All posts by [x]cube LABS

[x]cube LABS is a leading digital strategy and solution provider specializing in enterprise mobility space. Over the years, we have delivered numerous digital innovations and mobile solutions, creating over $ 2 billion for startups and enterprises. Broad spectrum of services ranging from mobile app development to enterprise digital strategy makes us the partner of choice for leading brands.
Agriculture, Announcements, Blog

[x]cube LABS & Grand Farm to Launch a Report on Agritech 2021

[x]cube LABS and Grand Farm Announce the Launch of Report on Agritech 2021: Transforming Agriculture with Digital Technologies, at Cultivate Conference in July 2021

We are happy to share that [x]cube LABS has created an in-depth report for agribusinesses and related stakeholders, aimed at providing value-driven insights and recommendations. This report, to be released soon, is a one-of-its-kind collaboration with multiple experts in the industry. Upon release, It will serve as a valuable resource for stakeholders who are starting their agritech journey by providing them a comprehensive understanding of the agritech ecosystem and insights on strategies and technologies that deliver results.

Putting this report together has been a very exciting journey for us. During the process, we connected with stakeholders from various segments of the industry and gained deep understanding on the many problems faced by them. We leveraged our extensive experience of working with global enterprises in the agriculture space to solve these problems and consolidated the information into a single, detailed report. We believe this will help agribusinesses stakeholders such as enterprise owners, startups, government entities, researchers, investors, and the farming community to view the space as an integrated ecosystem, contrary to how it’s seen today- fragmented segments that work independently.

Check out our press release regarding this initiative below.

DALLAS, June 22, 2021 /PRNewswire/ — [x]cube LABS announced today the launch of an agriculture industry-focused report titled ‘Agritech 2021: Transforming Agriculture with Digital Technologies’ in collaboration with Grand Farm, on Thursday, July 15th, 2021 at the Cultivate Conference. Agriculture today faces challenges such as climate change, sustainability, shifting consumer demand falling grower income, and more. In this context, the report will provide a comprehensive overview of the industry and propose potential innovation opportunities that put the industry on the best course for the future. In addition, the report, which will be available for free, brings in detailed insights from a comprehensive survey conducted by [x]cube LABS, covering stakeholders across all key roles and segments of the industry. The report will feature insights from industry experts, showcase innovative Agritech use cases, and publish results from an independent study of global agriculture stakeholders.

Speaking to the press, Puneet Kalia, AgTech business leader at [x]cube LABS, said: “Multiple driving forces are transforming agriculture in significant ways, and this creates opportunities as well as significant challenges for stakeholders in this space. This report put together in collaboration with key players across the agriculture industry, will fill an important gap and offer a comprehensive view of the transformative landscape at large. We’re excited to launch this report at the Cultivate Conference.”

The Cultivate Conference, hosted by Grand Farm, is an event focused on emerging technologies in agriculture and features attendees from leading agri-tech firms and research institutes.

“We’re excited about this collaboration with [x]cube LABS,” said Andrew Jason, Grand Farm Ecosystem Builder. “As the industry is set to undergo drastic innovation, they are a great partner to be leading this report as they’ve been leading digital transformation for years.”

About Grand Farm

The Grand Farm Education and Research Initiative, energized by Emerging Prairie, capitalizes on the region’s potential and expertise in the agriculture and technology industries. The Grand Farm Initiative will accelerate the research and innovation into technology that will be present on the farm of the future – impacting North Dakota, the United States, and the World by solving challenges in the agriculture industry and developing new opportunities.

About [x]cube LABS

[x]cube LABS is a leading digital transformation company working across diverse industries, including agriculture. [x]cube LABS has helped agriculture stakeholders worldwide with digital solutions that resolve critical bottlenecks and develop innovative digital products to transform customer engagement and business operations. Located in the US, Europe, and Asia, [x]cube LABS has worked with more than 30 Fortune 2000 companies and has developed a reputation as a high-quality partner for building digital centers of excellence, customer experience transformation, and IoT implementations. For more information, visit: http://www.xcubelabs.com

Gamification
Blog, Customer Experience, Gamification

Top 10 Ways to Leverage Gamification for Great Customer Engagement

Table of contents

Introduction:

Customer engagement is one of the biggest challenges for businesses today as there are various aspects to a business in the form of customers, users, employees, and technology. It’s very important to have the right customer engagement strategies in place. Customer engagement strategies are directly linked to the company’s overall profitability and revenue-generating capability as they influence apps and other digital products.

If a business has highly engaged users, then it can have better brand recognition and loyalty with lower customer acquisition costs and better customer satisfaction and retention. Thus, the right customer engagement strategies will reduce the churn rate for a company and increase the number of active users and time spent on your app, and user growth through referrals and word of mouth.

How can gamification strategy drive sustainable engagement?

Gamification can be pivotal in implementing customer and employee engagement strategies that can solve the customer acquisition and retention problems of a company. Gamifying an experience does not mean creating a game to engage customers. Gamification is more about applying game-like mechanisms and mobile game design to a non-game context.

Gamification can help businesses to nudge customers towards certain behaviors by rewarding those behaviors. This helps businesses to better plan their future business plans as they have a better estimate of customer behaviors and thus, it can be used in improving customer and employee engagement strategies. Instilling these behaviors will eventually result in sustainable engagement.

How gamification can help drive better customer engagement?

The best thing about gamification is that it can be applied to different industries. Gamification can be used for training company employees, building marketing strategies, and mobile application development. Gamifying can optimize customer experience by making an activity more rewarding and fun to participate in. A combination of both extrinsic and intrinsic motivators will motivate or push customers to become more engaged with the brand as a whole.

Here are 10 benefits of gamification specific to customer engagement:

Regular feedback and rewards

Customers like to be heard from the company regarding their queries and issues. Customer reviews or feedbacks can be very vital for organizations as it will help in improving customer engagement and rewarding customers for their continued engagement with the brand will improve brand loyalty.

Interface and user experience

Players prefer playing games that have a good interface and user experience. Leveraging gamification trends will ensure mobile apps, websites, and other platforms have a tailored approach along with being user-friendly and possess a good interface. A better customer experience will make customers coming back to an application or website which will increase the time spent on your website and eventually lead to more profit generation.

Training of corporate employees

Enterprises nowadays are employing gamification in their employee engagement strategies to tackle the challenge of staff engagement with the company. Deloitte for example used gamified elements such as badges, leaderboards, and status symbols which helped to reduce the time to certification for participants by 50 percent.

An efficient way of marketing

Gamification can be used in marketing by providing dynamic and entertaining solutions that can integrate into your website, app, or email campaigns to make user’s experience with your service more diverting and engaging. Carrying a sense of competition, gamification helps in triggering excitement in customers which in turn encourages customers to get eager for achievements and rewards.

Mobile application development

Mobile app gamification can help in applying gaming principles and gaming app design elements for non-gaming applications. Gamification enables companies to attract more users to any particular non-gaming application. Most app development companies prefer to create gamified apps which help companies to increase their online traffic.

Structured rules and goals

Games involve structured rules and goals. When gamification is implemented in campaigns and marketing strategies, customers feel motivated to attain goals, while sticking to the rules that you create. This allows the company to boost goal-directed behavior which could eventually serve as a purpose for call-to-action and making a purchase analogous to playing a game.

Achievable challenge 

Gaming involves providing the player with achievable challenges. Gamification can be used by companies to create a sense of challenge in customers which could be collecting certain points, making a certain number of purchases to get rewards. This can be used as a part of a marketing strategy and will encourage customers to spend more time on your app and make more purchases.

Strong plot or storyline

A good game generally consists of a good story or plot. Gamification can be used to create plots that will help customers to remain focused on the brand while making them feel that they are central to the brand-making process. Plots should be market-driven and create more engagement with users and boost brand loyalty.

Social connection 

Gamification can be used to improve customer acquisition and retention. Gamification should provide customers with opportunities to share their rewards, achievements, and their ‘plots’ with other friends or customers. Being socially connected with customers will help a business provide more opportunities to gain new customers and lower customer acquisition costs.

Integrated business planning

It is very complex to create a meaningful engagement through gamification if you considering only one aspect of your business. Integrating website or mobile app testing with behavioral economics with the help of data such as customer traffic patterns and purchase behaviors will allow companies to have a holistic approach during business planning and will help companies in the long run.

IoT Landscape
Blog, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Internet of Things, Technology

The [x]cube IoT Landscape Report 2021

At the forefront of digital innovation is the Internet of Things (IoT). Combined with artificial intelligence and machine learning, IoT has emerged as one of the most powerful drivers of great customer experience and effective data analysis. In fact, it’s largely because of the IoT that we are able to gather such volumes of data on our consumers, helping us understand consumer behavior, preferences and making it possible for us to tailor offerings targeted at specific groups to increase sales and revenue.

From our extensive experience of developing over 75 successful IoT products and businesses worth $100 Million within 5 years, we have created an extensive landscape report that talks at length about how leading enterprises are leveraging IoT solutions, what new innovations can be expected across industries, the scope for business leaders and more. We have also added how we have helped businesses that were unsure about IoT, to take the first step and eventually launch all-new digital lines of revenue.

What you can expect from the report:

  1. All the stats and projections-growth, spending (by verticals, geographies, and more), focus areas, etc
  2. Technology deep dive-every component and system that makes up the Internet of Things
  3. Securing IoT-the best ways to secure your solution
  4. Use cases across major industries-healthcare, retail, agriculture, manufacturing, and more
  5. Development best practices-the right approach to various phases from planning to live-ops

And much more…

Across every major industry such as manufacturing, retail, agriculture, healthcare, and more, organizations are looking for quality IoT services to augment several products which are used by a large number of consumers so each consumer’s unique requirements can be identified and met, getting them more invested and converting them to loyal brand ambassadors. If your business has a product that’s selling really well, it makes a lot of sense to consider whether IoT would be a good fit for the product as the resulting benefits can truly take your organization to the next level.

However, a lot of business leaders still remain on the fence when it comes to IoT innovation. Main reasons for their inertia being:

  1. Lack of clarity on what to build
  2. High expenses
  3. Fear of low RoIs
  4. Lack of a sound technical team

This is where our report comes in handy as it explains:

  1. How to determine product market fit
  2. [x]cube’s approach to helping business leaders overcome inertia
  3. Development best practices
  4. How to secure your IoT solution
  5. Our insights on getting a high quality IoT product with low expenses and minimum overheads
  6. Results you can expect

A few of our IoT success stories:

Mann+Hummel: A world leader in filtration devices, Mann+Hummel approached us to explore ways of improving their solutions and help them eliminate overheads. We zeroed in on IoT solutions as the technology of choice and augmented the devices with smart capabilities. This enabled the filters to carry out preventive maintenance, intelligently change operational patterns based on usage, and gave the organization the data they needed to understand user requirements and provide personalized solutions.

RYOBI: A common name among DIY enthusiasts who swear by the brand’s power tools, wanted to present them on a digital platform that would help them reach more users and give them a simulation of their products and range of capabilities. We helped them create a feature-rich, interactive and immersive application that helped them acquire and retain more customers than ever.

So follow this link and download the report for FREE! Please let us know what you think of it by mailing us at: connect@xcubelabs.com and tweeting to us @xcubelabs.

Blockchain Adoption in IoT
Blockchain, Blog, Internet of Things

Blockchain adoption in IoT

Table of contents

Introduction

In 1990, the first IoT device device was created- a smart toaster that could be controlled from the internet. It was in 1999 that the term “Internet of Things” was coined. Fasttrack 20 years, IoT devices are so widely used, that by 2025, it is expected that 75 billion IoT devices will be connected to the Internet. IoT devices have created an ecosystem of value creation- by transmitting data across the IoT network. Businesses capture data from IoT devices to get insights to make better decisions. Implementing IoT seemed a win-win situation for businesses, except the fact that something critical remains unaddressed- the security concerns.

