No ratings yet.

How many times were you asked to fill a survey after a night in a hotel to express your impressions on the hotel? After completion of the service, the majority of companies are interested in your experience. However, most of the time those surveys are long, irritating, too detailed. No one wants to answer a 15 pages survey to explain that they did like the hotel, but just had some issues with the cleaning. It’s too time-consuming, so the majority of the people either skip the entire survey or don’t take the time to answer trustfully. In this case, there is no value creation for the company nor the customer.

Social Media and Feedback

This is why nowadays, customers are prone to use Twitter or other social media to vent. It’s an easy process, where in just 2 minutes you can comment on your entire experience with the company. For companies, this new practice can bring huge benefices and create competitive advantages. Indeed, by accessing customer feedback on social media, they have access to the true experience of costumers, so it is the best way to get authentic feedback to guarantee the improvement of their product or service. And it works, on average, companies that listen to the voice of the customer are 5 to 6% more profitable than other forms of companies. This trend is only going to increase since customers are demanding more tailored and personalized products and services. Said like this, everything thing sounds easy.

Sentiment Analysis

However, for a large company, the interactions on social media with customers can amount to thousands of posts per hour. The problem is that there is too much information and it would be overwhelming to humanly process everything. Having employees reading all the posts and categorize their content is simply inefficient. This is why more and more companies are now using sentiment analysis or emotion AI to define what was said in the post. Those types of software are trained using thousands of data points to see if it is positive or negative information, and what type of data it encompasses. Currently, we are still at the beginning of this technology. It’s business potential, however, should not be overlooked.

Indeed, this innovation is so attractive, that Twitter is actively promoting it. On its website, the company provides examples of how McDonald’s and Chick-fil-a used this feature to increase customer satisfaction. Using software to perform this task is going to revolution decisionmaking since the amount of available feedback to companies will pass from a few hundred to thousands or more. Value creation for customers will thus be more tailored, raising their overall satisfaction.

Conclusion

To survive, companies will need to data a more data- and customer-center approach. Social media interactions will provide a large number of data points on customer experience to companies. Refusing to invest the resource to access customer data will lead many companies out-of-business since they will lose touch with customer needs.

References

https://data.twitter.com/en/solutions/customer-sentiment-analysis-social-listening

No ratings yet.

Smart cities are cities that integrate digital infrastructures to provide more efficient or new services to their citizens. One example of such initiatives was imagined by Sidewalk Labs, an affiliate from Google, for the city of Toronto under the name Quayside. This initiative aimed to develop a city that considers the 9th following dimensions: Google’s vision of a city, an “internet-first” community, a technology playground, a fully integrated public transportation system, social housing that is also desirable, a new Canadian Google headquarters, 44,000 jobs, a green city initiative, and a public-private partnership on data. All those dimensions assured huge advantages for the city of Toronto and its citizens. However, even though the advantages of Quayside were very promising, this initiative was canceled on the 7th of May 2020. What are the reasons to justify this cancellation?

Case

According to the CEO of Sidewalk, the reason behind this abandonment is due to the “unprecedented economic uncertainty has set in around the world and in the Toronto real estate market, it has become too difficult to make the 12-acre project financially viable without sacrificing core parts of the plan we had developed”. However, according to many dissidents to the project, one of the main issues related to the initiative was the problem of data privacy. Indeed, to guarantee the viability of the initiative, a large amount of data from the citizens need to be gathered and processed. Sensors, cameras, connected houses, and many other IoT were supposed to be used to allow the overall ecosystem to operate efficiently. This, however, would have come at the cost of privacy rights and the destruction of the personal sphere.

Many concerns were raised since it meant that Sidewalk had access to a large amount of personal data on the inhabitants, which could raise many democratic and legal issues. For instance, Jim Balsillie, the co-founder of BlackBerry maker Research, called this project “a colonizing experiment in surveillance capitalism attempting to bulldoze important urban, civic and political issues”. The issue of data privacy is not something that should be taken lightly, and the companies and government have a role in assuring that users are aware of the data they are sharing. Sidewalk was aware of this importance since they tried to address the concerns of the dissidents by assuring their transparency and their good intentions.

It, however, failed to reassure anyone and the lack of trust in Sidewalk undermined any possible development. The following aspects, especially, were not transparent enough. First, the importance of anonymizing data from users. According to a Sidewalk consultant, Sidewalk didn’t assure that third parties involved will have to follow this principle. Second, Sidewalk proposed to create an independent trust to manage the data. Critics, however, were not convinced by the design, and not enough information about the data plan was provided. Third, according to Canadian laws, Sidewalk was not forced to store data locally, making it a risk of international access. Finally, dissidents were afraid that Alphabet, the owner of Sidewalk would have access to too precise information and it would come at the costs of the customers.

Conclusion

Smart-cities could provide solutions to many social and environmental challenges. But, for the moment, there is a lot of grey areas related to their development, especially connected to data privacy rights. Companies who want to invest in this new industry will have to carefully earn the trust of the citizens and other stakeholders, to be sure that they are willing to share their data with them.

