Feeling down? Maybe a chatbot can help

22

October

2017

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A lot of people do not seek help for issues such as anxiety and depression due to different reasons. Visiting therapists may be shameful for some, while the costs of therapy are also a barrier for others. Depression unfortunately is now the world’s leading cause of ill health and disability (Entis, 2017). Half of people experiencing symptoms do not receive proper care and in countries with lower incomes this number is around 80 to 90%. But what if we can use AI to reduce these numbers?

Researchers at Stanford University have developed a Facebook chatbot offering an interactive form of therapy. The ‘Woebot’ follows a series of predetermined steps to identify unhealthy ways of thinking and uses psychological insights and natural language technology to interact and deliver empathy just as a human therapist would (Knight, 2017). This could be helpful, especially for younger people and students, who are increasingly suffering from mental illnesses. As this generation has fewer reservations using internet and social media, a virtual therapist would be more helpful than going through self-help (work)books for instance.

Although virtual therapists tend to be unskillful in their answers, tests done with Woebot suggest this virtual therapist is relatively good at handling this issue. It understands a wide range of answers and guides the user through the process in a conversational manner. This aspect is crucial, as most people dealing with some issues primarily seek an environment in which they could talk and get someone to listen to them. In a study published by the developers, they found that Woebot has been able to reduce symptoms of depression in students over a period of two weeks.

However, the researchers do advise to seek help from a real person as the technology would work best combined with help from a real person. I think it is interesting to see what developments on this area will deliver in the future as the AI language advances. What are your opinions on virtual therapists, would you recommend someone to use it or not, and why?

References:

Knight, W. (2017). Andrew Ng Has a Chatbot That Can Help with Depression [online]. Retrieved October 22, 2017 from https://www.technologyreview.com/s/609142/andrew-ng-has-a-chatbot-that-can-help-with-depression/

Entis, L. (2017). Depression Is Now the World’s Most Widespread Illness [online]. Retrieved October 22, 2017 from http://fortune.com/2017/03/30/depression-rate/

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Digital Strategy Project – HTC [Group 57]

20

October

2017

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For our Digital Strategy Project, we conducted an in-depth analysis of the HTC Corporation and formulated a new digital strategy to transform the company in the next 5 years. The main aspects touched upon are the history of HTC as a company, the company industry operates, the current business and digital strategy of the company, a new digital strategy proposal, a set of digital initiatives that will allow the proposed new digital strategy to be carried out, and finally a few managerial recommendations.

HTC is a Taiwanese consumer electronics manufacturer that originally started designing handheld devices for other brands such as Microsoft. It is until 2007 that HTC started to offer smartphones to the market with its own branding. With many pioneering innovations HTC was in 2011 shortly the largest smartphone seller in the U.S. However, things started to go downhill for HTC during 2012. HTC has seen its market share of high-end mobile phone device diminish due to the increased popularity of Apple and Samsung, and in the mid and low-end portions of the market, the emergence of players like Huawei and Xiaomi.

The current business can be divided into the HTC brand and the Powered by HTC division. While the HTC brand can be divided into the core smartphone business and diversification efforts grouped under Connected devices. Since 2014, HTC has begun to diversify its product offerings by entering new markets. As a first effort in the domain of wearables, HTC has launched the UA Healthbox. The company also entered the field of virtual reality (VR) in 2015 with the HTC VIVE.

HTC’s new product strategy in the company’s biggest business, the smartphone business, is to develop high quality mid- to top tier smartphones. HTC’s smartphones are brought to the customer primarily through partnerships with global telecom operators. The company has a routine of developing separate marketing campaigns for each new flagship and product line, and name changing is a frequent used tactic in marketing efforts. HTC’s focus on R&D is clearly visible in the number of innovations and ‘firsts’ the company has had. This production process is achieved with a customized pull strategy allowing the company to fast design the demanded products, which in turn reduces its production costs.

There are three key areas where HTC can leverage its innovative engineering capabilities. Firstly, the upcoming VR technology offers a wide range of possible applications besides consumer applications. Secondly, venturing into the domain of Internet of Things (IoT) can be a reasonable plan to ensure HTC’s survival. The interconnected world of today in increasingly including more physical objects expected to reach at least 50 billion in the next decade with huge economic impact. Lastly, commercial applications of 3D printing, best known as additive manufacturing in the business sphere can provide several benefits in the manufacturing process not only making production of components faster and cheaper but also offers a whole new dimension of product customization.

