SMAC and the Transformation of Customer Service & Dialogue

"SMAC" is the a acronym for Social, mobile, analytics & cloud the four pillars of the fifth wave of technology as defined by  Cognizant Technology the  Teaneck, New Jersey headquartered ITES company (NASDAQ Symbol : CTSH).
SMAC will change the customer dialogue by leveraging on the collective strength of the Social Media Network, Mobile devices, Analytics driven by Big Data solutions and Cloud Computing as the underlying backbone of affordable and reliable engine for computation. 

Let us look at each of these components and their impact on our lives today:

1. Social Media - The Social Media has seen breakneck growth and significant valuation with the winners, we have the four undisputed leaders in this segment Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest  & LinkedIn with competition from Yahoo, Google and Microsoft and another hundred more social media sites of different hues and aspirations.  

2. Mobility - The way we handle and process information anytime anywhere  is significantly driven by Mobile Devices. Whether it is a mobile phone with two undisputed leaders Samsung and Apple, with two leading operating systems Google's Android and Apples iOS and two fundamental devices a phone or tablet or an hybrid Phablet.  The mobile is the most used device today to access, converse and interact in the internet. 

3. Analytics - Big Data and the ability to bring affordable analytics by use of cloud computing has transformed the way we dice and slice our data and we can do much more in nano seconds with our Terabytes of data to get a better understanding which influences our strategy and decision making. Analytics has invaded every aspect of business, financial markets, banking, healthcare, manufacturing, the potential is endless on how it can add value to bring insight into the way we do business. 

4. Cloud Computing - In a brief period of ten years the cloud computing has taken the world by storm and has been the catalyst for the growth of social media companies like Facebook, Youtube, LinkedIn, Twitter and more.  The pioneer and leader in the cloud computing space continues to be AWS with others playing catch up, the software giant's Microsoft, Oracle, the hardware giant's Dell, IBM, CISCO and HP.  Cloud Computing is today mainstream computing as more government and business adopt Cloud to bring about reliability, efficiency and cost saving. 

SMAC is the future of our digital lives and these four pillars in conjunction will define the way we deal with our customers.

Companies who have the right SMAC strategy will profit and grow in a flat world. 

Banks who shunned the cloud have taken to Facebook for Banking.

Newsprint companies have be on Twitter today if it wants to reach its audience and garner revenue.
If you want a job today the best place to begin is LinkedIn and if you have a pretty picture to share and profit look no further than Pinterest.

Retailers are discovering the joys of growing their business with a SMAC strategy, understanding their customers needs and serving them in more innovative ways. 

With SMAC we need business leaders who understand their customers lifestyle, use digital technology and the live in a world of social media.

A significant number of the customer base with spending power are GEN Y  today and without a SMAC strategy we may not be able to connect with the GEN Y customer.

The customer dialogue is real time and companies need to respond to this changing scenario.  

We will have companies giving away mobile devices free to their customers as a glue to customer dialogue and interface. 

Imagine a scenario of a bank, it is connected to its customer in a mobile world and the customer lives and thrives on Facebook, the Bank today builds its  banking services around the customer in the world of Facebook. A New Zealand Bank (ASB Bank) has been the pioneer in using Facebook in serving its customers and is laughing all the way to the Bank, other banks are playing catch up. 

Twitter announced its public issue in a Tweet and in day one of its public issue Twitter's offering price was $26 but by the end of the day the stock had risen dramatically and closed at $44.90. On day one of its public issue Twitter's market cap was USD 24.4 Billion ; opening value in the morning was USD 18 Billion; a cool appreciation of USD 6.4 Billion. You need look no further to understand the business dynamics of social media. 

Companies need to address SMAC as the most significant business strategy for their very survival in next few quarters, is your company ready to use SMAC to transform the customer service and  dialogue?

Personalized Cloud Appreciation Courses

I had a wonderful buffet a few week ago and was amazed at the aggressive pricing of the food on offer, a little more thought and it was back to Cloud Computing.  I figured the pricing was based on the philosophy that the customer will pick and choose what they need but overall the price will average out and so will the margins, since no two people have the same appetite or intensity to eat.

More experienced buffet eaters know what to choose and eat and I call them value pickers, if they pay Rs. 300 they will make sure they eat that value of food irrespective of its consequences to their health. The second are the health conscious eaters who will pick healthy food which is valuable in nutrition and good for their health. The last is the one who will eat what they need and leave the rest on the buffet table.  To adopt any one of these strategies one needs to have experience with buffets, I still remember one of my classmates who used to visit a Chinese Buffet on Sundays, on the third Sunday he was declined entry, he was a value and quantity eater whom the eating establishment had identified after two visits :-) and hence was kept out.

You need a teacher to help you choose the right cloud to ride !

I do not want to sound like a Warren Buffet class on investing  on food or a Sanjeev Kapoor's  food article, but the analogy is that  the cloud is similar to the buffet and also warrants an investment strategy. The primary requirement for investing is understanding the underlying asset, in our case the cloud computing utility.

So how does one understand cloud computing, my lament to my friend who shared the buffet with me was I have been evangelizing the cloud for years, I have spoken in conferences, conducted cloud technology training, shared the cloud computing learning  material and spoken at business schools to evangelize cloud and entrepreneurship. Not to mention my regular posts in my blog cloudbus.blogpspot.com. which is well received as per the statistics provided by Google but I cannot gauge its outcome and usefulness to the reader. Having  spent more than two years on Bharat Badal the India Cloud, the Cloud for the SME in India, The cloud for business and more, but I still see dismal adaption rates.

My friend across the table came up with a wonderful insight, something I had missed, he told me what I need to focus on was on was personalized cloud computing education.  People cannot appreciate something they have not understood, it is like looking at flawless Chola bronze without understanding how it was made the intricacies used in creating this piece of art and its value in the art market.  The wise go to an art appreciation course before being  pieces of Art to make sure that their  investments in art appreciate and also add joy to their existence.

The same is with cloud computing, users use Facebook, LinkedIn, Google  Twitter, Pinterest and more without understanding what lies behind it, no wonder business is reluctant to adopt social media.  They are users who are clueless about how to leverage on social media in the cloud for their business.

Just like an art appreciation course there is a need to conduct Cloud Appreciation Courses and based on the feedback to this article I will be launching this program as my next stage of cloud computing  education.

Like the buffet the Cloud Computing Program  will be segmented based on the audience, and can be tailored for the audience, it will be delivered in person or through the cloud :-) with a suitable SAAS solution :

      Cloud Computing for the  Board of Directors

·       Cloud Computing for the Regulator - For the Regulators of sectors like Banking, Financial Services, Insurance, Financial Markets

·     Cloud Computing for the Corporate - For  the CMO, Chief of HR, CIO, CTO, CXO & SBU heads

·      Cloud Computing for Start-ups - This is for entrepreneurs and start-ups who can benefit from the cloud.

·      Cloud Computing and Golf - A blending of Cloud Computing  with the game of golf, in collaboration with a recognized golf trainer.

      Cloud Computing for the Doctors - The people who heal us . 

To sign off the lunch buffet was wonderful, my friend and I agreed we had a value meal for the money paid, I benefited from the sagacious advise from my friend and I hope you like this post   which was an outcome of the post lunch well-being.

Are your ready for the Cloud Computing Appreciation Program, if you are send me an email at lssubramanian@niseindia.com .