Many businesses are still cautious about IoT deployment on a large scale. The security vulnerabilities make IoT networks an easy target for cyber criminals to exploit. Other than security, IoT networks are faced with another challenge- scalability. With the growing number of IoT devices in a network, the capacity of current centralized systems to manage different nodes in the network can turn into a bottleneck, thereby necessitating heavy investments in servers that are equipped to handle data exchange on a large scale. So what’s the fix?  Implementing Blockchain technology in IoT could be the answer.

Opportunities with Blockchain- solution to existing IoT challenges?

Blockchain, a form of Distributed Ledger Technology, has moved way beyond cryptocurrency since its inception and is finding its way into diverse areas and exploring applications when combined with other technologies such as IoT, specially to overcome the limitations of the latter.

IoT networks process data at multiple devices, managed by different owners, making it extremely difficult to identify the source of data breach in case of any cyber attack. Additionally, with multiple stakeholders involved, there’s discrepancy around the ownership. The challenge presents itself as a use case in itself and blockchain technology, popular for addressing security, reliability and scalability issues, seems like the most obvious solution. Here’s why:

  • Tamper-proof:Multiple parties involved in transactions are often concerned about trust. The distributed ledger, being tamper-proof, eliminates the need of trust.
  • Added security: The blockchain encryption makes it impossible to overwrite existing records. This adds an extra layer of security to the IoT network
  • Transparency: Authorized users can track and access transaction history. This makes it easier to identify sources of data breach.
  • Fast: Blockchain is capable of supporting a large number of devices at speed, tackling the challenge of scalability conveniently.
  • Reduced cost: Overheads related to gateways involved in typical IoT networks can be eliminated, thereby reducing costs

Blockchain as a technology was designed for securing transactions and interactions in the first place, but adoption of blockchain in IoT is still in early days. However, the development and research in its applications is in full pace. IBM Blockchain, for example, already allows extending blockchain into IoT.

Source: IBM

Blockchain, undoubtedly, will serve as a game changer for IoT. From eliminating the need for costly centralized IT infrastructure to fostering better stakeholder relationships with added security and trust, blockchain is sure to compliment IoT and the combined synergy will drive great business results.  Many industries have already implemented blockchain with IoT- BFSI, Agriculture and Automotive to name a few. Supply chain and logistics have also witnessed increased adoption of smart contracts, doing away with the need for a central authority.

Blockchain IoT Market Size and Growth

The global blockchain IoT market size is projected to grow at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 45.1% and reach USD 2,409 million by 2026, up from USD 258 million in 2020. This growth is attributed to the need for secure IoT networks, simplified processes, transparency and immutability. North American and Asia-Pacfic region will account for the most growth during this forecast period. Application wise, the asset tracking and management segment are likely to register the highest growth rate.

This growth is encouraging for Blockchain IoT companies and businesses that want to capitalize on the opportunities that come with implementing blockchain in IoT.

Source: Markets and markets

Challenges in adopting blockchain in IoT

Despite the huge potential, there are some factors that may impede the adoption of blockchain in IoT. For instance, the architecture for IoT devices that needs to be coupled with blockchain has to be different from traditional IoT architectures. Some more challenges to be aware of are:

  1. Ability to scale: The large network of sensors involves a lot of data exchange and often causes latency. As you transition to a synergized IoT-blockchain network, the need for a clear and efficient data model must be taken into account either way to avoid problems at a later stage.
  2. Privacy requirements: It’s difficult to get access to transaction history privacy in the shared ledger-IoT network on public blockchains. This needs to be considered beforehand to decide which one works best for business- hybrid or private blockchain
  3. Processing power: IoT networks have different computing capabilities than the blockchain ecosystem. This means that not all IoT networks will be capable of running the blockchain encryption algorithms at optimum speed
  4. Storage: The need for a central server to store transactions is eliminated with blockchain but the ledger has to be stored on the nodes. With time, the ledger will also increase in size and this could create problems for many smart devices such as sensors that come with a very low storage capacity.
  5. Skilled talent: Before venturing into blockchain enabled IoT initiatives, businesses must have knowledge on how blockchain works separately and in combination with IoT
  6. Compliance: Being a relatively new area, there’s lack of definite compliances to follow, which may deter many businesses from venturing into this area

Blockchain in IoT use cases

Blockchain capabilities empower IoT devices to enhance security, improve transparency and create a decentralized environment. This has started to significantly impact industries- not just BFSI, as one would think, but other industries as well. Let’s take a look at how the pairing of blockchain and IoT is revolutionizing industries in some IoT Blockchain use cases:

  • Supply chain and logistics: Due to multiple stakeholders involved across supply chains, end-to-end visibility and transparency has always been a challenge. While IoT resolved this challenge to a great extent by tracking shipments and collecting information at various stages, data security still remained a challenge. This is where blockchain serves to enhance the reliability and security. The data collected from sensors can be stored on blockchain and made available only to people listed in smart contracts, in real-time.
  • Pharmaceutical: Pharma companies are struggling with the issue of counterfeit medicines. To overcome it, tracking the complete journey of medicines is essential. This is enabled by blockchain coupled with IoT that can help monitor shipment of drugs from origin to end. The duo-technology can also be used to track legal change of prescription medicines’ ownership when it comes to sensitive products.
  • Agriculture: As consumers demand more transparency in tracing the origin of their food, blockchain helps agribusiness to meet this expectation effectively. Not just consumers, but even retailers and distributors can track the quality of produce, shipment conditions and more that can help them make more informed decisions. Farmers, too, can improve their growing techniques by looking at the data collected.
  • BFSI: The industry has already acknowledged the importance of smart contracts and added transparency when it comes to using blockchain technology. Combined with IoT, it has the potential to move beyond the pure telematics model to real-time data provided by IoT for various intelligent and automated solutions.
  • Telecommunication: In a recent advancement, Telefonica, in an attempt to provide enterprises with more secure means of tracking and verifying data gathered by sensors, decided to combine IoT and blockchain technologies. They emphasised on how critical it is for companies to ensure the accuracy of the information collected and eliminate any form of tampering.

The future of IoT and Blockchain

Iot and data go hand-in-hand. Adoption of Blockchain in IoT will not only improve operational efficiency but also provide a more secure environment.  Implementing blockchain with IoT not just keeps a record of every transaction along the way but makes them tamper-proof, too. Streamlined with blockchain, IoT will improve processes across various industries, as we mentioned earlier in this article. The question of security, transactions, identity and interactions would often invite application of IoT and blockchain.

As already mentioned, the global blockchain IoT market size is projected to grow to USD 2,409 million by 2026, at a CAGR of 45.1% and the asset tracking and management segment are likely to register the highest growth rate. We can already see how the combination of IoT and blockchain technology is contributing to the growth of various industries such as healthcare, supply chain,  agriculture and more in asset tracking and management. From planning resources, enabling and improving real-time communication to proactively managing enterprise inventory, the adoption of blockchain IoT has made asset management easier and more secure. This also  helps to predict anomalies and identify patterns which help to optimize processes and enhance the overall supply chain traceability, and cost-efficiency.

Even though the duo-technology  is at an early stage, this number clearly indicates how the potential of IoT and blockchain are well accepted and the adoption has already caught pace. Big tech companies are not waiting anymore, they are in fact taking initiatives. Which is another reason why enterprises that play in this area must proactively start looking at the combination of these technologies already to keep ahead in their digital initiatives.

NFT
Blog, Digital Strategy, Digital Transformation & Innovation

NFTs Explained! Beginner’s Guide to Non-fungible Tokens

Table of contents

We’re almost at the end of 2021 and it’s probably the right time to reflect on one of the  hot topics of the year in the tech industry- NFTs. For the unacquainted, NFTs exploded  earlier this year when $69 million for a digital image file made by digital artist Mike Winkelmann aka Beeple, became the third-highest purchased artwork after Jeff Koons and David Hockney. We’ve come a long way since then. Let’s take a look at where we are now, what’s new, and what the way ahead looks like. But before that, let’s take  a quick recap of everything we know about NFTs.

NFTs- Frequently asked questions

  • What Are Non-Fungible Tokens Or NFTs?

    NFT is a unique digital certificate attached to any digital asset, be it art, music, or video, confirming its ownership to the holder, which remains public and stored on computers across the internet. When this is combined with the cryptocurrency, backed by a digital ledger platform called blockchain, the result is non-fungible tokens. NFTs are non-fungible tokens, have no standard value like money, and instead have a unique value. An original digital artwork, for instance, would be non-fungible objects.

  • Why Are NFTs Worth Millions Of Dollars?

    Each NFT is unique, characterized by its unique qualities and authenticity. These digital tokens cannot be duplicated. Authenticity plays a crucial role in the rise of NFTs. The tokens are easily verifiable and can always be traced back to their original creator.

  • How Do NFTs Work?

    When you send bitcoin to someone via blockchain, a ledger entry gets made. In the case of NFT, a ledger entry is created, which contains an address to the file to establish ownership of that NFT. When someone transfers one token to someone else, the token code also gets transferred to another person. This process makes it easy to check on the blockchain who owns the NFT. Like Bitcoin, NFTs contain ownership details for easy identification and transfer between token holders. Owners can add metadata or attributes pertaining to the asset in NFTs. Our blockchain development service is a one-stop solution to create NFTs representing digital or physical artwork on a blockchain.

    Earlier, when you buy pieces of offline art, you have to either custody it or keep it somewhere; that’s how the ownership is decided. But now, they can also be tokenized where a digital form of that art exists and whoever owns that token owns the actual art.

    NFTs are individual tokens with extra information stored in them. That additional information is the critical part, which allows them to take the form of art, music, video in the format of JPG, MP3s, videos, GIFs, and more. Because they hold value, they can be bought and sold just like other types of art – and, like with physical art, the value is primarily set by the market and by demand.

  • How Are NFTs Used?

    NFTs are being used as a means to sell exclusive items online and have the potential to be used to verify anything that would have value in proving ownership, such as original artworks, music, collectibles, domain names, even tweets can be sold as NFTs. For example, Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey auctioned his first tweet in March 2021 for $2.5 million, converting the proceeds to Bitcoin and donating them to charity.

    Although digital items and collectibles are one of a kind, there is also value in items that might have multiple copies, such as sports trading cards. If you want to know more about sports trading cards and NFTs, register for the online event for free here.

  • Where can people buy NFTs?

    NFTs can be bought on online marketplaces. Some of the leading NFT marketplaces for digital artworks include:

    • Opensea.io, the first and largest marketplace for NFTs
    • Niftygateway.com, that teams up with top artists and brands to create and sell exclusive NFTs
    • SuperRare.com, a marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artwork

    Lately, some traditional auction houses have also started to step up into the NFT space.

  • What is the size of the NFT market?

    According to a report by DappRadar, the NFT market crossed $10 bn in transaction volume in Q3 of 2021, which is an increase of 704% from the previous quarter. The report attributes this high growth to two reasons- investors’ belief in NFTs and their long-term value, and the social capital associated with owning an NFT.

  • What determines the price of NFTs?

    There’s no fixed parameter that decides the price at which an NFT is sold. It’s all about bidding and you sell an NFT at the highest possible price that you can get. However, factors such as the reputation of the artist, his following size, and gallery exposure play an important role in pricing.

  • How do you own an NFT?

    Buyer and seller can connect directly without the need of a middleman, similar to a traditional auction house in the case of artworks. Since it involves crypto transactions backed by a ledger, the ownership is easily verifiable. Even if it has been sold multiple times, the NFT will carry details of the original creator as well as different sellers.

  • What are the benefits of NFTs?

    NFTs offer a multitude of benefits that weren’t earlier addressed by similar tokens and currencies.

    • Ownership: NFTs are embedded with unique signatures that represent ownership rights for both digital and real-world objects.
    • No intermediaries: Since they are based on blockchain, parties can directly exchange tokens without the need for any intermediaries
    • Secure: The entire process of trading is simple and effective, making the overall experience hassle-free
    • Trading: NFTs can be easily traded for cryptocurrencies or other assets in exchanges built specifically for NFTs
    • Difficult to replicate: Each NFT has a unique signature and is backed by blockchain. This makes it impossible to create unauthorized replicas

  • What are the features of NFTs that make it so promising?