References

https://www.forbes.com/sites/johnkoetsier/2020/05/13/9-things-we-lost-when-google-canceled-its-smart-cities-project-in-toronto/#3b39dd8435bf

https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2020/may/07/google-sidewalk-labs-toronto-smart-city-abandoned

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/canada/toronto/article-sidewalk-labs-quayside-toronto-waterfront-explainer/

No ratings yet.

Nigeria is a complex country that triggers many fears and hopes for the world of tomorrow. On one side, the country is unstable as shown by appalling statistics, which continuously rank Nigeria as one of the poorest countries worldwide. According to a recent report, Nigeria is the world’s 20th poorest country in connection to its extremely low level of GDP per capita. Furthermore, 46% of its population is currently living below the poverty line, and can only survive day by day. One the other side, Nigeria is one of the largest African economies, with a rising digital community and an engaging start-up ecosystem. Both sides of the country are accurate and need to be considered when analyzing the Nigerian case. However, for many Nigerian, the solution to the challenges the country is facing could be found in this new digital industry. 

The Digital Community in Nigeria:

Nigeria is an African country inhabited by 182 million people. Half of this population is younger than 30 and this young population is eager to work in the start-up community. Indeed, a recent survey indicated that 82% of the youngs interviewed would confidently consider a career as an entrepreneur. The motivation from the population is positively influencing the rising digital community. Indications of this statement can be found in the following examples:

• Between 2015 and 2017, Nigerian fintech managed to raise 100 million dollars in investment. 
• The rise of the ICT sectors’ impacts on the Nigerian GDP passed from 1% in 2001 to 10% in 2018.
• The presence of 55 tech hubs, such as incubators or accelerators in the country, to support this growing community of digital start-ups. 
• In 2019, Interswitch, a Nigerian start-up specialized in electronic payment and digital commerce, was the first African start-up to reach 1 billion dollars of market capitalization on the London Stock Exchange. 
• 122 million internet users are in Nigeria, the biggest internet community in Africa

What is next?

This new paradigm is expected to positively influence the Nigerian society. It will not be an easy road since Nigeria still faces many challenges connected to its undeveloped economic situation, its high level of corruption, and its complex social issues. However, more and more organizations are becoming interested in this untapped market. Organizations, such as Amazon and Facebook, are now investing in Nigeria and this trend is not expected to slow down. Nigeria might not become the next Silicon Valley overnight, however it would be unwise to ignore this new digital player. 

References:

https://www.cgdev.org/reader/new-economy-africa-opportunities-nigerias-emerging-technology-sector?page=0

https://spendmenot.com/blog/poorest-countries-in-the-world/

 

A few things we learned about tech hubs in Africa and Asia

Africa, Nigeria, and their growing tech communities

No ratings yet.

According to a survey from the Asia-Europe Foundation published in 2015, to reach the 17 SDGs by 2030, a yearly investment of USD 5 to USD 7 trillion is required. To attain this level of investment, the financial industry will need to restructure itself to answer to the new sustainable conditions. There is, however, a challenge with regards to those new sustainable conditions: The financial industry is facing a lack of available and comprehensive data relative to SDGs and sustainability. The reason for this situation is that companies are not openly sharing about the impact of their operations on the environment or the society. Furthermore, the ones that are sharing about those elements usually use an internal methodology, reducing comparability among companies. This is translated into the financial industry by a shortage of sustainable investments since investors don’t have access to the tools needed to make transparent and informed decisions.

Definition

Digital sustainable finance refers to the inclusion of digital tools used for the integration of sustainability into the financial industry. This new approach could offer modern solutions to the financial industry and thus support its actors who are interested in sustainable investing. One specific aspect that could be interesting for investors is the ESG (Environment, Social, and Governance) data reports. This method is usually based on the aggregation of data from various sources to provide an overall sustainable grade to each company. By combining data from different actors, those reports can provide a transparent tool for customers. They can also increase comparison since they offer the same format for all their customers.

Case

The case of Refinitiv can be used as an example of how ESG data reports are redefining the status quo within the financial market. Refinitiv is a fintech company that provides various digital products to financial consumers who are interested in building their innovative strategy. One of their services focuses on ESG  investing by offering complete ESG reports on 80% of all publicly traded companies. In order to offer this service, Refinitiv is aggregating data from various sources such as the company’s annual report, its website, NGO reports, CSR reports, in addition to 450 other data points to provide a more complete view of the ESG impact of a company. This new strategy appears to be functioning since, in one year, Refinitiv allocated 150 employees to work in this new segment.

Conclusion

Digital sustainable finance is an important improvement for financial investors since the challenge for sustainable finance is the lack of data relative to the ESG position of a company. Therefore, to help companies transition from a linear economy to a circular, inclusive economy, new data models and technologies are needed. There is still a lot to do in order to reach the USD 5 trillion needed yearly. However, ESG investing is becoming more and more attractive to investors thank to the use of digital tools and data analytics.

