become more prevalent by the end of 2018.” - Jon Setty, Managing Director UK, Eyeview.

Multi-Channel Personalisation “Personalisation will emerge as a must-have capability in retail brands to retain customers. Retailers will prefer to work with vendors with complete customer engagement and activation stack rather than with multiple point solution vendors to increase ROI, improve operational efficiency and to better customer experience.” - Anoop Vasisht, GM EMEA, Dynamic Yield. "The next level of personalisation will address real-time decision making and will help brands understand how a consumer's behaviour from pre, point of and post conversion can serve as a guide to more meaningful connections." - Tom Rolph, VP EMEA, Tapad.
AI for Customer Insights “Utilising new AI technologies on mobile devices, passive data collection methods that increase user understanding; demographics, behaviour, interests and intent will drive personalisation at scale and increase relevancy and engagement.” - Henry White, VP Strategy at Pixoneye.
Location Intelligence “In 2018, brands will place greater emphasis on location intelligence. By analysing historical location data and detailed behavioural patterns, brands will gain comprehensive insights into consumer preferences and habits which can be used for hyper-targeted campaigns.” - Gil Larsen, VP Americas, Blis.
Email “The majority of email revenue will come from automated email programmes using different kinds of triggers such as price drop triggers, behavioural website and lifestyle triggers, abandoned product triggers and more.” - Jared Blank, Senior Vice President, Data Analysis and Insights, Bluecore.
Ad Spend “Facebook (including Instagram) and Google will continue to drive the vast majority of ad spend for commerce, while popular platforms like Snapchat and Twitter that haven’t cracked the code on direct-to-consumer selling will refocus their efforts on branding and cultivating community.” Tomer Tagrin, Co-founder and CEO, Yotpo.
Social Advertising “2018 is the year that social advertising grows up: more platforms will enter the market and formats like voice search will transform social ads.” R.J. Talyor, CEO, Quantifi.
Mobile Marketing "The retailers and e-commerce companies that will see the biggest growth in 2018 will be those that are able to truly own their digital customer relationships. As the capabilities of mobile devices evolve and become more powerful, smart marketers will look to offer amazing new personalised experiences to customers and mobile users, while capitalising on the data these interactions produce. With more marketing budgets continuing to shift to mobile, businesses that master their ability to measure and act on their mobile data will have the ultimate competitive advantage." - Ran Avrahamy, VP Global Marketing, AppsFlyer.
Mobile Wallets “Mobile wallets are known for making payments a breeze, but more brands will leverage wallets for non-payment activities, like coupon redemption and ticket scanning, all to bolster brand loyalty and customer retention. Tools like these market your brand proactively – you can reach the consumer directly, rather than them having to hunt through their phone to find your app.” Jack Philbin, Co-Founder & CEO, Vibes.
Let's chat? “In 2017 companies were more focused on the information that chatbots provide to customers rather than their conversational skills. However, this year businesses will look at ‘the tone of voice’ to use chatbots not only in sales but also to deepen relations with customers and support the company’s communication strategy.” Szymon Klimczak, CMO, LiveChat.
Conversational assistants “Whether via messaging platforms, smart speakers or email, marketers will be able to leverage new tools to have ongoing conversations with their customers. Brands who successfully deliver hyper-personalised content and product recommendations via these channels will build stronger relationships with consumers across the home, in-store and mobile.” - Andy Maury, CEO and co-founder, Automat.
Digital Content "Channels like Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality are magnifying an age-old problem: the content crunch. It has become extremely challenging for brands to drive interesting, engaging content across all the channels modern consumers have adopted. Rather than out-sourcing content creation, brands will increasingly look to bring content – of all types – in house in 2018.” - Brad Rencher, EVP & GM, Digital Marketing, Adobe.
Internet of Everything “We’ll see more adoption of technologies like NFC in 2018, as more and more brands recognise the benefit of integrating interactive tags into packaging and bringing connected products into the Internet of Everything (IoE) – a natural extension of the IoT. We’ll see brands and marketers reaching out more through the mobile devices that both millennial and Gen Z consumers already carry, as it presents the best opportunity to engage that audience.” Davor Sutija, CEO, Thinfilm.
Influencer ROI “Brands and retailers will continue to increase investment into influencer marketing but will be under pressure to show tangible ROI from their efforts. The ability to link sales metrics to influencer activations will be of increasing importance prompting marketers to integrate direct purchasing capabilities into influencer activations.” - Eric Sheinkop, Co-Founder & CEO, desirelist.
Flexible Payments “Retailers will use new innovations to make their online checkouts smarter. “Bill splitting” will start appearing in more online shops, where users can split the cost of their online purchases at the checkout point, saving them the hassle of chasing friends or family for repayment.” - Alison Sagar, Chief Marketing Officer and Head of Consumer, PayPal UK.
Online Authentication “This is the year of consumer blockchain applications, whether you’re aware of them or not. In 2018, we’ll start to see passwords dying out, as blockchain security and identity takes over for e-commerce and retail. #PasswordsRIP 1996-2018”- Alastair Johnson, Founder and CEO, Nuggets.
Data Monogamy “Aggregated and anonymised big data, gained without user consent that has swamped the industry for the past decade will no longer be accepted. Marketers will have technology at their disposal to gain accurate user data directly from their customers through user consent, without going to a third party – we call this data monogamy.” - Henry White, VP Strategy, Pixoneye.
Who owns the Data? “I think this year will see retailers and brands start to reclaim ownership of their data, and better understand its value and the benefits of building deeper and more effective relationships with customers. This will be fast-tracked by GDPR in Europe which should be seen as an opportunity to build a better customer experience, rather than a business impediment. I expect this means some businesses will start to fall out with Google and choose to be less reliant on paying for their customers many times over. But in an age when brands are fighting the ambiguity that digital channels create, it’s no surprise that there will be a refocus on targeted, relevant communications for a refined and engaged database.” - Peter Ellen, CEO and Founder, Big Data for Humans.
Pooling of Data Assets “Brands and retailers concerned about the walled gardens of Amazon and Facebook will continue to pool data assets to personalise content, increase profits and improve customer relationships while in turn achieving the scale similar to today’s digital giants and better connecting both online and offline data to understand the winding customer journey.” - Jonathan Opdyke, Chief Strategy Officer, Criteo.
Artificial Intelligence for Marketing “2018 will also be the year when retail leaders finally embrace the critical importance of A.I. – and fast. Not as a shiny new gimmick on the periphery of core operations, but integrated into their business to deliver a better customer experience, revenue and profit. Taking a look at last year’s Christmas results, you can see that the retailers who aren’t there yet and are struggling to transform an outdated business model have suffered the consequences. There is a level of confusion about A.I. and a sense of panic at the speed of change in the modern retail landscape, but if customer-centricity and staying competitive are the goals, getting to grips with A.I. is easily done and is the fastest and most efficient way to drive positive change.” -- Peter Ellen, CEO and Founder, Big Data for Humans.
AI-powered Customer Service “Phone trees and email customer service are on the decline. Social messaging and automated, AI-powered bots supported by seasoned social agents are in. Social messaging and artificial intelligence (AI) are ready and waiting for customer service leaders to use in the race to serve customers faster, better, and more efficiently than ever before.”- Joshua March, Founder and CEO, Conversocial.
Consumers will trust AI to do their shopping “Smart assistants will continue to see an uptick in adoption and consumers will increasingly use them to recommend and purchase products for them.” Cassandra Girard, Vice President, Head Consumer and Travel Industries, SAP Hybris.
No more returns? “Retailers will have to look closely at who they offer free returns to and will likely punish serial returners and set minimum purchase amounts for qualifying for free returns.” - Patrick Eve, Managing Director, ZigZag Global.
Convenience “The future is not just fast but flexible, and convenient delivery is needed to match consumers’ increasingly mobile lifestyles. Our research indicates that consumers would be happy to pay some kind of premium for a more convenient delivery option. While people would historically have had to plan in advance for an event, that’s not the world we live in anymore.” David Saenz, COO, Stuart.
Online to Offline “Many more e-commerce companies will begin to open up bricks and mortar locations in 2018 as part of a transition to small format retail spaces.” Mark Ryski, Founder & CEO, HeadCount.