  • Tradability: The interoperability of NFT makes it possible to trade NFT in different virtual environments and marketplaces
  • Security: NFTs are bound through end-to-end encryption with Advanced Encryption Standards (AES)
  • Scarcity: Since only a specific number of rare items can be created, your asset’s uniqueness increases significantly
  • Indivisible: NFTs cannot be divided into parts, unlike usual tokens and currencies. This makes them stay unique at all times
  • Standardization: Developers can develop  common, reusable, and inheritable standards for all non-fungible tokens, thereby enabling standardization of collectibles

  • Is Investing In NFTs Worth It?

    The most apparent benefit of NFTs is market efficiency. Investing in NFTs has a lot of potential, growth, and relatively high risk. Since NFTs can’t be duplicated, it creates scarcity for the asset hence value for it. The conversion of a physical asset into a digital asset opens up many opportunities for artists and investors. Physical assets like real estate, collectibles are much easier to divide a digital asset among multiple owners than a physical one, making it one of the best NFTs investments. Some of the most popular NFT marketplaces to get you going are SuperRare, Makersplace, Rarible, and Zora.

    However, in any case, if you plan to invest in NFTs, you’ll need to dive deep into the complex world; you’ll need to think strategically, and you’ll have to do your homework.

NFTs Through The Lens Of Visionaries And Thought Leaders

Wrapping one’s head around NFTs can be enough of a challenge. As digital natives, we see this new technology really has its way of flipping our whole way of seeing things.

Creators, especially digital artists, have always struggled with copyright and plagiarism of their work. In the world of digital, it just takes a few clicks to make a copy of the media without having to compensate the creator.  NFT solves this problem by acting as a virtual certificate of authenticity that ties original artwork with the token thereby providing unique status and because this token exists on the blockchain, it allows us to verify the authenticity on a public network.

However, there are concerns about NFTs skyrocketing value being a fragile speculative bubble that could crash at any moment, bringing down the investors with it.

Even Beeple, an artist who recently sold his art for nearly $70 million using this technology said– “The cryptocurrency art boom involving non-fungible tokens (NFTs) is an “irrational exuberance bubble”.

Seth Godin, in his recent blog on why he thinks NFTs are a dangerous trap, said,” The trap, then, is that creators can get hooked on creating these. Buyers with a sunk cost get hooked on making the prices go up, unable to walk away. And so creators and buyers are then hooked in a cycle, with all of us up paying the lifetime of costs associated with an unregulated system that consumes vast amounts of precious energy for no other purpose than to create some scarce digital tokens.”

Investor Gary Vaynerchuk said, “NFTs are like the dot com bubble. A lot of people talked about the internet being a fad. In reality, the internet was this game-changing revolution of technology, but a lot of the early projects were just overpriced on the excitement.”

According to Mason Nystrom, a research analyst at Messari said that the NFT sector is caught up in massive amounts of hype right now and that as a result, a significant portion of NFT is likely to fall in price at some point. Nonetheless, even with the present risk being relatively high, he expects the market to stabilize in the longer term.

Recent Advancements and News in NFTs

As we mentioned, the Q3 of 2021 witnessed a whopping 704% increase in transaction volume from the previous quarter. A key reason for this growth is the faith in the future value of NFTs and their potential across different markets. Here are some of the recent advancements we’ve seen in the NFT market:

The Future of NFTs- Promising or Uncertain?

In the last month, billions of dollars have been invested in NFTs. OpenSea alone saw more than $3 billion in transaction volume, which, by the way, is quite less compared to previous transaction volumesThis just shows how much money flows into NFTs. CrypToads received an investment worth $100 million, MekaVerse saw a transaction volume of $130 million. Cryptoslam, too, did more than $1 million in transactions. So there’s a lot of wealth creation happening in the NFT space.

Some people may find the whole NFT space irrational, but then a question to ask here is, why are the investors taking risks? Initially, we may think that investors are awe-struck looking at the market filled with such wealth and that is what’s driving this momentum. But it could also be a result of the noise that’s coming from thousands of buyers worldwide. While investing, many investors are likely to talk about future use cases and mainstream adoption, while citing the success of projects like Axie Infinity and Top Shot, that are packaged in a more user-user friendly way to reach the mainstream. The entire concept of driving a virtual economy with NFTs seems fascinating but even after billions of dollars of investments in this space, it is too early to draw conclusions. Even after the success of platforms like Axie Infinity, we’re still speculative about what the future holds for NFTs.

Blockchain, Blog, Financial Services

How Blockchain is Impacting the Finance Industry

Table of contents

Industry Overview

Centuries old, the finance industry has probably  seen the most number of major shifts in strategy and positioning among all. This industry which monitors money and credits of the market has found its edge over centuries of transformation. With its new customised variety of products and services, the industry has moved more towards customer centricity. The big financial institutions in play are now more focussed on what customers need and require. They manage money for individuals and invest for them on other people or institutions. It comprises commercial and investment banks, insurance companies, hedge funds, credit-card companies, consumer finance firms, accounting agencies, and brokerage firms.

The first digitization of Financing products happened when William Porter developed “Trade Plus”, an electronic trading platform which is now known as the “E Trade”, a subsidiary of Morgan Stanley. After the introduction of Trade Plus, the finance industry has come a long way. They facilitate setting and operating of big and small companies by handling the financial strength of these firms because of which it has become one of the top grossing industries. The industry has also seen some dark periods, one of the latest one is the Black Monday (19 October, 1987) which happened when NYSE faced its biggest one day loss in history which is nearly 26% of its value as per Carrerizma.

Blockchain in Data Protection

Blockchain technology is bringing wonders to the data protection industry in recent years and is getting adopted by almost every data concentrated industry to play its part in data protection. The technology distributes its storage and data over a wide network chain and gives access to various owners which makes it hard to tamper. From Bitcoin to personal data, blockchain is spreading its wings either by public blockchains with public key or private blockchains for private institutions. It is considered as one of the most secure data protection technologies of all time. The industry is expected to reach $20 Billion by 2024 in industries such as healthcare, BFSI, sports & more as per Towards Data Science. It is making the firms more independent and helps in maintaining their competitive edge over the market. It offers encryption & validation, secures data storage and is unfeasible to attack.

Blockchain in Finance

The finance industry like any other industry is investing a hefty sum of money on R&D to get in front of the line of the technological revolution. Security breaches is one of them where these institutions are trying more to concentrate to make their data safe. This industry has always been the first mover to adopt any latest technology which can help with their operations. That where the blockchain technology comes in between which distributes the ledger accordingly to make it impenetrable. The technology has its own benefits over the industry such as faster transactions, minimized credit risk, eliminating collateral costs and  enhanced transparency. It also decentralizes the data which spreads its ownership over the network and makes these owners aware once any data tempered. Each block of this data chain is protected by cryptography which are represented by their public address.

One of the real life examples with the application of blockchain technology is with the banking industry. Loan recoverability is one issue that is at the forefront for these institutions and blockchain here can make it trackable for them. Every transaction can be stored in the blocks from start to end with which banks can easily trace the diversion in the loaned funds. Another example is with the payments. Domestic payments have developed in recent years but international payments still take days to figure out and to make every movement recorded is a whole new job. That’s where blockchain comes in place and eliminates the hectic job by reducing the time and cost and makes it more efficient.

Conclusion

With a wide variety of use of blockchain technology, every industry whether its healthcare or entertainment industry are opting for this. For securing data sources, this technology is challenging the traditional approaches on every level. As it’s time to move forward with the digital revolution, this technology can help in maintaining the relationship between the technology and user data & privacy. It can help in tackling data management and can give more concentration on privacy. It reduces delays & conflicts in transaction and can provide the actual data in real time. About 77% of the Fintech firms are expected to adopt the blockchain technology as per Financial Express shows the future scalability of this technology. Blockchain can work as a bridge for traditional institutions with technological gaps they have from a new business model and can bring them all on one platform.

Artificial Intelligence
Artificial Intelligence, Blog, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Healthcare

Top 10 Benefits of Artificial Intelligence in the Healthcare Industry

From what we have seen in 2020, it’s no wonder that healthcare is now one of the largest and fastest growing industries. Globally, the healthcare market was nearly worth $8,452 billion in 2018 and is expected to grow at a CAGR of 8.9% to a nearly $11,909 billion industry by 2022. The CAGR percentage has seen a major upward spike thanks to a worldwide pandemic and among other things, it has made the push for digital adoption in healthcare all the more urgent.

While emerging technologies were making their presence felt long before in 2020, last year’s seminal event initiated that major push that those on the fence and those waiting to see how things change for others, really needed. With many business leaders, the reluctance to digital transformation is rooted primarily in the following concerns:

  • Lack of clarity on how to initiate and go about it
  • Data security concerns
  • Apprehension about returns on investment
  • Lack of technical expertise

It’s understandable that the “digital transformation” concept often sounds outlandish. We know it’s important but it’s also so vast a subject that people are often overwhelmed with all the changes it could bring. For true digital transformation is a fundamental shift in the way an organisation functions. However, there’s always scope to start small, change one thing at a time, assess results and take things forward. One can look at a specific technology, think about the areas of operation which could benefit from its attributes and execute a small project to start with. Taking a series of byte-sized approaches such as this can simplify the process of deploying AI applications in healthcare to a large extent.

Speaking of selecting a technology, artificial intelligence is all the rage when it comes to the healthcare industry. So much so that it’s being referred to as the new nervous system of the healthcare industry. Artificial intelligence in healthcare is significantly changing and improving various key processes and the potential is even more diverse and amazing. From chatbots and computer aided detection (CAD) for diagnosis and analysis, to training, AI can help providers to understand ailments and better manage patient’s health. Owing to its versatility, the AI-powered healthcare market is slated to exceed $34 billion by 2025.

So let’s take a look at the various ways AI can lead the advancement in healthcare in the coming years.

Benefits of AI In Healthcare:

  1. Accurate diagnosis: Incomplete medical records, inefficient sequencing, and a large number of cases can often lead to human errors. However, once reports are fed into a computer, advanced machine learning algorithms can arrive at the right diagnosis, eliminating mistakes and significantly improving the efficiency of medical facilities.
  2. Accelerated drug development: the traditional ways of manufacturing drugs can often be prohibitively expensive and time consuming. This is a major hindrance especially when a pandemic is threatening the world and there’s an urgent need to speed things up. Typically, it costs about $2.6 billion for clinically trying drugs and only 10% of those drugs eventually make it to the market. In 2007, when scientists were researching the various functions of yeast, Adam, a robot, quickly went through billions of data points to determine 19 genes that makeup yeast and predicted 9 new and accurate hypotheses. Adam’s companion robot, Eve, conducting her own research, found out that triclosan, which is commonly found in toothpaste, can prove effective against malaria-based parasites.Such findings ensured the technology’s continued and growing influence in the field of medicine and resulted in faster drug production at fractions of the previous costs.
  3. Enhanced patient experience: crowded healthcare facilities, mounting volume of reports, confusion around insurance and more, make for a chaotic experience on a daily basis. AI has emerged as a savior in such situations by rapidly scanning through data, getting reports ready and facilitating patients to know exactly where to go and whom to contact, on mobile devices. In the era of remote consulting, AI is the backbone of some of the most sophisticated digital solutions which not only enable connection and communication, but accurate updates on timings, report availability, appointment scheduling and a lot more.Check out this instance of how Pulsara was able to bring all essential communication related to healthcare within a single, intuitive platform by leveraging digital technology. The solution resulted in the company achieving commendable success and various innovation awards.
  4. Data security: when it comes to healthcare, protecting sensitive patient data is of prime importance. Rapidly advancing AI algorithms help in encrypting personal information, clinical reports, diagnostic findings and more, preventing them from being hacked and securely storing them in the cloud for patients and professionals to access anywhere.
  5. Robot-assisted surgery: complex and critical surgeries demand extreme care, precision and expertise. Using AI-enabled robots, the number of successful surgeries is soaring. The robots are equipped with cameras, mechanical arms and surgical instruments. They can be custom made to reach every space within the human body and provide a clear, magnified view of the surgical site that’s way better than what the human vision can offer. These surgeries lessen pain, take significantly less time and help patients recover faster.
  6. Remote monitoring: Connected devices can save lives by leveraging real-time monitoring of events like heart attack, asthma attacks. Remote monitoring devices use IoT networks to connect and track activities in a human body. Data can be accessed via wearable devices or mobile applications and with the usage of AI, rapid decisions can be made. The wearable technology market is expected to reach $74 billion by 2026.
  7. Streamlined training: AI allows healthcare providers to go through simulations based on a huge database of scenarios  which assists trainees to make decisions and learn from previous responses to meet training needs.
  8. Risk prediction: Using pattern recognition to identify patients’ risk for developing a certain disease. Machine learning in healthcare supports timely decisions and actions by providing valuable insights.
  9. Smart health insurance: Insurance companies can leverage connected devices to capture health data for their underwriting and health claims and risk operations. It provides transparency between insurers and customers and eliminates fraudulent claims.
  10. Location tracking and alerts: Smart medical devices enable real-time alerting, tracking, and monitoring, which permits hands-on treatments, better accuracy, quick intervention by doctors, and improves complete patient care delivery results. Wheelchairs, scales, nebulizers, pumps, or monitoring equipment, can be tracked with sensors, making it easier for staff to track.

