Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Digital Lending, Marketing

Digital transformation in retail: Transform or Perish

Digital technologies have disrupted many traditional business models, by transforming or creating a whole new business model. Uber, Airbnb, Skype, Alibaba, etc. are some of the best examples for the early disrupters who paved the way for new digital business models, thanks to digital disruption/ transformation. However, if we take the retail industry, it is not yet fully digitized, except for some early adopters. In the coming years, many key players would be embracing digitization and the trend will reshape the industry.

With advancements in technologies, availability of real-time data and analytics, retail industry will be transformed to meet consumer preferences as they evolve. Unlike the old days, the consumer has access to the product or service information and different purchase options. Online purchases have elevated the customer experience with more personalization. According to IDC Research, by 2020, at least 55% of all organizations will become digital with new business models and digitally enabled products and services.

To remain competitive in this rapidly changing industry, retailers must leverage the latest digital technologies and transform themselves to meet the changing consumer behaviour. They must leverage digital transformation technologies and create a new business model by placing the customer in the anchor position.

What is digital transformation?

Digital transformation is using digital technologies to create new — or modify existing — business processes, culture, and customer experiences to meet changing business and market requirements. This reimagining of business in the digital age is digital transformation.  In retail, it is nothing but moving from a product-centric approach to a customer-centric approach by extending hyper-personalized customer experience.

What are the challenges retailers face in their digital transformation journey?

Multi-channel buying experiences:

With the staggering growth in e-commerce, in-store purchases have come down. A good majority of consumers still prefer retail shops as they want to see, touch, feel, and try the product before they make a purchase. They may gather product information online and make an offline purchase or try the product and order online. This shows that consumers prefer a combination of both. Retailers who try to bridge the gap between online and offline and go ‘phygital’, stands a better chance to win the customer. Retailers must leverage the latest technologies to create an omnichannel customer experience, which enables them to extend personalized offers across channels.

Demand for seamless, superior customer experience:

A seamless customer experience allows both online and offline stores to complement each other rather than compete to keep customers coming back for more. Customers expect in-store retailers to keep track of their online purchases and treat them as loyal customers when they visit the store. Retailers must use advanced analytics for capturing customer data and produce meaningful insights to create an integrated customer experience.

Customer loyalty is driven by experience:

Customer experience fuels customer loyalty than just product features. Even if the retailers offer superior products, the customer is delighted only if they provide him with a superior experience. Though pricing offers and promotions are building blocks of customer experience, hyper-personalization is the critical factor. Retailers who can predict customer behaviour, anticipate their needs, and extend personalized offers exclusively for them via their preferred channel creates a profoundly loyal customer.

Key elements of digital transformation strategies in the retail industry

In-store experience

Ensuring better customer engagement and rich in-store experiences enable retailers to connect with customers through all touch points and influence buying behaviour. They can leverage beacons, IoT devices, and smart shelves to delight customers with in-store navigation, real-time product pricing, and offers.

Optimize consumer journey

Optimizing end-to-end customer experience across the customer lifecycle journey plays a crucial role in mitigating customer churn and ensuring customer loyalty. Retailers must leverage data analytics technologies to understand customer behaviour and preferences to provide tailor-made personalized offers or product recommendations in each stage of the customer lifecycle journey.

Advanced payment solutions

Frictionless payments or digital payment terminals enable consumers to move from cashless to cardless, significantly reducing transaction times.

Customer service

Advancement in artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies has changed customer care interaction by automating routine services which don’t require human intervention. Using a digital bot powered by AI & ML technologies enable retailers to answer standard questions, handle returns, help customers with product specification queries, etc. efficiently and thus improving the customer experience.

Digital transformation is key to success for retailers, perform or perish

Hyper-personalized customer experience stands tall in this digital economy. To win the modern customer, retailers must create a superior shopping experience that sets them apart from the competition. They must establish an exceptional omnichannel experience irrespective of the channels to win retail customers.

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Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Digital Lending, Marketing

Sarabi Tech and StreetGooser announces strategic partnership

Nairobi & Bangalore – Jul. 20, 2022 – Sarabi Tech and StreetGooser are pleased to announce they have entered into a strategic partnership, combining Sarabi Tech’s cloud computing technology services with StreetGooser’s world class Accommodation Management Software and next-gen technology services.

With technology playing an increasingly critical role in every aspect of business, companies recognize that they need to accelerate the development of digital solutions to ensure they remain on the competitive vanguard.

The Sarabi–StreetGooser partnership brings together deep skills in business and technology strategy, cloud computing, technology development and deployment, and organizational change management to help support clients through successful transformations. 

“The Sarabi-StreetGooser partnership is a powerful combination. StreetGooser’s understanding of complex digital product interactions, its deep engineering expertise, and Agile, collaborative approach is uniquely complimentary to how the Sarabi team works. We believe this helps to generate industry leading technology products and platforms,” said Peter Mukulu, Sarabi Tech Company’s founder and Chief Executive Officer. “With 14 sales offices across Africa, along with close-to-client locations in East Africa, West Africa and South Africa and the added capabilities of over 50 StreetGooser employees, this partnership will allow us to drive far more business impact for our clients.”