For greater good: How digital technology is redefining social innovation in India

2018-01-05T09:53:00.000+05:30

Globally, mission-driven businesses are revolutionizing the use of technology to spark change and offer novel, sustainable solutions to real-world problems

The world has changed in a multitude of ways in the past two decades owing to the rapid advancement of technology. Today big data, artificial intelligence, smartphone technology are all being used to deliver solutions for real-world problems in the furthermost corners of the globe. We are seeing societal transformation in a way that has never been seen before.

Digital technology is permeating every part of our lives, and aiding access to education, health, or availability of clean water, and driving inclusion. And at the centre of this transformation are companies and organisations leading social innovation.

“The world has flattened, and the fates of all its people, whether residing in a Western capital or a village in rural India, are more tightly knit than ever. That’s led to a growing sense that the old paradigms of government aid and private philanthropy are simply inadequate to meet the critical challenges of the 21st century,” writes Mckinsey.

Mission-driven businesses around the world are revolutionizing the use of technology to effect change. Entrepreneurs and corporations are working to offer new and sustainable solutions to social, economic and environmental issues. Social innovation today is not just about simply adding a layer of technology or adding digital to existing services, but reimagining how we understand and address social change and using digital technology to that effect.

The scope for mission-driven social change

As the World Bank’s World Development Report 2016: Digital Dividends—states: ‘Technology can be transformational’. Technology is being used to address the unique challenges that the world faces today, and to help that change reach the last denominator.