On the other hand, there are imminent threats highlighting need for improvement of company weaknesses. In terms of financial power, the biggest players in the smartphone market, Apple and Monetary prowess gives these big players the ability to obtain resources and competitive advantages that HTC cannot compete with. Nevertheless, the source of HTC’s low brand awareness has a lot to do with the marketing strategy the company has employed with its smartphone business. Countless devices released in all segments in short periods of time midsize and high value smartphones often have similar product names, is a strategy that did not lead to favorable results for the company.

Assessing developments in HTC’s environment and the company’s current condition we formulate a new digital strategy for the company that primarily aims to reinforce the competitive position of the company in the core smartphone business and provide additional promotion and popularization of the promising VR business. So, the new digital strategy consists of two key components:

1. Implementation of 3D printing preserving differentiation when limiting number of smartphone products
2. Utilization of HTC VIVE Virtual Reality for an experiential marketing approach promoting smartphone and VR business

Given the state of business HTC is currently in, customer demand and the disruptive power and benefits additive manufacturing offers we argue for application of this manufacturing technique. Because it is impossible to turnaround the strategy of a company of the size of HTC overnight, we recommend starting with a small part of production. There is an increasing demand for customized products that are tailored specifically for a customer. Customization of design is an effective way to satisfy customer demand and gain brand loyalty. By offering mass customization of the looks of the phone, HTC offers a personalized phone and enables personalized brand experiences.

HTC entered the VR business because it promises to be a lucrative market. Unfortunately, the total market growth has failed to meet expectations, the short-term adoption is not going to be as strong as predicted, and VR/AR is not expected to be as disruptive as mobile phones. However, next to just selling its VR/AR VIVE equipment, HTC could apply this technique to enhance the proposed (mass) customization strategy and additive manufacturing initiative. First, it offers to promote the customization initiative of its smartphones. The second benefit is that it also offers consumers the opportunity to see/experience the customized phone before ordering.

The proposed digital initiatives have a good fit with the current business model considering HTC is very good at manufacturing and designing phones and can build on its production and design strengths with the proposed strategy and digital initiatives. Strengthening the HTC brand, promoting the customization initiative of its smartphones and improving the customer experience.

Finally, we recommend HTC managers to leverage the company’s capabilities by applicating the stated initiatives assuming the financial means are sufficient, and the minor health risks associated with VR are easily controlled.

Reference:
HTC Digital Strategy Project (2017), Group 57.

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Technology of the week – Disruption in the Art Auction Industry [Group 57]

13

October

2017

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Auctions are one of the first methods of trading goods and services and has come a long way from where it began. Although art was one of the first industries to go online, the art auction industry has proven to be resistant to technological change.

The traditional art auctions take place at the respective auction houses, a business model that drives up costs due to for example high costs of real estate and personnel, while also restricting the number of people able to attend auctions due to the travel time and costs. Besides that, potential buyers mainly take notice of the available collection through lavish and costly paper catalogues (Farago, 2015). To attract high value customers, auction houses regularly offer free trips and dinners with the intent to land the more expensive sales.

With the advent of the internet it has become easier for new players to enter the market. Internet also offers sellers an immense reach while also giving buyers the possibility to browse through a large amount of available works. A few players have emerged hosting online-only art auctions in two different forms: consignment and partnership auction models (Chen, 2016). In the consignment model the auctioneer takes (physical) ownership of the collection whereas in the partnership model the auctioneer provides just the platform, with no inventory and storage costs. It is the latter that can present wide ranging collection at a low cost, a long tail effect in the auction market.

However, the duopoly of the art auction market, Christie’s and Sotheby’s has been relatively slow in moving towards the online auction business. Although they adopted a brick and clicks model the online auctions are still simply an extension of the traditional business model. But this position is not sustainable anymore (Jeffreys, 2017). The art auction industry is newly vulnerable because technology has reduced the cost for an extensive global reach. It has become attractive to attack considering the solidifying profitability of the lower and middle segment is, while the high-end segment (focus of the duopoly) is losing margin. The strategy of the duopolies makes it difficult for them to defend their position in the middle-range art market.

While the total value of the art market is going down, the online art market is growing and expected to reach $9.6 billion in 2020 (Karabell, 2016). Online auction platforms like Paddle8 and the Fine Art Bourse bring a new wave of disruption to the art auction industry. By eliminating physical catalogues, auctions and possession of works, the new players can keep the costs down and lower seller and buyer premiums with 15 to 20% compared to traditional auction houses. New, younger customers in a growing lower and middle segment are attracted by with getting well known artists and brands on their platform.

