Plantronics has announced Plantronics Manager Pro v3.8 and the new Asset Analysis suite. Plantronics Manager Pro is a software subscription service that customers and partners can use to manage audio communications devices, enabling them to gain insights into their business communications processes, how to streamline them, and generate more positive outcomes such as increased first call resolution.
The Plantronics Manager Pro Asset Analysis suite allows users to:
• Track device deployment and configurations, reconfigurations, and firmware updates
• Find non-standard firmware, software, softphone, and communications client deployments
• Use user personas to define standard device settings that ensure an optimal user experience and comply with workplace security, health, and safety policies.
When analytics are built directly into business processes, it helps reduce human and financial resource expenditure. Plantronics Manager Pro with Asset Analysis enables the IT manager to quickly run an inventory report to see who has particular headsets, their operational status, and to which softphones they are connected.
One of the greatest values is seen by customers deploying new unified communications. Customers can identify user personas throughout their organisation and match the right headset to their communication styles. With Plantronics Manager Pro, they can subsequently establish the right mix of system-defined and user-defined settings and push them out to the headsets, so that on first use, everybody’s experience is customised to their requirements. This service can help speed user adoption through reports showing if and how the headsets are being used, and can ensure valid configurations. It also lets IT know things like who may benefit from additional training or configuration changes.
Plantronics Manager Pro with Asset Analysis allows contact centre managers to equip customer service representatives (CSRs) with the right tools to provide the best customer experiences. The service allows the contact centre manager to create standard configurations for the CSR workspace that foster the best customer and CSR experience, and lock them in place.
Interested?
Plantronics Manager Pro and Asset Analysis suite are available under an annual subscription from Plantronics Approved Resellers in Australia, New Zealand, and Singapore for the Asia Pacific region. The offer will be expanded globally in the coming months.
Source: Broadcast Wear website. Control what's on the shirt with an app.
Broadcast Wear has launched a touch-enabled programmable t-shirt, heralding new applications for marketing.
The Hyderabad-based company’s brainchild features a flexible, washable LED screen integrated into clothing that can be paired with the Broadcast Wear smartphone app to instantly display any text or design. The t shirt can be tapped once to switch the screen on, and then again to switch itself off.
The same t shirt could be used for different marketing campaigns, standing out well especially at night. “Broadcast Wear is the future of self-expression. It’s your digital canvas to communicate with the world. The microcontroller and Bluetooth chip in the programmable t-shirt connect wirelessly to your smartphone, so that the LEDs display anything you type,” said Broadcast Wear Founder Ayyappa Nagubandi.
Samsonite has introduced the Track&Go suitcase that is likely to reduce luggage theft by ensuring the suitcase can always be identified, similar to the way prank calls disappeared after caller ID was introduced.
The suitcase contains a Bluetooth beacon which uses Eddystone Ephemeral Identifiers (EIDs), an open privacy/security protocol by Google. Designed and manufactured by Accent Systems, the beacon enables the Track&Go suitcase. It has to be registered by the owner through the Travlr by Samsonite app, which is available free of charge. The app was launched in September 2015 to offer flight tracking, tips and reminders when travelling.
The new Track&Go feature will soon be built into the existing app, allowing users to easily check the location of the suitcase within a distance of 70m, and also be notified if it is being moved closer or further away from the user. Should the suitcase go missing, the owner can easily flag it as lost in the app. Once flagged as 'lost', the app leverages its user base to help the suitcase's owner find it. Should anyone else, using the app, pass within 70 m of a lost suitcase, an EID-based signal is picked up and triggers a notification with location and time details of the suitcase to be sent out to the owner.
According to Accent's web page, its Bluetooth low energy beacons can last up to about 100 months depending on the model and what it is used for.
"We're excited to work with Google on this project to make sure that our beacons support Eddystone EIDs. Missing or permanently lost luggage is the nightmare of every traveller. As the world's largest luggage manufacturer, we wanted to find a way to make this issue a thing of the past," says Ramesh Tainwala, CEO of Samsonite. "As Samsonite is known for its innovative and reliable luggage and bags, we also wanted to work with an equally as innovative and reliable technology partner.By leveraging Google's robust, secure and cross-platform approach, we feel confident that our customers will welcome this new solution."