References

https://www.refinitiv.com/en/sustainable-finance/esg-investing

https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2020/01/sustainable-finance-starts-with-data/

Asia-Europe Foundation (2015), Who Will Pay for the SDGs?, ASEF

5/5 (1)

Blockchain is driving tremendous changes within our economy and our society. This is quite impressive considering that almost no one understands how it truly functions. And yet, even though the technical aspects of this technology are still not comprehensive to the majority, its practical aspects are discussed by almost all industries. Everyone wants to be profit from this new technology and wants to use it to its advantage. An area, in particular, would benefit greatly from investing in this new innovation: supply chain management.

The importance of transparency in business operations is continuously highlighted as a key element for success. According to a study from Label Insight, 94% of the participants indicated that transparency is a fundamental aspect of their loyalty, and 73% of the participants stated that they would agree to pay more for a product that offers complete transparency. Therefore, companies must guarantee total transparency of their operations to maintain competitive advantages and to avoid losing costumers. And this is where the use of blockchain becomes interesting.

The reason for this statement is that in recent years customers have witnessed countless examples of abuses from companies. Those examples range from multinationals who are accused of using slaves in their supply chain to pick up coffee, to fishing companies who use illegal and unethical methods to capture and process fishes. The issue here is that most of those companies have extremely competent marketing or public resources departments, who are talented in minimizing any unethical behaviors. This aspect makes it complicated for customers to know what he or she is consuming. Currently, there is no centralized auditing which could help highlight those kinds of behaviors and thus assure customers on the quality of the products they are buying. Blockchain, as a decentralized system, could provide a part of the solution.

With the use of blockchain, consumers have the possibility to evaluate each product, before the purchase, using a QR code. The QR code can provide all the information on the goods from the harvesting of the ingredients or fabrics to its delivery to the customers. The case of the Blockchain Tuna Project from WWF is an interesting example of such an application. As soon as the fish has been fished, a tag is inserted to register it on the database. Whenever the fish passes by a new point of the value chain, the tag is scanned to indicate that it was indeed processed at this step. Due to the decentralized nature of blockchain, consumers will have the guarantee that the information they access was not modified and will thus be able to see who was involved at each step of the supply chain process. This technic should help limit slavery and child-labor practices.

Example of such applications can be found in the following examples: WWF and the Blockchain Tuna Project, Diamond from De Beers, Fashion from Martine Jarlgaard, Wine from TagItSmart, and many others

References:

https://www2.deloitte.com/us/en/pages/operations/articles/blockchain-supply-chain-innovation.html

 

https://www.entrepreneur.com/article/295739

https://www.wwf.org.nz/what_we_do/marine/blockchain_tuna_project/

Melville, J. (2020) From Bean to Brew: The Hidden Cost of Coffee Slavery, BylineTimes

Blockchain In the Supply Chain: 10 Real-Life Use Cases and Examples

 

5/5 (2)

For someone accustomed to seeing Data as lines and columns in an Excel spreadsheet, this statement can be quite surprising. But, when Data is used to create Digital Installations, its real beauty becomes apparent and tangible. Digital Installations are pieces of art where the environment evolves with the artistic performance to create a unique, dynamic, and immersive experience. In this setting, the viewer can experience the art moving in synergy with the music, with its movements, or with the movements of another person to create new artistic patterns. The viewer is not any more simply a bystander that is here to appreciate the art of someone else, he is now embedded into the art itself. This completely changes the boundaries of art and the connected experience.

A pioneer of such installations is the TeamLab studio from Tokyo, Japan, who stated that they believe “that Digital Domain can Expand Art”. In their installations, the viewer can navigate through different rooms, each with its own symbolic theme. One room, for instance, has autumn leaves drifting across the place in harmony with the melody present in the room. Another room has digital animals and butterflies freely moving around. The specificity of those animals or butterflies is that they were just drawn by the viewers rendering the experience interactive and unique. It also challenges participants, to find their creation among the other ones.

Another example of such installations is now being held in Bordeaux, France, in a place called Les Bassins des Lumières. This place used to be a submarine plant that was repurposed to host the arts from the committee culturespaces. In this abandoned submarine plant, viewers can see the work of Paul Klee evolving with the music of the enchanted flute. And this is only the first part of the performance. In the second part, viewers can witness the work of Gustave Klimt becoming a living reality around them.

Digital Installations are changing the rules of the art game. Now, viewers are an integrated part of the art system and everything can become a support for artistic creation. And this is only possible thank to the use of millions of data points which are processed in harmony and synergy. So yes, Data can be beautiful.

 

References:

https://www.bassins-lumieres.com/fr/paul-klee-peindre-musique

https://www.teamlab.art/w/

What is Digital Art? Definition and Scope of the New Media from Marie Chatel