Business success is based on building a wide network, passion, time, and multiple failures

Foo talks about key learnings from his trip to the recent Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016, which was sponsored by Shopee.

Alex Foo, Co-owner of Starteur, a psychometric profiling tool targeted at entrepreneurs, has three tips on becoming a successful entrepreneur. The insights, shared during a Shopee University session, are the fruit of a visit to Global Entrepreneurship Summit 2016 in the US, held from June 22 to 24, as well as Foo's own experience as a budding entrepreneur. Shopee, Garena’s e-commerce platform, sponsored Foo to GES 2016, reaffirming the company’s philosophy in developing Singapore’s next generation of budding entrepreneurs:

· Network, network, network.
The 21-year-old entrepreneur lives by the ethos “who you know is more important than what you know.”

Foo, who is about to read Computer Science at the National University of Singapore, noted that at GES 2016 all the speakers were very willing to share tips and tricks. "They are confident that no one else is doing it, or even if someone else is doing it, they're not doing it as well as them," he said. "The more you give, the more you receive; the more you grow, the more your business grows."

He said that Shopee University is an ideal platform for Shopee merchants to share and learn together. The initiative to develop entrepreneurs was launched by Shopee this year. "When you learn from the same people who are doing what you want to do then you grow much faster," he said.

Foo also observed that business partners who complement an individual are important. "It is very important to pick who you spend your time with," he said. "When you gather the right people together, you learn from your experiences, you grow as a community,"

· Embrace failure.
A key difference between Silicon Valley and Singapore is that US entrepreneurs are more inclined to taking calculated risks, giving them that competitive edge. In contrast, Singapore entrepreneurs are more cautious about failure because of the fear of being perceived negatively, and are less willing to lose large financial sums. "Failure is something that Singaporeans fear quite a bit. But I think it is something that we should embrace," Foo stated. "In Silicon Valley 80% of the computer science students want to start their own company... for Singapore to overtake Silicon Valley we need to overcome this perception of failure. It is the whole mindset, of this leeway to try new things and to fail.

"Failure is a lot of rejection, it's knowing that 80% of your results are from 20% of your efforts.. you are basically taking a gamble. It is all about taking calculated risks, knowing all the facts before you take the decision, then you stick to it, and learn from it."

A Shopee merchant attending the session noted that people in Singapore are generally afraid of sharing their resources, ideas, and methods, just in case others steal them. "It is difficult in Singapore; people are not there yet. Shopee started Shopee University (the community), and it is very rare," he said. "If online sellers gather together, put their minds and resources together, they can achieve unbelievable things. That was my experience in China."

Foo emphasised the importance of community when it comes to failure: "When your friends fail, when you share each other's failures, and you're not ashamed of your failures, are open to laughing at yourself, can share suggestions, when you have this front-and-back fount of energy, you grow the fastest."

· Have passion for what you do.
A common misconception about entrepreneurs is that they are only in it for the money. GES 2016 showed Foo how having a passion for what you do trumps profit-making. "Love what you do, because that takes you the furthest," he said.

"A lot of people around my age don't really know what we want to do, we just go with the flow," Foo added. "It is important to know what you want to do because you can start gathering the right people around you (early). If you love what you do, it is very easy to come back (after failure)."

"The experiences were instrumental to my growth as a business owner and I had the opportunity to interact with successful entrepreneurs across various touchpoints. Shopee University gives me the platform to connect with other like-minded entrepreneurs in Singapore and serves as a launch pad for more robust business ideas. Through this initiative, I am confident that we can empower the next generation of entrepreneurs and send a bigger contingent to GES 2017," Foo concluded.

At the Shopee University session Foo also talked about how success comes from data. "The goal of a startup is not to be a startup. It should evolve into a sustainable business, with steady revenue. To get there, it should be about data. What do customers want and what can you sell to the next guy?" asked Foo. "If you don't observe what happens, it's just a gamble."

He noted that with tools like Google Analytics, business owners can track geographical interest in their websites and other data that can help them make rational decisions, such as targeting their brand towards countries where there is already interest.

He also advised attendees to keep on improving their offerings. "It is a neverending process of trying and testing.  There is no growth when everything is by luck. When you leave things to chance then you also grow by chance," he said.

Foo also debunked three myths about entrepreneurs from his experience at GES 2016:

· Entrepreneurs are only in it for the money.
Entrepreneurs should look at money as an enabler. Do good, work and money will come naturally.

· Entrepreneurs are self-serving.
Most entrepreneurs love what they do and want to develop the best product to make a change in the world.

· Entrepreneurs know it all.
Entrepreneurs are always hungry for knowledge and are seeking the best ways to improve their offerings. In an increasingly competitive landscape, it’s either step up or ship out.

Shopee will be rolling out training and development workshops by Foo in the near future. Chris Feng, Chief Executive Office of Shopee said, “Shopee University stands grounded in the ethos that anyone can be an entrepreneur. We are proud to have sponsored Alex for this global event and even more so because he shares the same ideals as us. To empower budding entrepreneurs of the new economy, we remain committed to enhancing our community with initiatives such as Shopee University.”

Apart from acting as a community to share entrepreneurial experiences, Shopee University’s curriculum is developed based on the best practices of Shopee’s top sellers’ e-commerce skills. With its ethos grounded in empowerment through tools, Shopee University offers courses ranging from photography to online marketing and even search engine optimisation.

Interested?

Shopee is available for download for free on the App Store and Google Play across Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand, Vietnam, the Philippines and Taiwan.

Read the WorkSmart blog posts on: GES 2016, