Time to master digital dynamics

Mobility Trends 2016
“In 2016, we will see the trend of transitioning from traditional methods of managing the business to getting real-time analytics of every aspect of the business solidifying and becoming a part of mainstream business” says Yatish Mehrotra, Regional Head Mobility – South, Tata Teleservices. In an interaction, Yatish talks about a few mobility trends that made news in 2015 and are expected to evolve this year. Organisations looking to unlock their full business potential must keep in sync with the upcoming technology trends and master a range of digital technologies, which are critical to connecting with customers and employees now.

The age of digital disruption
Digital disruption is not just a buzzword – it is here to stay, and to bring around radical change in the way companies think and operate. We are in a period where digital technologies are reshaping relationships between customers and companies. Organisations are having to reinvent not only their operating models, but in many cases their business models as well, just to survive.

However, research suggests that, digital disruption and the need to prepare for it is still not receiving the direct attention at the Board level. Companies are either not acknowledging the risk of digital disruption, or have not addressed it sufficiently. In 2016, we will see the trend of transitioning from traditional methods of managing the business to getting real-time analytics of every aspect of the business solidifying and becoming a part of mainstream business.

The rise of mPayments
In India, there is over one crore mobile subscribers who use some form of mobile money and payment application. Whether it be customer convenience and lower cost-per-transaction for urban customers or the safety and ease of transactions it offers, to the un-banked and under-banked rural population in India – mPayments are only bound to grow.

Mobile payments technology is offering many small businesses and businessmen, the opportunity to access basic financial services. We believe consumers are looking for operator agnostic services–by creating products for all customers, who now have a choice of cashless dealings.

Public WiFi: traveller’s best companion
The growing popularity of public Wi-Fi services is largely because mobile devices have become the number one information source for receiving and sharing; from current affairs to celebrity gossip; and public spaces have become fundamental to this trend.

• Travellers have their own ‘Magic Hour’ which they use to check mails, access flight information, browse the web and send messages prior to boarding their flight. According to SITA’s global research, air passengers are becoming increasingly reliant on social media throughout their journey
• Just over four in five passengers carry a smartphone and 76 per cent of them use airline apps, 43 per cent say it’s made a definite improvement to their travel
• Provision of airport WiFi represents one of the top three priorities for passengers, after price comparison services and real time flight information
• By 2016, airport status notifications and flight status up dates will be provided on social media by 75 per cent of airports, while 70 per cent will offer customer relations.

Smart connectivity is green connectivity
Going green is the latest trend. Products and devices will have the ability to sense, process, report and take corrective actions. Enterprises are currently involved in the process of reducing their carbon footprints and are introducing options like green data centres for their customers.
At Tata Teleservices we stand true to the social responsibility credentials of the Tata Group. Growth is inextricably linked to the well-being of our ecosystem - employees, business partners, local communities and the environment. To us, Sustainability is not an option but an ethical imperative. We believe that green telecom is not just environmentally responsible but, also sensible for business. This trend is most likely to spread over other sectors such as smart clothing, watches, phones, to smart buildings and smart cities with environment friendly elements attached

Mobile and Cloud are joined at the hip
After growing at an exponential pace in 2015, cloud computing has become an integral part of the enterprise business strategy. Large global multinational firms are now looking to cloud to not only offer better front-end customer service but also to fully leverage advances in back-end manufacturing.

For CIOs to be sure they are getting the cost efficiency and resource optimisation the cloud promises, requires them to deploy cloud analytics solutions. Today, businesses no longer debate whether cloud and mobile analytics will work together – it’s about how can these two key trends be merged to create a seamless unified business management tool.

Internet of Things (IoT)
As predicted by Gartner, the Internet of Things (IoT) will result in approximately 26 billion connected units by 2020. In order to lead this change, individuals and enterprises will have to fasten their hold on to the open standards for improving device monitoring and management, big data information gathering and analytics; and overall network communications.

Wearables are also growing in importance as mobile commerce gathers greater acceptability among consumers. Growing digitisation, device automation, innovations in security and payment gateway services as well as growth in ecosystem partners will mean that new frictionless cashless payment methods will come into vogue – through the things we wear!