Interested?
Samsonite aims to launch the first suitcases featuring the Track&Go solution in the European market at the end of 2016, followed by other international markets.
Consumer packaged goods (CPG) companies must fully embrace digital commerce or risk losing out to newer industry players in the battle for an estimated US$340 billion worth of market growth in Asia Pacific, according to Accenture.
In a new report, The future is now: understanding the new Asian consumer, Accenture estimates that the consumer goods and services industry will grow by as much as US$700 billion globally by 2020, with nearly 50%, or US$340 billion, of this growth coming from Asia—specifically China, Indonesia, India, Singapore and Thailand. China alone is expected to account for approximately US$200 billion, or 60%, of the growth in Asia.
“If CPG companies don't take action now, they risk losing out on the new generation of consumers. These companies must couple traditional models with new ones where consumer engagement is digital and one2one, social influence is perceived to be the trustworthy source and shopping is one click away,” said Fabio Vacirca, Senior MD in Accenture’s Products operating group in Asia Pacific. “The entire sales and marketing ecosystem is changing dramatically on the back of the new generation of consumers and pervasive digital technologies. In Asian markets, the change is faster and in many cases it means leapfrogging the traditional models.”
The report estimates that retail sales across Asia Pacific’s booming consumer markets are on course to top US$10 trillion by 2018, with approximately one-quarter of that amount coming from digital commerce. Yet despite the heavy influence from e-tailers and online marketplaces, the digital commerce market in Asia Pacific remains under-penetrated for CPG companies, particularly in the grocery-product category.
In addition, using knowledge of consumer preferences and their evolving demands, leading disruptors in the market, such as Alibaba, have been adapting by reinventing and tailoring offerings to redefine the value chain and make the consumer their focal point. The report identifies a number of steps that established CPG companies could take to seize growth opportunities and counter the threat of the new players:
Partnering with e-commerce platforms to reach new consumers/markets
Maximise value from cross-border e-commerce
Investing in brand building, with integrated marketing initiatives spanning online/offline
Adopting a ‘mobile first’ approach
Integrating e-commerce initiatives with social platforms to engage consumers and build trust
Investigating opportunities for product testing and product development through crowd-sourcing
Leveraging insights from big data to enhance and finetune customer interactions across multiple touchpoints.
The digital commerce opportunity for CPG
"The new Asian consumer expects a seamless shopping experience that saves time and makes life easier," said Mohammed Sirajuddeen, MD - Digital, Products, ASEAN, Accenture. Accenture researchers lived with respondents in China, India, Singapore to delve deeper into their thought processes when they bought online.
Despite the market seeing some digital transformation by CPG companies, Accenture’s research shows that consumers are not satisfied with their purchase journeys. Today’s top ‘ask,’ according to the report, is for a single platform where they can enjoy unique experiences that delight and enable their impulse decisions, receive tailored product recommendations that meet their desires immediately and where they are always connected to their favourite brands. "Time is very precious," observed Sirajuddeen. "(They say) 'I want digital to make my life much easier'. These expectations create huge opportunities for CPG companies."
Attitudes will evolve from 'give me what I want, when I want it' in 2016 to 'give me what I want when I need it' in 2020, Accenture said, and thereafter to 'give me what I want before I need it'. "Shopping will be fully integrated into 'life's moments'. Respondents want a smart digital assistant," explained Sirajuddeen.
This represents an outstanding opportunity for traditional CPG companies to capture the next wave of growth. By focussing on providing stronger digital commerce they can bridge existing gaps in consumers’ purchase journeys and provide the seamless shopping experiences they’re looking for.
“Technology will continue to evolve and influence how consumers shop in the future,” said Vacirca. “By better using digital technologies, CPG companies can engage with consumers on a real-time basis, allowing the companies to provide the maximum value within the minimum time. This will, in turn, create opportunities for CPG companies to control the consumer buying experience of tomorrow.”
