Improving Customer Experience Essential For Pursuing Digital Transformation, Reports Accenture

Improving the overall customer experience is a top business priority for companies and a main driver behind their digital transformation ambitions, according to a new study from Accenture. But the majority of businesses don’t set themselves apart yet from competitors through the digital customer experience they offer.

The study, titled “Digital Transformation in the Age of the Customer,” is based on a survey of nearly 400 decision-makers in companies globally. It was commissioned by Accenture Interactive, part of Accenture Digital, and conducted by Forrester Consulting. Key findings in the study include:

 * “Improving the customer experience” topped the list of business priorities companies have for the next 12 months. It received the most number one rankings (21 percent), followed by “growing revenues” (17 percent) and “improving differentiation” (16 percent).

* “Improving customer satisfaction” was cited as one of the top three motivations for digital transformation, along with “increasing profitability” and “accelerating speed to market.”

* Companies are focusing on digital channels to make customer interactions more engaging: sixty-three percent are planning to enhance their online experience, 46 percent are looking to add or improve their mobile offerings, but only 39 percent want to improve their in-store experience.

“Customer experience is now clearly at the heart of digital transformation, and digital is at the center of that customer experience,” said Anatoly Roytman, managing director Accenture Interactive and global digital commerce lead. “But many companies have considerable ground to cover on their path to becoming digital enterprises. They’re challenged with setting a digital vision and strategy, getting the right people in place, and measuring digital success.”

Three Challenges to Becoming a Customer-Focused Digital Enterprise

1. Setting a Digital Vision and Strategy: Confusion over who sets the digital vision and strategy hampers digital transformation, as indicated in the study. Currently, ownership is divided between the chief executive officer (38 percent), chief information officer (33 percent), chief digital officer (ten percent), and chief marketing officer (eight percent). When asked who should own an organization’s digital vision and strategy, the CIO came out on top (30 percent) followed by the CEO (27 percent). The CDO and CMO lagged at 17 percent and eight percent, respectively.

2. Organizational Readiness: Respondents were hesitant that their business has the right people in place to execute its digital strategy. They listed their “organization” as the part of the company that is least ready to digitally transform (64 percent) compared to technology (75 percent) and operational processes (75 percent).

3.Measuring Digital Success: Companies tend to worry about implementation of processes and technologies before putting in useful analytics and metrics with which to evaluate them. Fifty-seven percent of the respondents said that implementing digital technologies is critical to enabling their digital business, but only 29 percent said establishing digital metrics and measurements are.

Digital Customer Experience Not Yet a Differentiator for Most Companies

Considering these prevailing challenges, it may not be surprising that only five percent of respondents think their organization is exceeding their customers’ expectations in digital experiences, while 73 percent believe they meet those expectations.

“Look at how fast consumer behavior is changing and how great customer experiences are jumping industry boundaries,” said Jay Dettling, managing director Accenture Interactive and North America digital commerce lead. “Companies need to ask themselves how long customers will accept experiences that are just ‘good enough’.”

Recommendations from the study

* To achieve differentiation through digital customer experiences, leaders from different parts of the business will need to team up even more tightly. They need to recognize that digital transformation can’t be confined to a single department.

* Leaders should advocate digital transformation and customer experience with clear goals to ensure that all changes to culture, processes and technology ultimately support the digital vision and are not made in isolation.

* The way to becoming a digital enterprise requires its leaders to take risks and learn from mistakes. For example, adding functionality that is in the spirit of digital transformation and the customer experience shouldn’t always require traditional approvals and a detailed business case.

* Third-parties can help fill gaps even digitally mature companies will have and make it cheaper and faster for the organization to implement and execute their digital strategy. Forty-five percent already work with providers on enhancing the customer experience.

“Operationalizing digital transformation, developing digital visions and strategies, and executing the required organizational change are inhibitors to achieving superior customer experience,” said Roytman. “Only a few organizations have the capabilities to master customer-focused digital transformation by themselves efficiently and at pace. Our findings shows that nearly 90 percent use third-party providers for at least one component of their digital transformation. With their capabilities, providers help plug the gaps and manage the drive for transformation.”  

DGS&D Partners With Polycom to Boost Video Uptake in Indian Government Sector

Polycom, Inc. has announced that the Directorate General Supplies and Disposals (DGSnD), a central purchase and quality assurance organisation of Government of India has awarded a rate contract agreement for the purchase of Polycom products and services. Through the rate contract agreement – supported by Inspira, a national Polycom distributor – the company will offer industry-leading video collaboration solutions and services to government institutions, helping to implement and integrate video networks within existing infrastructure. 

