The retail industry is now going through the digital transformation phase. As online stores continue to dominate, traditional retailers are learning to adapt to disruptive technologies to stay competitive and keep up with their consumer demands. Physical stores are not in direct competition with online stores, instead they are supplementing online options and providing some experience online cannot provide. According to survey reports, 84 percent of shoppers in physical stores use their smartphones to get information about products and comparison shop. Retailers are now investing for mobile apps and beacons for in-store use, in-app shopping capabilities, mobile payments in stores and mobile advertisements. Retailers are also ensuring that they have a good mobile app which enables them to provide a personalized “experience” that relates both to the consumer’s interests and conveys details about items on the physical retail shelf. Yet another trend is that instead of apps where a user had to access, request information, purchase, retailer have started adopting push based apps where they anticipate user needs and provide pertinent information based on those needs. The concept of digital wallet or payments via mobile is also getting widespread acceptance in the retail world. In short, disruptive technologies are making the retail experience more efficient, more personalized and more convenient. Read More.
Global technology M&A update July-September 2015 reveals that M&A deal volume in 3Q15 reached 1,069 deals. This is an increase of 52% over 2Q15 to US$16.6b in 3Q15 which is the highest-value 3Q15 deal for an Internet of Things (IoT) announced deal and tying for the top-value big data analytics deal. Non-tech buyers also had the second-largest deal in payments and financial services. The three major deal- driving trends IoT, Big Data Analytics and payments and financial services technology, contributed the most to the Q3 aggregate value. The deals also demonstrate the increasingly blurring boundaries between the technology industry and other industries and also about the deals driven by the digital transformations powered by disruptive technologies, happening in other industries. Some of the other highlights worth noticeable are that the cross industry blur increased again and Cloud/SaaS, smart mobility and security technologies continued as deal drivers in quarter 3 also. Read More.
Getting insights on customer behavior marketing decisions, supply chain management, risk, pricing and financial planning is extremely crucial in this technology driven, competitive business world. In this age of Big data, the vast quantity of data from multiple channels can provide insights about businesses, customers, products, and derive actionable insights. However, the challenge lies in the fact that with data sets growing rapidly, commonly used software tools are unable to capture, manage and process the data within a defined time limit. This calls for a different approach and the use of different technologies to solve the challenges with handling big data. With our deep expertise in business analytics and intelligence solutions, technical capability, operational excellence, robust global delivery model and strong partnership models, Happiest Minds can help you with insights to improve the decision making process. Our BI and Analytics Group has a strong team of technical and domain experts with in-depth leadership experience in business analytics with Fortune 100 companies, and have strong academia partnership with top-notch technical institutes to provide IP centric solutions in predictive analytics and business optimization based on cutting edge analytical methods. Read More.
Kiran Veigas handles Corporate Marketing at Happiest Minds. He has 14 years of industry experience spanning various roles in Marketing, Strategy, Product Management and Product Development in IT/Telecom. His educational qualifications include Executive Management Program (GMITE – General Management for IT Executives) from IIM-Bangalore and BE in Telecommunications Engineering.