Accenture Internet of Things Centre of Excellence
The research was launched at the Accenture Internet of Things (IoT) Centre of Excellence in Singapore. Accenture has called Singapore a "living lab" for e-commerce in the region, with its extremely cosmopolitan population, excellent logistics and deep mobile connectivity. The Centre brings market expertise, industry-leading practices, leading-edge technologies, and consumer research together to create an experience that empowers businesses to think differently about the future, and had been set up to showcase consumer IoT use cases on the day of the launch.
Vacirca noted that consumers in Europe and America are still more comfortable with physical stores and showrooms, whereas digital channels are embraced in the Asia Pacific region. " It's very important to show to our clients how new technology will change the way they will engage with their consumers. Asia (has an edge) on the rest of world in e-commerce in terms of speed and scale," he said.
“The next generation of digital commerce is here, and consumer empowerment enabled by smarter technologies will change how we shop and make purchases,” said Vacirca. “From the virtual reality room to its next-generation experience space, the Accenture IoT Centre of Excellence in Singapore helps businesses take advantage of the unprecedented opportunities that exist in the rapidly evolving digital marketplace.”
Accenture has worked with customers to conceptualise various ways of providing customer delight. One possibility is an 'always on' artificially intelligent device that can understand different languages and accents without training. Such a device, placed in a home, could order groceries or favourite foods when spoken to. Intelligent voice-activated devices worn by the user or placed in a store could provide additional information on products. Smart assistants on websites can go beyond scripts to offer more contextual responses such as recipe suggestions.
'Micromoments' are one possibility, small touches that make the shopping experience more seamless. Micromoments can be realised through using a handheld device as a portable shopping list, interacting with barcodes to identify products and enable purchases. Alternatively, pictures of a product taken on a mobile device can link straight to stores which sell that product. Mobile apps can also be used to control equipment and forecast how much food or drink might be required for a party.
Yet another concept is about the immersive store experience and virtual commerce. Virtual reality goggles allow people to shop together remotely, for example. Gamification through virtual or augmented reality can provide interactivity that provides discount coupons, adding an element of excitement to the shopping experience.
Royal Philips and Xiaomi, the Internet-driven smartphone company, have launched the Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp - designed to deliver optimal eye comfort as you read or work*.
By collecting and processing light signals through a light sensor and the smartphone camera on the Xiaomi smartphone, the Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp can calibrate the light to deliver the optimised light intensity for maximum comfort.
“We have teamed up with Xiaomi, China’s largest and one of the world’s top five manufacturers of smartphones, to deliver this exciting innovation,” says Olivia Qiu, Head of Innovation at Philips Lighting. “Philips recognises the benefit of combining expertise and skills to deliver country specific innovations that really impact people’s lives. The Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp is a great example of this in China.”
Liu De, Co-Founder and Vice President of Xiaomi, said, “We’re glad to collaborate with Philips, the world’s leader in lighting, who launched this innovative connected desk lamp in the online store of Xiaomi. This lamp can seamlessly connect with Xiaomi’s smart home ecosystem, creating a superb experience for our users. We believe this collaboration between the two strong companies is sure to improve the attraction of Xiaomi’s smart home platform, as well as its user experience.”
By using Philips Advanced Optical Lens Technology, the Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp reduces glare; and by using the Xiaomi Smart Home app users can adjust to the correct level of illumination needed, preventing unnecessary eye strain. It also eliminates light shining directly into the eyes with even light distribution. The result is less eye strain without any compromise on light quality.
Furthermore, the Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp can connect with other Xiaomi smart home devices through the cloud. The Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp can connect to Xiaomi door sensors and body sensors to deliver dynamic new lighting experiences at home.
Interested?
Philips EyeCare connected desk lamp will be available via Xiaomi's online retailing platform Mi Store from January 2016. It supports smartphones operating on Android 4.0 and iOS 7.0 and their upgraded versions.
*2012 Fudan University ENT Hospital on best light recipes for young adults.