As Polycom looks to target more government opportunities, the company’s collaborative technology and market presence are strongly placed to support national initiatives such as Digital India. According to Frost & Sullivan, Polycom led the video conferencing systems and infrastructure segment in India, with a 44 percent market share in 2014. Improved collaboration and visual communication technology can provide skills development, introduce more virtual class rooms and extend education to rural areas, initiate remote healthcare services via telemedicine, and implement e-governance and smart city programmes. Polycom aims to enhance its customer base across various government departments and ministries including defence, railway, public sector units, and citizen services.

Speaking on the award of the rate contract, Minhaj Zia, Managing Director, Polycom India & SAARC said, “We are delighted to partner with DGSnD, in providing our breakthrough collaboration solutions to government agencies. We are taking a quantum leap in hastening the digital revolution of India and firmly believe that our innovations uniquely place people at the heart of collaboration enabling them to work better, smarter and more efficiently. Polycom India remains focused on being the leading collaboration partner for our customers – whether in government or in the private sector offering seamless user experience, and open and interoperable technologies through an ecosystem of expert partners.” 

NIIT Technologies Further Enhances flydubai Customer Experience

NIIT Technologies Limited, a leading global IT solutions organization has today announced a long-term strategic agreement with Dubai-based airline flydubai.

The agreement will enable flydubai to build airline-specific IT systems catering to all facets of its business. This will support flydubai’s programme to deliver an enhanced passenger satisfaction.

 NIIT Technologies plans to deliver these services through its state-of-the-art Global Delivery Center at its campus in Greater Noida. This will include a dedicated ‘Testing Center of Excellence’ for flydubai. In addition, NIIT Technologies will provide support on software development projects with data center services through its Infrastructure Management Services.

 Commenting on the announcement, Ramesh Venkat, Chief Information Officer of flydubai said: “We remain committed to providing a great travel experience for all our passengers through advancements in technology and improvement in our operational efficiency. This appointment will not only help us to prepare for our next phase of growth but will enable us to remain flexible and adapt to changes in travel patterns in the market.”

Deepak Khosla, President, APAC/ANZ, NIIT Technologies stated that, “Through this association we look forward to delivering exceptional experience for the flydubai passengers. Given our proven expertise in travel and transportation domain and managing large scale projects for some of the leading global airlines, we are confident that our services will support flydubai in its growth.”

Rs 500cr Investment By Lava to Enhance Tirupati Mobile Cluster

Domestic handset vendor Lava will invest Rs 500 crore to set up a manufacturing plant in Tirupati.

Earlier this week, Prime Minister Narendra Modi had laid the foundation stone for a dedicated mobile handset and electronics manufacturing facility at Tirupati in Andhra Pradesh.

According to officials apart from Lava, the facility will house brands like Micro max, Celkon and Karbonn.

“The manufacturing plant which will be operational in 2017, will target production ca pacity of five million phones a month once fully functional. Lava will invest Rs 500 crore for this facility that will be set up over 20 acres of land allotted by the government,“ said company's international chief manufacturing officer Sanjeev Agarwal. 

Source: Agencies

8.43% CAGR for Indian Healthcare Information Systems Market till 2019

The global healthcare information systems market is witnessing growth with the increase in the adoption of health and fitness based mobile applications. These applications can be used to record and update patient health data such as heart rate, glucose level, and cholesterol level which can later be accessed by doctors or clinics anywhere. 

Analysts forecast global healthcare information systems market to grow at a CAGR of 8.43% over the period 2014-2019. According to the Global Healthcare Information Systems Market 2015-2019 report, advances in technology have led to the development of computed radiography and digital radiography systems with enhanced features such as flat panel detectors, improved automation to help radiologists gain a better image quality for efficient diagnosis.

The following companies are the key players in the Global Healthcare Information Systems Market: Agfa Gevaert, GE Healthcare, McKesson, Philips Healthcare, and Siemens Healthcare. Other Prominent Vendors in the market are: Carestream Health, Cerner, Dell, InterSystems, Epic Systems, 3M Health, Merge Healthcare, and NextGen Healthcare.

The report covers the current scenario and the growth prospects of the global healthcare information systems market for the period of 2015-2019. To calculate the market size, the report considers revenue generated from the sales of the following systems: hospital information systems, laboratory information systems, and pharmacy information systems.

Segmentation by application and analysis of the healthcare information systems market cover Hospital information system, Pharmacy information system and Laboratory information system. The pharmacy information system is the second largest segment globally and is further classified into inpatient and outpatient pharmacy information systems. These systems help doctors to access patient information to ensure accurate and safe medications during the treatment process.

The report, Global Healthcare Information Systems Market 2015-2019, says adoption of information systems is high in the Americas, especially in the US, due to the increase in implementation of IT services in the healthcare sector. Healthcare laws such as Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act commonly known as Obamacare, provide affordable access to health insurance plans for American citizens through subsidies. Most of these systems are being extensively used in Massachusetts, Arizona, Colorado, New York, and Washington D.C regions in the US.