Conclusion:

In spite of such major advancements already, AI adoption in healthcare is still in its formative years. Ongoing research keeps adding new capabilities to the technology which will result in bigger breakthroughs in the coming years across multiple industries. In the crucial healthcare segment which is seeing one of the most rapid transitions towards digital at the moment, AI and ML have a lot to contribute and facilities have the potential to significantly increase customer experience, create new digital lines of business and reach research targets faster, which will all go towards making the world better and safer for everyone. However, as discussed earlier, it could be tricky to figure out where to start and how to formulate the right transformation strategy, which is where digital native organisations such as [x]cube LABS comes in. Get in touch to talk about how your healthcare/medical devices enterprise can benefit from the adoption of AI and other new age technologies.

Blog, Technology

How to Secure WordPress Site Against Hacking Attempts: Quick Tips

Table of contents

Introduction

The most popular content management system, WordPress, has 64 % of the CMS market share which is more than all other systems such as Drupal, Joomla, etc, combined. Over 75,000,000 websites use WordPress or we can say that almost 40.3% of the internet is powered by them. Known for their unparalleled impact on web standards, usability, and the internet at large, WordPress have spread like wildfire and are still growing. However, widespread reach and growth have also made WordPress sites susceptible to vulnerabilities. Statistics reveal that WordPress accounted for 90 percent of all hacked CMS sites in 2018! This article talks about how as a WordPress user, you could secure your site against hacking attempts.

Top reasons behind successful hacking attempts

Before we get into tips for securing our WordPress site, let’s have a look at statistics that reveal the weak spots which hackers targeted.

  • 41% are attributed to vulnerability in the hosting platform
  • 29% came through vulnerable WordPress themes
  • 22% took advantage of security issues of the WordPress plugins
  • 8% happened through a weak login information

WordPress Security Checklist

Our technical experts recommend some of the best practices that are proven to secure a site from the above-mentioned threats.

  • Strengthen Your Computer Security

    Presence of a virus and malware scanner on your computer that scans frequently must be a non-negotiable. Install a reliable firewall- possibly that one that was delivered with your OS.

  • Modify the WordPress Table Prefix 

    All the tables in the WordPress database of a standard installation, start with the prefix naming convention wp_. This vulnerability can be fixed by changing it into something arbitrary such as 8uh7dsgakm_.

  • Reliable and High-Rated Themes and Plugins

    While choosing plugins and themes, go for the ones that have a high rating and appear reliable. Also watch out for when they were updated last. If there’s no update since long, chances are that it’s more vulnerable due to unpatched security loopholes.

  • Protect Important Files from Access

    .htaccess is an important server configuration that holds the code which enables using pretty permalinks in WordPress. It can also set redirects and increase WordPress security.

    For increasing security, you first need to access the file, which is located on your server’s root directory and hidden by default. Therefore, in order to edit it, make sure to set your FTP client to display hidden files (Go to Server > Select Force showing hidden files in FileZilla). After that, take the following measures.

    Use the code below to prevent access to critical files like wp-config.php, php.ini, error logs and .htaccess itself.

    <FilesMatch “^.*(error_log|wp-config\.php|php.ini|\.[hH][tT][aApP].*)$”>

    Order deny,allow

    Deny from all

    </FilesMatch>

  • Keep WordPress and Its Components Updated

    Keep WordPress versions and plugins up to date. Updated versions of WordPress don’t just bring new features but they also fix security holes identified in earlier versions.

  • Use Strong Login Credentials

    A very common way to protect your WordPress account is using safe and strong login information instead of default username. Make your password as strong as possible.

  • Change the Login Error Alerts

    If someone tries to log into your site with wrong credentials, WordPress will alert them whether the problem is with the username or password. This gives away half of the information, making it easier to hack into an account.

  • Enable Two-factor Authentication

    Two-factor authentication serves an extra step for people to log into your site. An example can be the need to enter a validation code delivered to the mobile phone. Though it might add to efforts, it helps to block automatic attacks.

  • Change the wordpress login URL

    Another way to keep the WordPress login page safe is to hide it. You usually reach the login page via yourdomain.com/wp-admin or yourdomain.com/wp-login.php. Move it to a different URL address instead of wp-admin.

  • Disable XML-RPC

    This acronym is the name of a feature that allows connecting to WordPress remotely. For example, blogging clients use it and it’s also used for trackbacks and pingbacks. Unfortunately, it’s also sometimes the target of hackers, which is why you should protect it with a plugin Disable XML-RPC Pingback.

  • Automatically Keep Your Site Up to Date

    Automatic updates should be enabled to keep the site up to date.

  • Add Security Keys

    WordPress security keys(SALTs), encrypt information stored in browser cookies. This way, they protect passwords and other sensitive information. These keys are phrases that are used to randomize this information and stored inside wp-config.php

  • Disable the Theme and Plugin Editor

    WordPress contains an internal editor for theme and plugin files that allows you to make changes to your site. Even though it can be useful in some situations, it also comes with a risk. The reason is that if somebody gains access to your site’s back end, they can use the editor to take out your website without even accessing your server.

  • Disable PHP Error Reporting

    When plugins or themes cause any error on your site, WordPress displays a message on your front end. This message may contain the path to the file that is causing the problem. Hackers can use this information to better understand the layout of your server and attack your site.

  • Restrict Admin Access to Specific IP Address

    By making changes in .htaccess you can restrict access to your WordPress login page to limited IP addresses. This way, only you can access it.

  • Lock Out Specific IP Addresses

    A similar technique is available to block IP addresses that try to break into your website. If you notice such incidents (from your server logs, for example), you can lock them out of your site by configuring the .htaccess file.

  • Pay Attention to File Permissions

    The following file permissions should be paid attention to in the WordPress site

    • 755 or 750 for directories
    • 644 or 640 for files
    • 600 for wp-config.php

Conclusion

If you are concerned about securing your website against hackers, the tips mentioned in this article are a step in the right direction. Apart from following important security measures mentioned above, to best protect yourself from attacks, it is also very important to keep your website up-to-date and to keep abreast of the latest WordPress related vulnerabilities.

Transforming CX
Blog, Customer Experience, Digital Strategy

Transforming CX: 10 Things to Avoid while Offering Personalized Experience

Table of contents

Data managed right- what next? Personalization.

We’re now in an age where more than two-thirds of companies compete primarily on the basis of customer experience. It’s not just about competitive advantage anymore. Companies that excel at CX drive nearly three times more revenue than companies with poor CX. No wonder, more and more businesses have made CX the focal point of their business strategy, especially in 2020 as the word moved to digital and customers explored more ways of engaging with brands. Speaking of CX, businesses that didn’t have a strategy before were compelled to have one and the ones that already had it in place shifted their focus to improving and scaling it further.

In our previous articles, we talked about how you can benefit from the importance of getting the omnichannel strategy right, considering that many businesses often deviate from expected goals due to lack of a strong foundation to base it upon. In another article, we talked about how bad data can be an impediment to your CX goals and how you can leverage clean data to deliver maximum value. This brings us to the next post in our Transforming CX series where we talk about personalization. Personalization is something every business is in pursuit of.

Top 10 mistakes to avoid in personalization strategy

While it can get overwhelming as you tread upon your personalization strategy and roadmap, keeping a few points in mind will help you avoid costly mistakes. This article will make it easy for you to keep track of them as we talk about 10 of the most important ones. Avoiding these will  ensure that the fundamentals of your personalization strategy are strong and error-free.

  1. Inconsistent and broken omnichannel experience

    As we discussed earlier, omnichannel is not the same as multichannel. Despite basic personalization elements in place, you can put your customers off if their interaction with your brand is inconsistent and broken. No matter which channel they contact you from, they should get the experience that makes them believe you really know them and the conversation is being picked up from where it was left off earlier.  On the reverse side, nothing beats a seamless omnichannel experience. Let’s take an example of Starbucks here. Their mobile app seamlessly blends in-store and online ordering experience. You also get personalized recommendations based on the location and season and can pay in the store through your app to earn reward points.

    Speaking of omnichannel experience, we also have our in-house omnichannel, customer engagement and gaming platform, Upshot.ai, that helps enterprises influence their customer behavior and drive sustainable business outcomes. Find out how can achieve great results by leveraging upshot’s capabilities.

  2. Data mismanagement

    Data is the key to crafting a personalized experience but the lack of clean, informative data and inability to extract useful insights is likely to topple your efforts. Many times the data is collected without any intent. This leads to irrelevant data piling up, without any productive results. Also, the inability to manage data can impede your ability to offer good customer experiences- be it in terms of lags in fetching response handling or context mismatch. Using data effectively can open up a stream of possibilities for your business and enable you to earn more revenue, too. Amazon, for example, collects information such as customer’s shopping patterns, prices on other websites, the demand for a product, items in the cart and more. This enables them to fine-tune their dynamic pricing algorithm as well as show better recommendations.

  3. Lack of context and relevance

    No personalization would be better than failed personalization. In an attempt to “fit-in” companies often overdo personalization and lose context as well as relevance. For example, offers for two for someone who has a history of ordering food for a single person only, sending offers related to leather jackets and shoes to someone who has a history of purchasing vegan apparel, or showing recommendation of new phones to someone who recently purchased one. The context here goes beyond what they have recently searched for and related recommendations. It expands to parameters such as their location, preferred channel, time of day, previous brand interactions, reasons for purchase and more. Establishing relevance and context can be learned from the partnership between Taco Bell and the navigation app Waze. Whenever a Waze user is near Taco Bell, they get an ad for the restaurant in the app, mentioning the time and location where they can dine-in. Similarly, Tesla, while promoting their automobiles, talk to their consumers about living a fossil-fuel-free lifestyle, thereby establishing great context.

  4. Absence of real-time offers

    We are now moving to hyper-personalization where historic data may not suffice to deliver an exceptional customer experience. Both historical and real-time data are required now. Having the right data at the right time along with the right tools and the technology, of course, will enable you to deliver personalized content, offerings, and overall experience in real-time. Travel portals often show a pop-up message alerting customers about the potential rise in airfares, nudging them to book instantly whenever they sense that customer may leave without booking.

  5. Limiting to addressing customers by their names

    As CX competition advanced globally, the expectations of customers changed. Mentioning their names in email subjects and notifications have become a thing of the past, way past. As of today, customers expect brands to not just know them but hear and understand them- and accordingly show them what they’d like to see. That is what keeps them more engaged and prompts them to explore what your brand has to offer. This is again where we want to emphasize value centricity. A customer, on a subliminal level, would start trusting your brand with their time and your emails won’t go unread or your notifications won’t be just cleared from the notification bar. Netflix takes personalization to the next level when they announced that they have a strategy focused on artwork that subscribers see when they explore catalog since thumbnails constitute about 82% of a subscriber’s focus while browsing. This makes the subscribers confident about the recommendations they receive as they perceive that the brand really “understands” them.