Younger customers will most likely never attend a physical auction, but are willing to buy artworks without hassle. So, it seems like the impact of internet on the auction industry will intensify in the future.

Chen, Y. W. (2016). Attention Economy: The Impact of Digital Marketing on Online Auction Business.

Farago, J. (2015). Going, going, gone: how Sotheby’s and Christie’s still lose out on big sales. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2015/jan/30/how-auction-houses-christies-and-sotheby-lose-money

Jeffreys, T. (2017). Why the fine art auction world is in flux. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/art/barnebys-auctions/why-fine-art-auction-world-is-in-flux/

Karabell, S. (2016). The Internet Shakes Up the Art Market. Retrieved October 3, 2017 from https://www.strategy-business.com/blog/The-Internet-Shakes-Up-the-Art-Market?gko=344c3

Picture from: http://www.artmarketmonitor.com/2013/10/09/golden-week-in-hong-kong-735m-in-art-auctioned/

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Giants of digital disruption: from heroes to villains?

9

October

2017

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As of September 30th, Uber’s license to operate in London has come to an end. The Transport for London (TfL) described the company’s ‘lack of corporate responsibility’ as the reason to why their license will not be renewed (Doward, Obordo & Siddiqui, 2017). Since the announcement more than 850000 Londoners have signed a petition calling for this decision to be overturned (change.org, 2017).

The ban comes after growing concerns regarding driver and passenger safety on Uber rides. Uber has reportedly failed to disclose allegations of assault on its drivers to the police and there was a 50% rise in sexual offences where Uber was mentioned. Besides safety issues there has been disagreements on whether Uber drivers are self-employed or normal employees. Uber has also been put on a list of companies that label their workforce as self-employed but have similar rights and responsibilities of full time workers, meaning these workers are entitled to employee benefits they are not receiving. These are just some of the practices regarded as instances of an aggressive corporate culture worrying regulators in the UK.

The Uber app is still controversial in many parts of the world. There is a number of countries where the service has been suspended or completely banned. This also coupled with court cases pending in courtrooms worldwide (Rhodes, 2017). But discontent from regulators appears to be an increasing phenomenon, not only for Uber but also for other giants such as Google, Facebook and Amazon. While the usual concerns about the size of these companies and their lack of competition are intensifying, the pressure for regulation comes mainly from the potential influence they exert on politics. The lacking transparency of online advertising on the dominant information platforms, Google and Facebook is one particular source of concern.

Since the 2016 election and the allegations of possible Russian influence of these information platforms on the public opinion, both parties in Congress has been pushing to further regulate technology companies. Paid advertisements on Facebook on Google are particularly concerning to them parties because unlike advertisements via traditional channels, there is no registration of who has bought political ads and how much has been paid for them (Jacobs, 2017). Because the dominant firms control most of the information on the internet, democracy and free speech may be negatively affected according to tech platform skeptics.

Personally, I think a global debate on the regulation of these tech platforms should indeed be initiated. With the tremendous growth they are experiencing we need make sure there is no room for abuse of power. At the same time hasty actions like the London decision on Uber will do more harm than good. Clearer playing rules should be put in place with financial penalties in case of violation. We should not forget the value of these platforms for its users and the general economy. What are your thoughts on this issue?

Change.org (2017). Save your Uber in London. Retrieved from https://www.change.org/p/save-your-uber-in-london-saveyouruber [Accessed 9 October 2017]

Doward, J., Obordo, R. and Siddiqui, S. (2017). Why Uber’s fate could herald backlash against ‘digital disruptors’. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/23/uber-transport-for-london-tfl-drivers-hardship-sadiq-khan-supports banutm_source=esp&utm_medium=Email&utm_campaign=GU+Today+main+NEW+H+categories&utm_term=245051&subid=17267226&CMP=EMCNEWEML6619I2 [Accessed 9 October 2017]

Jacobs, B. (2017). DC eyes tighter regulations on Facebook and Google as concern grows. Retrieved from https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2017/sep/17/dc-eyes-tighter-regulations-on-facebook-and-google-as-concern-grows [Accessed 9 October 2017]

Rhodes, A. (2017). These are all the places in the world that have banned Uber. Retrieved from http://www.independent.co.uk/travel/news-and-advice/uber-ban-countries-where-world-taxi-app-europe-taxi-us-states-china-asia-legal-a7707436.html [Accessed 9 October 2017]

Picture from https://www.123rf.com/stock-photo/economic_sanctions.html

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