The analysts of the report forecast global healthcare IT outsourcing market to grow at a CAGR of 9.17% over the period 2014-2019.   The following companies are the key players in the Global Healthcare IT Outsourcing Market: Accenture, Cognizant Technology Solutions Corporation, TCS, IBM and Infosys. Other Prominent Vendors in the market are: CGI, Dell, Fujitsu, HCL, iGATE, Hexaware, HP, L&T, Syntel, and Tech Mahindra.

Source: Agencies  

Tirupati Gets India’s First Mobile Manufacturing Electronics Cluster

Prime Minister Narendra Modi has laid the foundation stone of Shri Venkateswara Mobile and Electronics Manufacturing Hub in Tirupati, the country’s first mobile manufacturing electronics cluster. Union Ministers M Venkaiah Naidu, Ashok Gajapathi Raju and Nirmala Sitaraman, Governor ESL Narasimhan and Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu were present on this occasion.

The Hub is expected to create more than 10,000 jobs within a year and contribute at least 5 per cent of the all-India target of 15 lakh jobs by the year 2019, a press release by Indian Cellular Association had said earlier. Foxconn has already started operations in Andhra Pradesh for manufacturing brands such as Xiomi and Gionee. Other important brands like Micromax, UTL (Karbonn) and Celkon would be starting their manufacturing operations soon, the release further said.

“The previous government has done a lot of such things and a lot of time and energy of this government is going into undoing and setting them right. But I assure Centre’s support to both the states and the Government of India will always stand by and support you,” said Modi. The Prime Minister said he along with Chief Minister Chandrababu Naidu will fulfil the dreams and aspirations of Andhra Pradesh and take it to greater heights by expediting the development process.

Modi, who brought soil from Parliament House complex in Delhi and water from Yamuna river to mix with the soil of Amaravati as a symbolic gesture, said the action sends out a message that “Delhi has come to Amaravati”. “This symbol has a message and strength that Delhi will always stand and move shoulder to shoulder in Andhra’s journey to touch newer heights,” he said.

Modi said Centre has taken a slew of measures in the area of human resources in the state with emphasis on IIT, IIM, IIIT (Indian Institute of Information Technology), AIIMS, NIT, Indian Institute of Science, education and research, Central and Petroleum University. The talent and brilliance of both the states have the potential to turn them into centres of innovation, he stressed.

Observing that the youth of Andhra Pradesh have made a name for themselves as professionals on foreign shores, he said the youth can take advantage of the Centre’s startup initiative. “Be it Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, their soul is Telugu. They are its wings and development and fast progress of both will help enhance the country’s image. This land has the biggest potential to benefit from Government of India’s Start-Up Initiative,” he said.

“I am confident that in coming days Andhra Pradesh will lead a new economic revolution in the country which will be known as youth centric economic revolution,” he said. In his address, the Chief Minister observed that neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Karnataka and Telangana have revenue generating capital cities and urged the Prime Minister to hand-hold Andhra Pradesh till it achieved a level-playing field with others.

Source: Agencies  

Flock Gathers Attention at Product Conclave 2015

Flock, the recently launched enterprise communication and collaboration app stole the show at the recent NASSCOM Product Conclave (NPC 2015) held in Bengaluru last week. The app received a lot of attention for some of its powerful features that are fast making Flock one of the leaders in this space.

NPC 2015 was attended by over 2000 people that comprised a large portion of the startup community, as well as leaders and executives from some of the most reputable firms in the market today. Flock managed to create a massive buzz with its slick, clutter-free interface across platforms, rich, intuitive user experience and newer features such as Video Calling, Shared Group To-Do’s, Reminders, and Integrations with other apps. Flock's tagline of 'Get Work Done. Faster.' and promise of increasing employee efficiency by a significant amount resonated with members of startups and big businesses alike, and made for a convincing proposition.

By the end of the first day of the Product Conclave, it became clear that Flock had dominated the event in terms of networking with potential leads. Almost every second person at the event had a Flock goodie bag on him, and people kept coming back to the Flock booth to try out the balance scooters that the Flock team were zooming around on. By the end of the event, one of the Flock team members mentioned that they had managed to show their product to over 60% of the entire conclave footfall – a very significant number.

Bhavin Turakhia, CEO, Flock (and its parent company Directi) said, “When we attend events like the Nasscom Product Conclave, our main focus is to let people know how Flock is changing the way teams communicate and collaborate. Because organizations are so set in their business ways, they do not understand the potential that an application like Flock has in revolutionizing their communication experience, until we show them. Flock literally makes people and teams more efficient, by helping them get work done faster. This is a space that is ripe for disruption, and Flock is quickly breaking new ground in the market. I am very happy with what we have achieved here at the Nasscom Product Conclave today.”

Flock's next stop is the Gartner Symposium in Goa from the November 2-5, 2015.