  6. Lack of persona insights

    While personalization is mostly understood to be something of an individual level, and fairly so, there’s a lot more to it. You must categorize different personas and see what appeals more to them. For example, you may classify your target group based on different strata such as socio-economic A, B and C. A study indicated that high-income groups don’t want personalized offers for themselves as much as they want them for people associated with them- also called CUG (close user group) extension. A person working in a senior position in a company may need recommendations and custom medical insurance offers for their family members and not for themselves.

  7. Device and platform preference

    Your customer platform preference needs to be taken into consideration to offer a better experience. Identify what content would have a better viewing experience on which device. Which platform would they be more active on? You’d like to consider their device before giving them, say, a 3D view of the product catalog, for instance. Similarly, if they are more likely to connect with you through your app instead of the website, you may want to consider something like “app-only offers”.

  8. Cognitive load

    Your personalization must be easy for your customers to absorb. Do they have to follow multiple links to avail an offer? Does it involve too much reading of terms and conditions? How easy or difficult is it for them to understand the value proposition from the headline itself? Similarly, you do not want to put them off by creating a complicated experience where you make them provide too many details about themselves without understanding where it’s going. Complicated sign-up forms, difficult navigation, prominent features not easily accessible, etc are some of the factors that contribute to cognitive load.

  9. Lack of intuitiveness

    From onboarding to becoming a loyal user, the entire journey must be intuitive and seamless. A big no here is trying to collect too much information explicitly along the touchpoints without the customers having a clue why that’s relevant. The intuitiveness should come from the very first interaction they have with your brand. Before you dive deeper into offering personalized experiences to them, begin with a standard algorithm that identifies them based on segmentation or where they’re coming from, what they search for and gradually develop it along the way. This is again where real-time behavioral data comes into the picture.

  10. Poor performance

    A very important aspect here that contributes to the overall CX experience is performance. Before collecting data and running complex algorithms, evaluate your data handling capabilities. Often, things such as slow response times, crashes and more would cause a user to abandon your product or service before you even get a chance to craft personal experiences. An example would be too much time taken by queries in fetching information from the database that results in high screen-load time and subsequent navigation. Additionally, too many crashes, high data consumption, screen freeze, battery consumption are some factors one should be looking at to improve performance.

Levelling-up with caution

We are now at that point in the digital era where to say that CX is important for businesses and emphasizing it would sound absolutely ludicrous. It is now expected that almost all businesses in some way have adopted CX strategy and paid attention to the element of personalization. What we are looking at right now is how to make it effective, competitive and profitable. With exciting ideas and innovative strategies available to implement, overwhelming decisions can be made. Therefore, the path must be navigated with caution. You must lay the foundation well and level-up after careful deliberation around your customer behavior, the market and your existing capabilities. As you scale up your personalization efforts, you’ll encounter ditches that you must avoid and that can happen only if you pay equal weightage to the things you must avoid as you do to things you must include in your strategy.

At [x]cube, we have helped global enterprises drive results with our robust CX strategies. From customer retention, lower cost of acquisition, faster conversions to improving brand perception, we leveraged a mix of technologies to enable enterprises to achieve it all. If you’re someone who is looking to achieve results by adopting, improvising or scaling CX strategy, you’re at the right place. Get in touch with us for everything CX!

IoT enabled games
Blog, Internet of Things

Playing Safe! Crafting Secure Experiences for Kids with IoT-enabled Smart Toys

The internet of things (IoT) is one of the most sought-after technologies in the world today. Considering the fact that companies all around are increasingly looking to adopt digital solutions to stay relevant and provide superior customer experiences, a technology that makes their products “smarter”, by learning from users, analysing data to generate actionable insights and providing newer ways for manufacturers to reach out to their customers, will be a big deal. A great customer experience is a major differentiator between brands that command great loyalty and those that fizzle out. Therefore, products these days should not just serve a specific purpose but also have the capability to learn, evolve and provide more value to become integral parts of their users’ daily routines, making themselves indispensable.

There’s been major progress in consumer IoT over the past few years. From 22 billion devices in 2018, we are looking at almost 39 billion in 2025. By the end of 2019, spending on smart home systems in the US was around 103 billion dollars, with a projected spending of 157 billion US dollars by 2023. A majority of these IoT solutions include lighting systems, voice assistants, smart speakers and more. Additionally, a segment that’s also riding on the enterprise IoT wave to produce increasingly innovative products is toys.

Smart toys do not sound as common as smart lights or smart televisions, but make no mistake, they are here and they are growing. The market is expected to register a CAGR of 28% over the next 5 years. Considering the rise in work from home where lessons have moved from schools to living rooms, smart toys have emerged as engaging means for children to learn. Some popular smart toys include:

  • Talking toys such as Dino by CogniToys which uses the internet and IBM Watson’s natural language processing technology to respond to children based on their age, interest and skills.
  • SmartGurlz companions which can be controlled by mobile devices and teach a number of skills to kids such as coding
  • Monitoring toys which help parents keep an eye on their kids while the kids remain engaged
  • Smart toy bear by Fisher-Price which learns from the child’s behavior to provide personalised experiences and stays connected to mobile app to keep parents informed of child progress and activity

Generally, they differ from traditional toys in two major ways. They learn from the way children interact with them and communicate accordingly, thus staying relevant for long and becoming more of a companion than something that would only hold a child’s fancy for a brief period and secondly, they help parents train as well as monitor their children. Owing to their enhanced appeal, research is on as to how IoT can help improve them further and help parents and kids do more. However, a major concern has also gripped this development and that’s something common to all smart devices. A concern that still keeps a bunch of business leaders on the fence when it comes to IoT adoption in spite of them being aware of its obvious benefits.

That concern is cybersecurity, and in case of toys, since it’s kids we are talking about, the risks are even greater.

We began the article with how important it is for brands to craft great customer experiences and how data garnered from users help companies know their customers better and devise tailored experiences. Well, with data being so vital, gathering it also comes with the risk of it getting stolen. Which is why, along with the race for adopting new technologies, organisations are also looking to strengthen cybersecurity. So if you are a business leader at a IoT development company looking to get into the creative and burgeoning segment of smart toys, here’s how your product could pose significant risks:

  • Connecting to unsecured networks: always have a warning mechanism in your internet of things solutions, so that if someone attempts to connect the toy with open networks through which hackers can gain easy access to sensitive information, the controllers would be advised against it
  • Sharing data with third parties: ensure that you do not share the customer data gathered from smart toys with external agencies. Greater dissemination also entails greater risk of leaks
  • Location tracking: some toys track and transmit their locations and anyone looking to break in can get the location of children playing with them. If the toy must track location, ensure the data is encrypted so it doesn’t get easily deciphered and misused. Try to avoid collecting location information altogether. In fact, ensure all data that’s being transmitted to your servers are encrypted with top-notch protocols
  • Data stored in cloud: avoid storing any data in cloud to avoid unforeseen incidents of it getting compromised. Use edge computing mechanisms for quick data analysis and remove them once the required insights have been received and recorded

Similar to many traditional electronic goods, there are many ways toys stand to benefit from IoT innovation. However, just as the benefits, the risks are real, though not unsurmountable. When IoT is integrated into a product, it should not be just an add-on, but at the core around which the entire product needs to be reimagined, for getting the maximum value. At every stage of the development plan, features and security need to go hand in hand, for the end result to be truly exciting, as well as safe. Once released, plan on supporting the product with regular updates through which the latest security measures would be provided so it remains relevant and protected against attacks for a long time. Have questions or problems you need to solve around IoT or looking for next 5 years? Get in touch and we would love to have a chat.

Transforming CX
Blog, Customer Experience

Transforming CX: Leveraging Data to Deliver Maximum Value

Table of contents

Data at the core of superior Customer Experience

Data is foundational to CX and creating a seamless, friction-free customer journey. In a survey conducted by Deloitte, 49 percent of respondents said data analytics helps them in better decision making, 16 percent said that it enables key strategic initiatives, and 10 percent say it helps them improve relationships with customers and business partners. How, you may ask. Data helps businesses to identify potential customers and reach them across every platform and channel. Effective data analysis empowers businesses to get valuable insights into every customer interaction along the journey. Meaningful data helps brands strengthen their omnichannel experience delivery which in turn helps customers feel heard and understood.

Insights from extensive datasets also helps brands navigate risks such as placements of unsafe or inappropriate content based on geographical context. Above all, the most significant benefit is a unified customer profile that contains all the information related to customer transactions, behavior and more. This way, a brand gets to truly know their customers whenever they’re interacting with them. Results? Customer retention, engagement, revenue growth, increased profitability and higher customer lifetime values.

2020 accelerated digital transformation and focus on CX but “clean data” remains a challenge

As we witnessed the largest transformation in almost every industry, we realized that capabilities that were just in the works until a year ago, were developed and deployed quickly. To meet emerging customer needs and keep business afloat, new digital capabilities developed overnight. But one thing that didn’t catch the attention of many businesses was data-more precisely, clean data. Digital capabilities were in place, CX became a hot topic, but dirty, unstructured, disconnected and irrelevant data became a challenge. This reason made it challenging for many businesses to realize their digital capabilities to full potential and deliver the CX they had hoped.

Don’t let bad data topple your CX goals

Imagine an unsynchronized CRM that relies on past data entries. Now if a customer calls up to check the status of, say, their credit card application, and the CRM shows different entries from different moderators, which one would you use to tell the customer the latest and most accurate information? In another instance, imagine if a customer shipment is in Dallas but the customer service shows that it’s still in Houston.

Data may not be the easiest part to work with, but it is definitely a critical component of any digital transformation initiative and even more important from a CX perspective. Businesses might be launching new CX initiatives but they won’t be fruitful in the long run if the data in isn’t clean.

What’s the fix?

Disconnected and dirty data doesn’t show itself through net promoter score surveys. Your customers won’t explicitly tell you that data is the reason behind their negative experience either. The first step isn’t to get into data clean-up or create cross-system connections or even establish usage standards. The first step is to understand and highlight the limitations of current data and then see what actions are needed. Businesses also need to understand that data collection and management is a company-wide initiative. Every department collects specific pieces of data about the customer which later help in giving them an overall experience at every touchpoint.

Here are some ways in which you can maintain clean and up-to-date data:

  • Data integrity must be part of the company culture since it spans across all departments
  •  If your current data is all over the place, start by consolidating it into one organized centralized space such as a spreadsheet before you start importing it
  • Maintain data uniformity by setting standard input guidelines
  • Identify and remove duplicate records
  • Regularly review and clean your data

How can clean data be leveraged to deliver new-age CX?

CX was already projected to be a brand differentiator, surpassing price and product. In fact, more than two-thirds of companies now compete primarily on the basis of customer experience – up from only 36% in 2010! But with dynamically changing customer needs, behavior and expectations, even CX excellence has become an arena of competition in itself. 

At [x]cube LABS, we helped one of our clients, Dr. LalPathLabs, solve the customer problem of having to wait for the reports by leveraging machine learning to predict the estimated time of Report, including the estimated time of various phases of the lab testing and exceptional delays. Like any other learning model, this one was dependent on the availability of clean data, too. The prediction was dependent on multiple parameters that were closely interconnected and influenced each other in more than one way, implying the need for relevant and standardized data as input. 

We also enabled Mann+Hummel to improve their filtering solutions with smart capabilities which gathered information on customer experience and based on that, added features which removed a bunch of manual tasks the customer had to perform. Reiterating, we used data to eliminate customer pain points as far as possible.

This is just one of innumerable examples of how we leveraged the power of data, coupled with emerging technologies, to drive CX transformation. We also have our in-house customer analytics and engagement platform, Upshot, that combines actionable analytics, campaign management and powerful tools to shape user behavior. The platform delivers new insights into user segments and enables fine control over the user’s in-app experience.

In current times, it is critical to get an all-round view of your customer behavior to design great experiences for them and clean data is what enables it. Once you have a good hold on the quality of your data, you can explore the potential of CX in different ways.

