With every passing day, technology is getting more ubiquitous and pervasive. Apart from being affordable, these new technology developments are damn helpful in reducing the complexity and achieving business excellence. Some exciting new dimensions of information technology are adding great value to the businesses and are compelling the CIOs to think beyond the obvious, out of the box. One such technology DynamicCIO.com is keenly following is Internet of Things (IoT). We have published a series of blogs on IoT in the past. In the series, DynamicCIO.com spoke to Inder Mohan Singh, VP of Software Engineering at iYogi about different dimensions of IoT and the company's strategy for harnessing its potential. Excerpts:
DC: What are your views on changing computing landscape because of the intervention of IoT (Internet of Things)?
IMS: IoT refers to the objects, which are unique, and their virtual presence is linked to the Internet with wired or wireless connectivity. IoT enabled products are aiding the OEMs and manufacturers in designing more consumer focused products, as these products sends out more and more data about the product usage and efficiency. As per Gartner forecasts, there will be around 26 billion devices on the Internet of Things by 2020.
Considering the current trends of IoT, data has become the new currency. The accelerated rate of IoT adoption will make data analytics as one of the key functions of IT across industries and products. This is a virtual treasure of usage information for consumer intelligence as this helps the product design and service improve over time.
With the adoption of near field communication by the devices, connectivity like RFID, QR Codes, Barcodes etc. is gaining popularity across various industries including Healthcare, Automobile, Retail and Manufacturing and individual homes, etc.
DC: In the changing times when customer engagement and customer service are taking new dimensions, how will the IT organizations ensure they stay on top of customer requests and demands and do not add to the complexity of IT?
IMS: Undoubtedly, with the adoption of IoT the IT infrastructure of organisations will get more complex. Organizations will need to provision for influx of data that is coming from customers and their usage patterns, which will include increased investment in data management process like storage, process creation for leveraging on the data, create service tickets, allocate representatives etc. and deploying resources in understanding the data to derive trends and gain insights.
While the sensors on the products are going to be built by each company; IT can simplify some of the challenges by deploying solutions to manage the data coming from IoT enabled products. With the iYogi's proprietary platform, Digital Service Cloud (DSC) which is a SaaS platform that documents every problem, solution and hardware/software specs to create a behavioral profile, these problems can be addressed easily.DSC would not only act as repository for all data but will also provide analytics, enabling operations and marketing teams can take actions based on data coming in without involvement of IT.
With the help of all these information a comprehensive set of tools and tech expertise that can be accessed anytime and avoids the complexities of working with multiple service providers.
DC: How can IoT technologies deliver better, faster and more reliable service to its customers as compared to the traditional service offering?
IMS: IoT offers proactive customer service instead of today's reactive approach. With IoT, the usage of the product is not unknown anymore. Which features of the product are most beneficial, which feature malfunctions the most, usage pattern of the product, which customer is a power user of the product and who uses the product only once in a while, etc. all these questions will get answered in a scientific and quantitative manner. With this database, the complete customer service and produce design paradigm will change.
With the invasion of IoT, cars can update you with its fuel status, whether it is running out of gas or it has already run out of it. Same could be possible for a washing machine motor or refrigerator's compressor. With IoT, all these opportunities are opening up, to enable a true digital lifestyle experience.
DC: Describe the Digital Service Cloud (DSC) and how is it going to leverage the IoT technologies to create a very different experience?
In this era of now-so-ubiquitous heterogeneous technology environment, people own different types of devices that result in a lot of interoperability challenges, creating a need for tech support. iYogi offers a wide range of services that are brand and platform agnostic, which makes it a one-stop-shop for customers tech support needs. The service provided to the customers is based on iYogi's proprietary platform Digital Service Cloud. Based on the interactions with customers and a current knowledge base of servicing over 2.5 million customers, the iYogi tech platform creates a different and personalized experience with each customer interaction. It documents every problem, solution and hardware/software specs to create a behavioral profile. All this information provides a strong knowledge base with a comprehensive set of tools and tech expertise that can be accessed anytime and avoids the complexities of working with multiple service providers.
IoT device manufacturers can incorporate DSC technology, so that each of their sensors can send data directly to the DSC platform. With this, the device manufactures can stay focused on designing and enhancing the core sensor capabilities instead of focusing only on the capability of analysing big data.
DSC can also create rules on top of the sensor events, so that an email can be send once it is time to service the AC; or an automatic support ticket can be send once the refrigerator compressor malfunctions. DSC also provides apps to end customers to see usage information of their devices. Customer Support Team of device manufacturers can use the usage trends by the customer while they are providing support.
DC: How can DSC be used in various industry domains? Which industry domains does it service and how?
iYogi's Digital Service Cloud (DSC), intelligently monitors and manages devices, enabling global brands, telcos, and service providers to manage large-scale customer service deployments and redefine the end-user experience.
DSC has taken the IoT to the next level by leveraging the vast amounts of data it collects, unifying IoT-driven tasks into a common service platform, and delivering a new layer of customer intelligence for enterprises.With automated, IoT-enabled service delivery and synchronized customer intelligence that facilitates a better understanding of the customer, the ultimate goals of global brands are better fulfilled.
The platform creates a unified interface for the delivery of convenience to customers, knowledge to marketers, and efficiency to the operations personnel.DSC offers the experience of successfully managing high value customer relationships and enables high customer satisfaction ratings in the industry.
Digital Service Cloud (DSC) leverages technology to redefine customer experiences and enables -
1. OEMs and software publishers to maximize the customer lifetime value and reduce costs
2. Telcos to transform service delivery and enhance the customer experience
3. Retailers to deliver brand-independent tech support services
4. Real estate developers to create a greater customer value and product differentiation for home buyers
5. Business benefits of DSC apply across verticals, helping to create smarter, connected homes and offices, more efficient energy systems, smarter cars, and more. Partnering with real estate developers, the platform's home automation solution makes smart homes affordable for consumers, creating greater value and product differentiation.
DC: What's the model of use for the potential buyers of this service?
DSC is a SaaS based platform that offers out-of-the-box integration with existing systems including ERP, telephony and analytics. Moreover, it can be deployed across multiple contact centers.
Via DynamicCIO
Rahul Neel Mani
