For many years now we’ve been witnessing the phenomenal rise of Amazon.com. Retailers and manufacturers of all kinds have been scurrying to get their digital act together. The media has been rife with questions about traditional business models of stores and distributor channels. And now finally, Amazon has opened physical stores in key categories – grocery and books to name a few. The […]
In today’s fast paced, connected world, it has become crucial to engage with our customers, not just find ways to advertise to them. Customer engagement is actually a strong branding vehicle because it helps us align with the causes our customers love. And it can drive more profitable growth because it realigns our business with its higher purpose. The UNICEF Kid […]
There’s so much is happening in the financial services world that its enough to make your head spin. At the same time, if you take a look at the news today, you can see who’s getting it and moving forward, and who’s content with playing the same old game risking their very survival. Here’s my Fintech Innovation Watch. With a […]
Excited to announce from Barcelona, Spain, that my second book “Connected! How #platforms of today will become apps of tomorrow” is now live as a Kindle eBook! The paperback & hard cover versions will out through the distributors soon. I’ll also make the eBook available on Barnes & Noble & Apple in the next few weeks. For a limited time, get it […]
Let’s start with some cool statistics to set the stage for customer engagement. The numbers are hard hitting. Online sales clearly exceeded offline sales as nicely explained here. 25% more people did not stand in early morning lines. Obviously the availability of blockbuster deals is not an issue anymore. Good in a way but kind of takes some fun and thrill […]
In a turn of events that demonstrates how rapidly the financial payments market is evolving, Visa and MasterCard have both entered into separate deals with PayPal. (ref 1 and 2 below) Image courtesy It was puzzling. Didn’t PayPal already accept both Visa and MasterCard? Yes it did, but the growth of PayPal (and now Stripe), also posed a very real risk […]
Timing is everything. Brands and businesses worldwide were quick to cash in on the Pokemon Go launch mania. Businesses jumped in with all kinds of promotions and offers as millions of people took to the streets hunting Pokemon on their mobile phones (I did too). For the most part, the promotional tactics for customer engagement by businesses can be categorized […]
A recent multinational study by the Cloud Security Alliance showed that financial services firms are improving adoption of the cloud. The top 3 reasons stated for cloud adoption in financial services were: Flexible infrastructure capacity (68%) Reduced cost for provisioning (63%) Reduction in TCO (57%) The top 3 wish-list items revolved around audit, compliance, forensics and encryption. The top applications that […]
In a recent article on American Banker (Don’t Give Away the Store When Enabling APIs), I brought out three best practices for banks to adopt as they think of leveraging the Fintech and Banking API phenomenon. Even as Banking API are being touted as a must for banks, the common position of argument is from the perspective of emerging companies and […]
I’m sure every one of us is looking at how our banks are going to respond to the winds of change. Disruption and disinter-mediation is in the air. The following is a summary of an article on this topic on BAI Strategies. The most important task for banks in the age of Digital Disruption in Banking is to look beyond the traditional […]
What happened to URLs such as www.facebook.com/yourbrand? Is the great promise of building a community through social media effectively over? Just as brands were starting to figure out how to improve their social investments ROI, and how to attribute success to their social media efforts, prominent networks such as Facebook have pulled the rug out from under our feet – […]
The term digital strategy has to be the most confused term ever. Is it digitization where we try to convert existing processes to the digital format? Think document capture, automated workflows etc. Is it development of digital channels such as websites, mobile and social media where everything online or latest is considered the world of digital, and everything else considered “not digital”? Is it […]
The world is mobile today, and having a mobile strategy is critical. However, a vast majority of mobile apps see dismal adoption rates. Lets understand why: First, it is critical to understand that every app must provide tangible value to the user. And value comes from primarily two sources – utility, or entertainment. Consider a banking app, the CVS app, Amazon, Facebook, […]
If you have read this book by Jeremy Rifkin (1), then you most likely had extreme reactions in this sequence – a) a sense of awe and wonder b) a feeling that there was something deeply amiss in the logic. Mr. Rifkin did bring out some great points overall about how the sharing economy, automation and the internet of things will change the […]
Booz & company (now Strategy& and part of PwC) published a nice article on how different types of companies can be classified as 4 types of Digital Marketing Models. The article outlined key capabilities that need to be build for each type of model. The four types of firms are: Digital Branders: Firms that relay on advertising and promotions to […]