  • Real-time CX

    As businesses utilize more and more data to understand their customers better, it’s about time that real-time CX becomes the new in-thing. Customers today have a strong desire for instant gratification, which means increased expectations  not only of the product but also the overall experience provided associated with it. This is where  real-time CX comes into the picture. It’s about serving customers at the very moment they engage with your business. This can include any activities that meet the needs of a prospect or customer as immediately as possible. A very common example of real-time CX is offering customers a support channel like live chat that allows for a nearly instantaneous response.

  • Consistent customer journey experience

    A study found that 45 percent of CX leaders define CX as “the customer’s aggregate perception of your company based on all their interactions with your brand, product or service.” In simple words, this implies experience throughout the customer journey from initial interest and purchase to customer service and every touchpoint in between. 65 percent of consumers say that a consistently positive experience through their entire interaction would make them a long-term customer of the brand. And this can be achieved only if there’s relevant and up-to-date information about consumer preferences is available. You can teach each touch point, gather necessary information, analyze the data and provide them contextual and personalized experience.

  • Integrated and streamlines CX approach

    According to a report, one out of four CX executives say not having the right people involved is a constraint that prevents their team from implementing a streamlined CX approach. In order to succeed in CX strategy, businesses should look at CX as an essential part of the whole business, not just a part of it. To excel at delivering seamless experiences, understanding and drawing insights from individual-level customer data is a must. This essentially requires reimagining processes and taking a data-driven approach to break down silos across the organization. 

  • Customer data platforms

    Customer touchpoints are spreadout across multiple systems such as CRM, social media and more. To securely unify all the data and eliminate redundant records, a customer data platform can help. The data managed this way can be used to decide what will encourage customers to stay loyal and even assess the potential LTV of a customer. Going one step ahead, clean data can also be fed to AI models for predictive analysis that can compare usage patterns of new customers with longer tenured ones can help project the ones which are more valuable..

  • Hyper personalization

    Hyper-personalization takes personalized marketing a step further by leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) and real-time data to deliver more relevant content, product, and service information to users. While personalized experiences are mostly confined to addressing the customer by name and keeping track of preferences, hyper-personalization takes it to a much higher level. It deciphers and acts upon customer data in real-time. Some features of hyper personalization include: instant identification, immediate access to information about every interaction, on every channel, understanding customer issues and knowing how to solve it, based on the captured data. But transitioning to a hyper-personalized model requires infrastructure with new technology that captures customer data in real-time, across all channels, in a unified way. 

Conclusion

56% of the companies now turn to data that captures the interactions of their most engaged customers to nurture their experiences. In fact, the most successful companies differentiate themselves from their competitors by creating a cycle of data-driven improvement and capitalizing on it to deliver new-age experiences to their customers. This requires having the right tech stack as a minimum investment that directly enables the data capabilities and applicable skill sets. But before implementing that, taking control of data should be at the forefront of the customer experience strategy.

Blog, Technology

Battle of Big Tech: Everything About Apple and Facebook’s Fight Over Privacy and Data Tracking

The debate on how “private” our online activities are is probably going to take center stage in 2021 and beyond. With increasing exposure to emerging technology, dependence on various ecosystems which keep our contacts, messages, search histories and more in sync, this topic has been gaining prominence for a while, but at the end of last year, the very public tussle between two of the biggest corporations in the world, namely Apple and Facebook, has kicked things into high gear. With both companies trying to justify their actions with elaborate marketing messages and in-your-face ads, the consumers have begun to educate themselves further on how deeply companies pry into personal lives and how bad could things become in the event of a data breach.

Adding to the mix is the 2020 docu-drama “The Social Dilemma” which aptly summarized the prevailing mantra of online platforms as “if you’re not paying for the product, then you are the product”. Over the years, platforms such as Facebook, WhatsApp, Twitter and ecosystems built by Apple and Google have become such integral parts of our lives that these companies probably know more about our lives than they have any right to. As more companies look to upsell and cross-sell new products and services through the first product that we pick up from them, we will be unwittingly giving away more of our information by allowing companies to track a variety of online activities that we indulge in. Using that information, companies will then try to sell us more of their products or those of their affiliates.

End of last year saw a war break out between a company which presumably has the highest regard for user privacy and another which again, presumably, has the least concern for the same. Apple, the former, revealed that with an upcoming update to their iOS 14, they will ask companies which track user activity through the web, ask for permission before doing so. Facebook, the latter, was incensed and came out all guns blazing against a move, which in their opinion, would crush small businesses worldwide that depend upon targeted ads to reach specific groups of users who’d be interested in buying from them.

The latest row has been brewing for a while though, almost a decade, if we do some digging. Apple’s philosophy has always been that the internet is an extension of the personal computing space, with the smartphone being the most personal device of all. As for Facebook, it has increasingly ventured into enabling consumers to launch digital commerce ventures by taking advantage of the vast amount of data it has at its disposal. The recent launch of Facebook marketplace has further established this intent. The cost of using their free service, as per Facebook, is access to browsing data which can then be leveraged for ads. Till date, most of Facebook’s millions of users had no clue exactly what they are allowing the company to do, and with controls to disable tracking buried deep into privacy settings, monitoring was difficult for everyone except the informed few. However, with Apple making it simple by popping up a single message which would turn tracking completely off, it was time for Facebook to be worried.

The battle has now amped up to the extent that it might be brought to court very soon. Both companies held press conferences this week to talk about their respective quarterly performances and apart from the financials, both Tim Cook and Mark Zuckerberg mentioned the burning issue at hand. The Facebook CEO was dismissive of Apple’s criticism saying it’s not coming from a virtuous angle, but from the perspective of protecting Apple’s interests. After targeting Apple with full-page newspaper ads in December, Facebook is now reportedly preparing a lawsuit that will accuse Apple of using its market position to damage parties like Facebook and others who are presented as the saviours of small businesses.

For Apple, this isn’t new. For a company that just had its best quarter ever even in the middle of a pandemic, the command it has over the market and the influence that power can exert is undeniable. Just a few months back, we witnessed the Apple vs Epic Games dispute where the latter tried to bypass Apple’s in-app purchase mechanism in its game, Fortnite. The result wasn’t very favorable for Epic in the end and if prevailing opinion is anything to go by, Facebook doesn’t find itself in a favorable position either.

Tim Cook, in his disclosure yesterday, made it very clear that Facebook’s protests aren’t going to sway Apple’s opinions at all and the tech giant will be very much moving forward with the update to its operating systems which will make users aware of data tracking by apps and ask for their permission.

“At a moment of rampant disinformation and conspiracy theories juiced by algorithms,” Cook said, “we can no longer turn a blind eye to a theory of technology that says all engagement is good engagement — the longer the better — and all with the goal of collecting as much data as possible.” Apple also released an infographic detailing how data is tracked and used by various companies and what’s their take on it. Clearly taking the context of the ongoing dialogue surrounding data privacy to present their case.

Sensing the increasing awareness among the general public about this issue, Facebook knows their stance won’t be that popular. The company has already expressed apprehension about less number of users giving them access to data and the resultant obstacles it will have to face in the business of targeted ads. However, they will go ahead with the lawsuit to keep the growing number of businesses using their platform happy and leverage their own considerable influence to work out a few favorable terms if not achieve complete victory. Helping their cause would be the fact that in the wake of COVID-19, more retailers would bring their businesses online and depend on Facebook’s huge user base to reach potential customers. Facebook would definitely argue that it is taking a leading role in helping people affected by the pandemic to turn things around and it’s insensitive of Apple to throw a spanner in those efforts with their obsession with privacy.

This battle will be in the works for a while and we will stay tuned to see how it plays out. If Facebook decides to indeed sue Apple and attempt to prevent the iOS update from hitting consumer devices, we could be looking at a lengthy battle in the days to come. While digital adoption is the way to go for businesses to become more efficient, cost-effective and customer friendly, the world is waking up to how much of their personal information big tech companies actually have and the sway it gives them as a result. Discussions are raging on the possibilities of companies holding national governments ransom, influencing decisions and increasingly commodifying their customers. While walking the thin line between keeping business interests intact and avoiding alienating users, companies have to be extremely wary of missteps and the winner of this battle between Apple and Facebook will give them an idea about which side of the line they need to lean towards in formulating policies for the new decade.

Blog, Customer Experience, Design

Top 10 Digital Product Design Elements Behind Great Customer Experiences

In the last 10 years we have already seen many improvements and designs to provide greater customer experience specially when the customers interact with the companies and their brands in the digital world.

A research report by Gartner provides insights to customer needs:

  • 76% of customers expect companies to understand their needs
  • $1.6 trillion is lost each year due to poor customer service
  • Customers will spend 17% more for a good experience
  • Customer-centric companies are 60% more profitable

In the era of cutting edge technology, innovations are reaching new heights, companies need to focus on providing progessive designs to interact with their brands online.

There are top 10 design trends that will decide who wins the customers by providing an exceptional experience:

  1. Graphic interface with gestures:

    By introducing gesture recognition, the focus is to eliminate UI interaction with buttons. Many companies are testing this feature and it’s in its early stage.

    For example an ecommerce company providing an app where customers don’t have to use buttons to purchase or place and order, a simple drag and drop gesture could add the product to the cart.

  2. Zero (Interface) UI:

    The idea of zero UI was first introduced by Any Goodman, former Fjord director. Zero UI is all about sensory experience (gestures, movements, voice, and even thoughts and feelings) to cause a particular response from a device. Smart Artificial Intelligence devices and machine learning are two important parts of zero UI functionality. Its potential can be most beneficial for differently abled people and people with mobility issues.

    There are few experiences that support Zero UI concept-

    Microsoft Kinect– which allows us to change channels with just a greeting.

    Nest thermostats– which learn to anticipate what we want based on our interactions.

    The voice assistants of Amazon, Google and apps that replace our touch interactions with devices

  3. Agnostic Interface: 

    According to a Google’s recent study, “90% users use several screens sequentially to perform a task over time”.

    We live in a multi-device environment where multiple applications are accessed on different devices such as wearables, tablets, smartphones, voice devices, televisions or computers etc.Users interact with these devices with different touchpoints and the design and interface become a complex part for the companies to develop.

    For example the consumer was using a browser to access a service on a computer then companies came up with “responsive designs” to give the same on the mobile phone, now came up with “progressive web apps.”

    But with the growth of technologies like Artificial Reality, Virtual Reality and Mixed Reality where designs and interface will be in huge demand in the future.

    Companies should conceptualize an agnostic interface as it can reduce latency as use moves across all devices.

    Nest Learning Thermostat is a most relatable example of agnostic interface.

  4. Natural Language Processing:

    According to a global estimation, more than 200 million homes now have a smart speaker and are interacting with a voice assistant such as Google, Alexa, Cortana or Siri.

    As per Google 72% of these users claim that they use it in their day to day lives.

    52% of people keep their voice-activated speakers in their living rooms, 25% keep them in their bedrooms, while 22% keep them in their kitchens.

    We are witnessing a voice assistance revolution where homes, vehicles, phones etc are equipped with voice assistants.

    Advances in Artificial Intelligence will allow the tasks that are facilitated from these devices to become more sophisticated with cross-tasks such as sending an email with attachments, opening several applications or executing different actions.

  5. Augmented Reality/Virtual Reality:

    There is a lot of buzz around the world for AR and VR. It’s being used in almost every field be it, ecommerce, retail, gaming, medicine or drug R&D.

    With the 5G, AR and VR can be utilized with full potential. It’s estimated that the market of AR/VR will grow more and sales are expected to rise to 65.9 million for late 2022.

    Pokemon go, a free Augmented Reality video game, achieved more than 100 million downloads in its first month of launch.

    Disease simulation in drug discovery & assembly of machine parts to eliminate errors  by using Virtual Reality.

    Asian Paint implemented Virtual  Reality for their internal operations.

  6. Personalized Customer Experience:

    Personalized experience is not a new thing, we have seen companies doing it to get customers attention and make them feel like priority customers.