“A digital identification system such as India’s Aadhaar, by overcoming complex information problems, helps willing governments to promote the inclusion of disadvantaged groups. Alibaba’s business-to-business e-commerce site, by significantly reducing coordination costs, boosts efficiency in China’s economy and arguably the world’s. The M-Pesa digital payment platform, by exploiting scale economies from automation, generates significant financial sector innovation, with great benefits to Kenyans and others,” says the World Bank report.

Arm-in-arm with Digital India

As far as social innovation goes, Japanese conglomerate Hitachi is a leading example of how companies are providing solutions to combat urgent issues and contributing to the development of societies across the world. In India, the company is playing a significant role in aiding the government in its Digital India drive, which aims to digitalise government services so they can reach everyone seamlessly. The drive comes with a vision to transform India into a digitally empowered society and knowledge economy. It is an ambitious project centred around digital infrastructure as a core utility to every citizen, and governance and services on demand, and digital empowerment of citizens. More importantly, in a country like India which houses a large population across several administrative zones, e-governance solutions are a great approach to ensure quick and hassle-free services for essential requirements. Currently, for example, the state of Punjab is leveraging Hitachi’s IT solutions and technology for several of its e-governance functions. The company is also responsible for carrying out the analytics of the Unique Identification Authority of India (UIDAI) for the Aadhaar card system, on its platform. The UIDAI is a statutory authority established by the Indian government in January 2009, responsible for the collection of demographic and biometric data of all citizens under the AADHAAR initiative–a mammoth task indeed, given India’s high population density.

Simplifying a billion lives

Hitachi is working closely with the government’s vision in devising smart ways to meet needs of expanding urban landscapes, growing population, and increasing consumption fuelled by rising disposable incomes.

In Punjab, Hitachi was also involved with the execution of the E-Sewa Kendra project. The E-Sewa kiosks are fully digitised Kendras that provide citizen-centric services from various departments of the government over the counter under one roof. Hitachi worked on enabling and setting-up complete IT infrastructure at 2,147 E-Sewa Kendras across Punjab.

People now have access to over 249 public services at a location convenient to them. They can deposit utility bills, apply for arms license, birth and death certificates, and do a lot more at an E-Sewa Kendra in their village. “Earlier we had to go to far off cities and stand in long queues just to deposit our electricity bill. Now, everything related to certificates is getting done right in the village,” explains a satisfied user of the E-Sewa services in the state.

In addition, the E-Sewa Kendra project has also generated jobs for around 130 people in Punjab. It is among one of the largest executions in terms of scale in the state of Punjab by any IT company in India.

Furthermore, the brand’s new digital solutions venture Hitachi has collaborated with the Employee Provident Fund Organisation (EPFO) to provide digital transformation by facilitating seamless information management in the backend where the EPFO can digitise most of its services.

Digital India is just one aspect; Hitachi’s contribution to social innovation extends beyond that.

Ease of making payments

Post demonetisation in November last year, Hitachi significantly fulfilled the sudden rise in demand for the Point of Sale (POS) terminals from all strata of society including Small and Medium Enterprises, retail stores and small shopkeepers. Hitachi is providing POS services on behalf of some of the leading banks in the country. It currently has over 7,00,000 POS devices (including Mobile POS) under management, enabling access to cashless payments to customers across the country.

Under the non-cash platform, Hitachi offerings are designed to take forward the government’s Digital India initiatives by providing solutions such as Merchant Payment Solutions, Digital Payment Platforms and Cards Issuance Solutions.

Its Digital Payment Platforms enables transaction processing such as Bharat QR, a unique card-less solution that lets customers make payments through their smart phones by scanning the QR code displayed at the merchant outlet, from the merchants mobile, or a POS device. It basically eliminates the need to swipe a card at the POS machine.

Managing livelihoods and futures

Hitachi’s engagement also extends to the agricultural sector in India. It is contributing to the development of agricultural sector by using sustainable technology that is economical and environment friendly. It is using its expertise in agricultural information management systems to help farmers.

While agriculture is the backbone of the Indian economy, it is faced with numerous issues. As farming relies heavily on natural inputs, which cannot be controlled, GIS applications can be used to understand and manage crop yield estimates.

Hitachi is aiding in crop damage assessments by using advance remote sensing and geospatial technology, creating centralized crop related maps, data and reports, and in production of early season crop area estimations and agricultural statistics, monitoring changes in cropping pattern, services to farm management and planning, agricultural crop insurance, assessment of claims and management.

People-first solutions lie at the heart of Hitachi’s social innovation breakthroughs in India. Delivering new value to society through collaborative creation with customers and partners has always been the organization’s goal and continues to be its way forward.

In fact, India is one of the primary focus regions for Hitachi for social innovation business. It’s research and Development centre in Bengaluru is an integral part of its global R&D network which has labs in Japan, UK, France, Germany, U.S., China, Singapore and Brazil. The centre is focusing on pioneering work with special attention to the unique problems in India that can be addressed by solutions developed locally.

Manish Sinha

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For greater good: How digital technology is redefining social innovation in India

Globally, mission-driven businesses are revolutionizing the use of technology to spark change and offer novel, sustainable solutions to real-world problems