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?

Selling a SAAS Software to the CIO

Today an old friend of mine asked me on my idea of selling SAAS software solutions to a CIO.

His contention was since I was a CIO  could I share my perspective of how to go about selling SAAS solutions to CIO's.

The CIO

The CIO - Chief Information Officer is a busy person, who is more like a juggler who has to make sure that the digital infrastructure and solutions are working like a well oiled machinery for the success of  the business.

CIO is a busy person and it is important you have your elevator pitch ready to get your product into his.her eco system.

Pitching to the  CIO

Will the solution be useful for his business, does it feel a need that a Business has been asking for  a while.
If it is a new fad the CIO has no time for your solution.

Important for you to map the CIO with the benefits and advantages for your software product.

Remembers not more than 7 points .. that is all his attention level, so get the best first.

Here goes a suggestion of key points of interest

·        Cost of Ownership of our solution  is Low

·        Our solution Will work in any device and standard operating system

·        We have already rolled out three (n) locations successfully

·        You can do the pilot in a few hours on our self service environment

·        Can you please nominate someone from your team to check our solution.

·        we will give you a free trial for three months and lock in the price before the evaluation

·         You can customize the solution with your company logo and screens of your company

Managing the CIO

You might have found the CIO' attention but closing the deal has to be done surgically and with finesse at the shortest possible time, before similar product vendors come knocking the CIO's door.

You can move the CIO into buying with the right strategy !

Managing the CIO's ego is something of an art, we recommend a salesman who can do this and not a technology and product specialist :-)

Finding the CIO

Find out the curious CIO's in conferences and events or some whom you may know professionally, they are the  people open to ideas and willing to try.

Beware of CIO's who are good listeners, they sponge your product idea and try to build it themselves to keep their troops at home happy.

Happy Selling!