    Companies like Sephora, Netflix, Amazon, Starbucks, The Home Depot, Airbnb etc have created such an environment where customers expect more from the brand during digital interactions.

    Personalized customer experience is a deep field where companies study customer needs, preferences, behaviors, choices, demography and socio-economic information.

    Some basic personalized experiences- a bot interaction where it uses your name, emails where you get exclusive deal code/offers, messages from brands to visit their platform soon (based on your last purchased date) etc.

    There is a lot that can be done, companies gather data from various sources and many departments are involved, they can start off  by creating a single source of customer data and bring all the departments together to create a unified personal experience journey for their customers.

  7. User Research:

    There are various sources of customer data and one should understand that data is a crucial part in creating an exceptional user experience. Good data insights derive customer needs, choices and preferences.

    Companies use various techniques to target users, such as- usability tests, focus groups etc. It’s time when we need to see customers beyond qualitative research data.

    Digitalization has given many ways to collect quantitative data one such way is IoT enabled devices. Qualitative research and quantitative data help us get better user insights and we make better decisions. But various sources of information bring complexity.

    Machine learning and analytics are the future of user research where user patterns will be observed and predicted. Companies can create unique approaches to pull various departments together to nourish qualitative data with quantitative data.

  8. Intelligent digital experience:

    With the use of new technology in the consumer digital world, the focus is on the concept of intelligent experiences or interactions.

    The word intelligence is a key to continuously improving  the customer experience, it refers to the ability to learn from existing user interactions in order to optimize future experiences.

    Customer journey can be improved in terms of personalization, efficiency and simplicity.

    Smart experiences are characterized by:

    1.  Relevant experiences that connect with the motivations and interests of the users
    2. Persuasive experiences that seek conversion: seduce, convince and sell.
    3. Personal experiences that address the behavior and context of each individual person.

    These are experiences that seek to satisfy users and customers but, above all, they aim to generate impact, growth and results.

  9. Biometric Application:

    Biometrics are physical or behavioral human characteristics that can be used to digitally identify a user to grant access to systems, devices or data.

    Examples of biometrics-fingerprints, facial patterns, voice or typing cadence.

    According to the Ping Identity Survey “92 percent of enterprises rank biometric authentication as very effective to secure identity data stored on premises, and 86 percent say it is effective for protecting data stored in a public cloud.

    Spiceworks reports that 62% of companies are already using it.

    Biometric application reduces time, and makes the authentication process easier.

    Many banks have implemented biometric authentication on their mobile apps and ATMs.

  10. Sustainability In Digitalization:

    The world is dealing with rapid environmental changes and in the digital world also it becomes a priority concern.

    The digital world reflects this concern with new content that communicates the sustainable policies of the companies and even changes how they do business.

    There are many companies that work towards environmental sustainability and openly tell their customers to follow the same in order to save earth.

    Companies can show how much energy their data centers use and how much carbon footprint they generate per year.

    Also, they can show how they recycle and reuse the product to promote zero waste.

    It’s a unique way to build a connection with users and it becomes an emotional touchpoint in the user journey.

Conclusion:

If you are reading this, which means you have paid attention to above discussed top design trends. It’s time for all the creators to consider the customer as a central idea during R&D and delivering new features to provide exceptional customer experience throughout the journey. To know more about crafting the right customer journeys for your customers, get in touch, and we’d love to have a chat.

App Marketing, Blog, Digital Strategy, Mobility

Survey Results: Top Things Users Want to See in Mobile Apps

51% of the people living in the US haven’t downloaded an app in a month. With more apps crowding the app space, customers have reached a state where they don’t want to download new apps. We recently conducted a survey to understand what, according to mobile app users, defines a user-centric and successful app. We hope that the results help our readers understand mobile experience from a user’s perspective and enable them to improve their mobile app strategy.

Check out our detailed infographic for all the answers and understand how you can fortify the very crux of your mobile app strategy.

Transforming CX
Blog, Customer Experience, Digital Strategy

Transforming CX: Understanding Omnichannel Strategy and Getting It Right

Table of contents

Introduction

Omnichannel has become an inevitable buzzword in every discussion centered around customer experience. And rightly so. The fact that most companies lag behind in their CX transformation only fuels the adoption of better engagement and experience strategies that’s where omnichannel experience comes into the picture, amidst more strategies, of course. But in the pursuit of excelling at it, businesses often get it wrong. Where exactly? To begin with, by assuming that omnichannel strategy is all about having multiple customer touchpoints with consistent branding elements.

What exactly is an omnichannel strategy?

Integration, not just consistency. An omnichannel strategy is a cross-channel strategy that gives a continuous and integrated experience to users across multiple channels. Simply put, if a user leaves off from one channel and switches to another, he should be able to pick up right from where he left off.

Most enterprises treat omnichannel the same as a multichannel strategy. It is important to understand the key differences between them before strategizing to get either or both of them right. Omnichannel businesses streamline all customer touchpoints under a single platform. That means from planning and purchasing to marketing and managing customer relationships, all your online and offline channels get updated together and are on the same page. Whereas, in a multichannel approach, each channel is managed individually with a unique strategy of its own.

Another interesting thing to note here is that omnichannel marketing is different from omnichannel customer experience. Omnichannel marketing is about consistency in messaging and branding is consistent across channels. The strategy side of it addresses the customers includes merging different channels together and offering seamless and uninterrupted experiences.

Why is an omnichannel customer strategy important?

Did you know? Your customers aren’t just open to embracing the omnichannel experiences by thinking of them as an additional value. They expect it as a necessity. Here are a few of innumerable reasons why an omnichannel strategy is important for every business:

  • Delighted and engaged customers

    From a customer journey point of view, an omnichannel experience helps them interact with your brand smoothly, without the need for retaining or repeating information about the experience at the last touchpoint. This makes their interaction with your business smooth and intuitive.

  • Resource optimization

    The number of times you need to interact with your customers through a dedicated resource comes down. Simply because you’ve already made their experience hassle-free. This significantly reduces the time and cost you would have incurred otherwise.

  • Friction-free customer journey

    An omnichannel strategy helps you identify the various customer journey touchpoints clearly and understand what are the major points of friction that may cause customers to drop off. You can understand where they are able to navigate easily, where they face difficulty and how you can improve by tracking various touchpoints and using the insights to improve their journey.

  • Brand reputation

    Your omnichannel strategy can serve as a long-term investment in building brand value. Happy customers are more likely to develop brand loyalty and recommend your brand to others as well. A better, stronger brand also means repeated purchase and competitive advantage- bringing you immediate monetary returns, too.

  • Unprecedented CX

    Omnichannel strategy contributes to your overall CX. It helps keep your customers engaged and happy. At the same time, it benefits your internal operations too as it empowers your employees to work within a system that’s intelligent, flexible and effective, thereby saving them time and efforts in dealing with mundane queries and tasks.

How can you get your omnichannel strategy right?

We talked about omnichannel strategy and how it can benefit your business. The question that remains now is HOW to get it right. While there’s no definite single strategy that works for all businesses, we have listed the top and most common steps that apply to all businesses.

  • Conduct thorough research on buyer personas: If your omnichannel strategy isn’t based on customer insights, it’s likely to take a hit sooner or later. It is important to understand your customer persona- their demographics, behaviors, and more. This will help you identify different segments and target your audience well. You can not only improve your value proposition with the needs of your customers but also go for more targeted offerings and ultimately, accelerated conversions.
  • Improve customer touchpoints: It is important to understand customer sentiments at each stage of their buying journey. Once you get insights into how your customers are feeling at each touchpoint across different channels, you will be in a better position to offer better experiences by improving the preferred touchpoints and eliminating the points of friction.
  • Map your customer’s journey: Even if it gets complex due to multiple channels involved, plot your customer journey map. Identify their first point of interaction with your brand and map the consecutive interactions and overall engagement up to final sales and beyond. You can leverage analytics tools to understand customer interactions better and bridge the gap between channels for a unified omnichannel experience.
  • Choose the right tools for each channel: Augment your channel capabilities by using the right technology stack. Place chatbot where you receive routine queries, implement live chat support where you receive sales inquiries, provide smart engagement tools to guide customers where they are more likely to get stuck, etc.
  • Collect customer feedback: Collect customer feedback and use it to develop an in-depth understanding of their preferences and behavior. Analyze it regularly to resolve friction and solve your customer’s specific challenges.

Customer experience strategy isn’t built overnight- it develops from consistent efforts and multi-faceted strategic aspects

A successful customer experience strategy isn’t a one-time thing. Nor is it something that can be built in one shot. It’s made from multiple aspects, each influencing your customer’s experience in a different way. An omnichannel strategy is one of them. You need to continuously evaluate your strategy, considering the dynamically changing customer preferences and ensure that your CX strategy is attuned to deliver the best experience. We have worked with clients all over the world and helped them improve customer retention, obtain faster conversions, lower the cost of customer acquisition, enhance brand perception and much more by simply working on their CX strategy. If you’re looking for help with anything CX, get in touch.

Artificial Intelligence, Blog

DALL.E and CLIP: How Open AI’s New Models are Defining the Future of AI Yet Again

Table of contents

It wasn’t long ago when Open AI achieved a breakthrough in AI by announcing the launch of GPT-3, a general-purpose language algorithm that uses machine learning to translate text, answer questions and predictively write text. It created quite a buzz for being the largest model trained so far and for reaching the highest stage of human-like intelligence through ML and NLP. Fasttrack six months and we learn that OpenAI extended GPT-3 with two new models that combine NLP with image recognition to give their AI a better understanding of everyday concepts.

Open AI’s new models- DALL.E and CLIP

We’ve already seen in the case of GPT-3 that a single deep-learning model could be trained to use language in a variety of ways simply by feeding it vast amounts of text, This was followed by swapping text for pixels, and using the same approach to train an AI to complete half-finished images. OpenAI has now put these ideas together to create two new models, called DALL·E and CLIP. These models combine language and images in a way that will make AIs better at understanding both words and what they refer to.

DALL.E: Creating Images from Text

DALL.E is Open AI’s trained neural network that creates images from text captions for a wide range of concepts expressible in natural language. It is a 12-billion parameter version of GPT-3 trained to generate images from text descriptions, using a dataset of text-image pairs. It has a diverse set of capabilities, including creating anthropomorphized versions of animals and objects, combining unrelated concepts in probable ways, rendering text, and applying transformations to existing images.

Simply put, it is a neural network that instead of recognizing images, draws them based on the text description. You can provide a short natural-language caption, such as “illustration of a baby daikon radish in a tutu walking a dog” or “ an armchair in the shape of an avocado,” and DALL·E generates lots of images that match it.

Text prompt: an illustration of a baby daikon radish in a tutu walking a dog

Output:

Source: Open AI

Text prompt: an armchair in the shape of an avocado

Output: 

Source: Open AI

DALL.E’s limitations

While the ability of DALL.E to generate synthetic images out of whimsical ideas seems promising for AI advancement, it comes with its own limitations. For example, Including too many objects in a text prompt puts its ability to keep track of what to draw, to test. Additionally, rephrasing a text prompt sometimes yields different results. There also have been signals that DALL·E is imitating images it has encountered online rather than generating original ones.

CLIP: Connecting Text and Images

CLIP, or Contrastive Language–Image Pre-training, is a neural network that efficiently learns visual concepts from natural language supervision. It can be applied to any visual classification benchmark by simply providing the names of the visual categories to be recognized, similar to the “zero-shot” capabilities of GPT-2 and 3.

One may think that CLIP is just another image recognition system but there’s an exception to it. It recognizes images not from labeled examples in training data sets but from images and their captions taken from the internet. It learns about the image from a description instead of one-word labels.

CLIP’s performance was tested on ImageNet and it was found that CLIP’s performance is much more representative of how it will fare on datasets that measure accuracy in non-ImageNet settings.

Source: Open AI

CLIP’s limitations

CLIP was found to struggle with more abstract or systematic tasks such as counting the number of objects in an image. It failed to complete complex tasks such as predicting how close the nearest car is in a photo as well. Quite naturally, CLIP also poorly generalizes images that were not covered in its pre-training dataset.