“Partnering with Sarabi Tech to deliver transformation for our clients will allow us to provide the very best business, travel technology solutions on which we’ll conceive, design, and build the next generation of transformative enterprise and digital products and platforms,” said John Varghese, StreetGooser CEO. “Together, working as one team, we will unlock the full potential of digital transformations and place our clients on the best path for success in the new digital business landscape.”

Additionally, StreetGooser will become part of the Sarabi Alliance Ecosystem, a network of partnerships that provides proprietary access to tools, technologies, and delivery capabilities that help Sarabi teams deliver breakthrough client results.

By virtually connecting Sarabi Tech’s more than 20 consultants with StreetGooser’s deep next-gen technology and engineering expertise, the collaboration represents a step-change in the way both businesses address the needs of the market.

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Posted on Author Peter Mukulu Categories Learning Management, Logistics & Mobility

Redefining the real estate landscape: Proptech

Accelerated adoption and advancements in the latest technologies have disrupted the way organizations across industries do business. However, unlike retail, healthcare, or transportation, the real-estate sector has been considered a laggard in technology adoption. According to the latest report, Emerging Trends in Real Estate by PwC, COVID-19 has accelerated change in the real estate industry, focusing on social justice and safety, and wellness amid a backdrop of economic uncertainty. Real estate industry players invest and adopt accelerated digital transformation to stay ahead of the competition and ensure business resilience in a technology-dominated future market. Proptech is gaining momentum and is redefining the traditional way of buying, selling, renting, and investing in real estate.    

What is Proptech?  

Proptech refers to the practice of incorporating technology into the real estate industry. Proptech players are committed to creating efficient & customized digital solutions for real estate developers, investors, insurance providers, brokers, and property management companies. This cross-industry technology collaboration is set to change the way people research, rent, buy, sell, manage, and invest in real estate.  

Image Source: Proptech Capital

Here is a list of Proptech technologies redefining the real estate industry: 

Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning  

AI and machine learning-enabled platforms allow enterprises to make insightful decisions. Processing a huge amount of available data enables companies to personalize and offer properties based on individual customer preferences, personality traits, and values, rather than just geographic location or size. It can also analyze and predict any safety hazard or construction defects, saving time and money. It also helps enterprises foresee future competition concerning any geography by evaluating the probability of occurrence of relevant events such as changes in the demographic pattern of the micro-market, income distribution of individuals in the vicinity, project viability in the future. Furthermore, correctly trained and designed Artificial Intelligence & Machine Learning algorithms are helpful to determine the property valuation and help predict the pricing trends more precisely.  

Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality  

The digital era has changed customer behaviour – people now search online before making any purchase. Potential real estate buyers are no exception. Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality technologies open a new arena for real estate providers to make the buying experience more exciting and accessible. Maintaining a demo project has been a pain for real estate developers, costing them time and money. AR/VR enables them to create and conduct virtual tours of properties for their potential customers, which will allow them to experience the final product even before construction begins from the comfort of their own homes. This will also benefit long-distance customers who can’t physically visit the project. Real estate providers can use virtual tours that detail various parameters of the property, such as temperature control, safety precautions, community guidelines and help them get acquainted with the property well in advance. Virtual tours can also provide a realistic view of the project to the prospective customer. Their expectations are set before project initiation and can help deliver the final project by meeting the customer’s expectations.  

Robotic Process Automation  

Real estate and property management involve multiple documents that are data-heavy & rules-based, which reduces the productivity of employees and the business. Real estate companies can now bank on robotic process automation to automate these rule-based tasks and enable valuable human resources to focus on business-critical functions. Real estate operations such as tenant onboarding, portfolio management, payment reminders, NAV calculations, KYC compliances, maintenance scheduling, work orders, listing management, rent management, etc., can be automated leveraging RPA. Focusing on business-critical functions, such as interacting directly with potential buyers and sellers, enhances the probability of more closed deals, resulting in positive revenue growth. RPA improves transparency and visibility into various business processes, thus enabling realtors faster and wiser property management.  

Internet of Things (IoT)  

The Internet of Things (IoT) is helping the real estate industry grow and manage businesses more efficiently than ever before. IoT devices can send alerts and notifications to tenants or property managers in case of a safety hazard or other emergency issues. They can also keep track of maintenance history, identify potential problems and allow for predictive maintenance. IoT devices can also help property managers understand tenant behaviour and preferences to improve properties and provide a superior customer experience. Before making a purchase, any prospective customer or tenant can evaluate the property’s history on maintenance, electric works, plumping, fire incidents, etc., through its connected IoT devices. Processing the immense variety of data available from IoT sensors through advanced analytics poses the enormous potential to offer meaningful & valuable insights that will change the way real estate works.  

The Future of Proptech  

The Proptech ecosystem is rising and will undoubtedly continue to grow, with budding start-ups becoming larger, global enterprises. Proptech will redefine the real estate industry, just like FinTech transformed financial services and InsurTech transformed insurance services. For real estate organizations to thrive and prosper in the increasingly digitalized future, understanding and effectively utilizing Proptech solutions is the way ahead.   

 

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