Conclusion

Despite the limitations, this is yet another groundbreaking innovation by Open AI. The OpenAI team plans to analyze how these models correlate issues like economic impact on certain professions, the potential of bias in the model outputs, as well as the long-term ethical challenges posed by this technology. With this, we have more insights into the kind of AI systems we’re likely to see in the future. At [x]cube LABS, we help our clients create breakthrough results, drive operational growth, and achieve efficiency with advanced artificial intelligence and machine learning services. If you’re looking to explore opportunities with AI for your business, feel free to get in touch with us.

Technologies role in shaping the future
Blog, Digital Transformation & Innovation, Technology

Top 10 Trending Technologies of 2020 and their Role in Shaping the Future

Table of contents

Introduction

We see innovations in the field of IT software every now and then but there are few technologies that we saw in 2020 that have a greater potential to transform human experience the way humans interact with devices through digitization. 

Let’s discuss some top trends from 2020:

  • Hyper Automation

Robotic process automation is the beginning of hyper automation but when it uses advanced applications like artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning (ML), packaged softwares and highly automated tools to deliver tasks. Hyper Automation extends across a range of tools that can be automated, but also refers to the sophistication of the automation (i.e., discover, analyze, design, automate, measure, monitor, reassess.)”

  1. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality

    Garter research says “by 2028, the user experience will undergo a significant shift in how users perceive the digital world and how they interact with it.” 

    Augmented Reality is when a live view is added by the device’s camera and Virtual Reality is when a virtual simulation is created which shuts the real world. Combination of AR and VR is called mixed reality. These techno innovations are  changing human experience and will bring a significant change in the way humans interact with the digital world.

    It’s being used in gaming, field of medicine discovery, hospitals, manufacturing etc

  2. Democratization of Expertise

    It is defined as “easy access to technical or business expertise without long and expensive learning”. Democratization focuses on four key areas- democratization of data and analytics, development, design and knowledge.

    By 2023 their growth is expected to accelerate, it’s called “Citizen access” (for example, citizen data scientists, citizen integrators), as well as the evolution of citizen development and no-code models, are examples of democratization says Gartner.

  3. Human Augmentation 

    Human augmentation is used to deliver cognitive and physical experience which are part of human existence. Another word for it is “wearables.” We have seen it being used in health gadgets, hospitals, mechanical devices. Some latest implementations- exoskeletons, motion savvy, google glass, Neuralink by elon musk etc.

  4. The Empowered Edge

    In the IT field it’s used to describe empowering computing centralization that is distributed toward the edge of a network, the end user and the end user device.

    Gartner describes it in simple words “Edge computing is a computing topology in which information processing and content collection and delivery are placed closer to the sources, repositories and consumers of this information.”

    It is also known as device democracy- it helps to achieve security, low latency rate and efficiency. 

  5. Distributed Cloud

    A distributed cloud is a type of cloud services where its public cloud services are geographically distributed and primarily services run at network edge.

    Basic cloud services have centralised data centers.

    Distributed cloud technology can help reduce latency, network congestion, and risk of data loss, more data security and data regulatory & compliances can be strictly followed since all the data can be kept in a country where it is generated.

    Gartner predicts a few different business models will arise as this form of cloud spreads in adoption. The business models are somewhat similar to the software-, infrastructure-, and platform-as-a-service models that are currently popular. 

  6. Artificial Intelligence

    The aim of AI is to mimic humans like intelligence. Artificial intelligence is categorized into machine learning, deep learning, reinforcement learning, natural language processing, computer vision and explainable AI. The technology is designed to equipe computer systems to perform tasks like speech recognition, planning and learning, problem solving & creativity, knowledge representation, perception and motion and social intelligence. By 2030 AI is expected to create 70M jobs across the globe.

  7. Internet of Things

    Internet of Things, a network of devices connected to each other via the internet, these devices can interact and share information. IoT not only enables devices to communicate but also allows their remote accessibility. 

    IoT is being used in wearable devices, smart homes, smart cities, self driven cars, healthcare as IoMT etc. 

    One of the new emerging technologies is Autonomous Things, it’s again a part of the IoT tree, as per gartner’s report “Autonomous things are physical devices that use AI to automate functions previously performed by humans. The most recognizable forms of autonomous things are robots, drones, autonomous vehicles/ships and appliances.”

  8.  Blockchain

    Blockchain is an electronic ledger or a distributed decentralized network that provides immutability, privacy, security, and transparency. Blockchain works on consensus mechanisms where all the transactions are secured and verified, every new block that is added to the Blockchain is the one and only version of the truth that is agreed upon by all the nodes in the Blockchain.

    This keeps a time stamped record of each transaction, each linked to the previous block which can not be changed.

  9. AI Security

    If we go by the report and market norms there is a greater opportunity for technologies like AI/ML, IoT, hyper automation, this involves a lot of data storage and data sharing. Now there is a major cyber security threat for risk management teams and regulation authorities, the risk includes in areas such as IoT enabled devices, cloud computing, microservices and highly connected systems in smart spaces. There will be a huge pool of opportunities for AI Security where AI will be leveraged to secure. Gartner researchers say “Security and risk leaders should focus on three key areas — protecting AI-powered systems, leveraging AI to enhance security defense, and anticipating nefarious use of AI by attackers.”

Future Of These Technologies

Technology Future Scope
  • Hyper Automation
 Hyper automation is a future of Automation. It will bring technological revolution through the combination of technologies like Robotic Process Automation, Intelligent Business Process Management Suites (iBPMS), Process Mining, ArtificiaL Intelligence/ Machine Learning, Natural Language Processing (NLP), Optical Character Recognition (OCR) and Digital Twin of an Organization (DTO).
  • Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality
 Great potential in fields like healthcare, gaming, pharmaceuticals,manufacturing etc.

Virtual simulations help doctors, researchers and scientists to replicate actual human behavior to certain things, for example replication patient experience while suffering from certain diseases.
  • Democratization of Expertise
 There will be a lot noise for finding experts of digitally disrupted technologies. By 2023, Gartner expects four key aspects of the democratization trend to accelerate in areas of: 

  • Data and analytics-tools targeting data scientists
  • Development- AI tool to leverage custom developed apps
  • Design (expanding on the low-code, no-code phenomena with automation of additional application development functions to empower the citizen-developer)
  • knowledge (non-IT professionals gaining access to tools and expert systems that empower them to exploit and apply specialized skills beyond their own expertise and training)
  • Human Augmentation 
 In the coming years as the innovations progress humans will become habitual to wearables in order to self care and in patient care.

Gartner’s report predicts Over the next 10 years increasing levels of physical and cognitive human augmentation will become prevalent as individuals seek personal enhancements. This will create a new “consumerization” effect where employees seek to exploit their personal enhancements — and even extend them to improve their office environment.”
  • The Empowered Edge
 There are potential opportunities in cloud computing, IoT security, efficient operation, electronic systems and services
  • Distributed Cloud
 Location is the most important part when it comes to hosting cloud services, since it involves massive amounts of data and every country has different data privacy regulations.

Mostly available cloud services are providing hybrid cloud with again centralised data centres and investing more in location specific data centres instead of centralised in order to increase data security and reduce data loss.
  • Artificial Intelligence
 By 20222 business value created by AI will reach $3.9T.

AI will open more doors for areas like early disease detection in healthcare, drug research, financial industry, manufacturing, customer care services, autonomous cars etc
  • Internet of Things
 IoT has limitless potential in all the fields.

Some of them are Smart cities, offices, homes, devices, autonomous things like vehicles, drones, robots etc.

Advancement will be brought in IoT technology through increased network agility, integrated AI/ML applications and the capacity to deploy, automate, orchestrate.
  • Blockchain
 Businesses have begun exploring blockchain technology as it provides a range of consensus algorithms to secure transactions. It eliminates chances of data theft and manipulations. There is a huge potential in all fields where transaction will be secured with blockchain implementations
  • AI Security
 As use cases and application development increases the need of data security increases with time. Organization will try to secure smart spaces & devices with AI powered security systems

Want to know more about how these technology advancements can help your enterprise get ahead? Get in touch with us and we’d love to talk about it.

Tech News Websites
Blog, Technology

Top 10 Tech News Websites That You Need to Follow in 2021

Table of contents

Introduction

The technological advancements in the market is bringing every eye on the planet on these new innovations. People are becoming more aware of the revolution that new technologies and digitization is creating. It’s more of a need rather than just a normal interest in the latest technology. Whether it be a person who is thinking about a startup or a normal business investor who is looking for an alternate income through trading, everyone has to be aware of what the market looks like with these new technologies.

This Pandemic also has taught human civilization about the importance of technology from a very small operation stage to a very complex operation stage. And with the transformation of technology in every quarter, every year it has become a necessity to check the latest news on these changes.

Social Media platforms like Instagram, Facebook have also been a prime spot to have a look at the latest trends as these platforms didn’t exist 10 years back but are now an important part of our lives. As per a report by Galido.net, 77% of the internet users read blogs on a random basis. With these blogs on digital marketing tactics to follow and many other applications of new technologies in various industries can help users understand the future of technology.

Top 10 list

Here are some top blog platforms to follow to stay updated on the latest innovation:

  1. Wired

    This tech blog was founded in 1993 by founders Louis Rossetto & Jane Metcalfe who mainly concentrated on how these new emerging technologies have been affecting the culture, the economy and politics. It regularly provides in-depth information on future and current trends.

  2. TechCrunch

    The American website was founded in 2005 by Michael Arrington which was later sold to AOL in a deal of $25 Million. It is one of the top ranked sites over the years in covering tech areas. Their articles have weekly investor surveys, daily private market analysis, interviews on fundraising and growth, and tips on building your team with the current market scenario.

  3. Recode

    The platform which was founded by Kara Swisher in 2014 and now owned by VOX Media particularly focuses on businesses of Silicon Valley. The blogs and articles from this media are kept with consideration from some top journalists and media personalities in the market. This platform will let you know of the future of the tech and how it’s evolving.

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  4. Mashable

    Founded by Pete Cashmoreg in 2005, this platform is known for its global platform for entertainment and multimedia platforms. It is a site for entertainment and digital content for its influential global audience. It tells the viewers about the tech trends in Movie, Entertainment and other industries.

  5. CNet

    The website which was founded by Halsey Minor & Shelby Bonnie in the year 1994 tracks all changes in consumer technology. It tells its viewers on how life can be simplified with these new technologies. It also provides information about the devices and technologies to buy.

  6. The Verge

    It was founded by Joshua Topolsky, Jim Bankoff & Marty Moe in 2011 to concentrate more on how technology can change the life of normal people and what’s the future that can be expected out of it. The site is also owned by VOX Media which uploads guidebooks, podcasts and feature stories. They offer a personalized perspective per their viewer’s choice.

  7. Gizmodo

    The website which was founded by Pete Rojas in 2001, offers tutorials on new gadgets and tech to make their viewers more informed and aware. It is a part of Gawker Media Network which provides views on design, technology, politics and science.

  8. Engadget

    Another wonder by Pete Rojas that was founded in 2004,  started its journey as a news organization. The platform contains views on films, gaming etc. They also concentrate on hardware, NASA tech and new tech gadgets to keep their users more informed.

  9. GigaOm

    The site has a user base of over 6.5 Million visitors every month and was founded by Om Malik in 2006. This platform concentrates on how technology and latest innovation are reshaping the 21st century. It has a wide view on IoT, cloud services etc.

  10. Pando

    The platform which was founded by Sarah Lacy, offers news & commentary on latest technologies. Its main concentration is on the Silicon Valley companies and startup firms.

    11. Conclusion

    It is becoming quite challenging to stay updated and find the right content with this every day change in technologies. With blogs that do their research correct and are evenly involved with these technologies, it can save a lot of time and money for users. The above list of the blogs has it all, from new emerging technologies to old transformations. However, the list doesn’t  end here as new websites with new ways of approaching readers are coming up on a regular basis. Watch this space for more on the emerging titles.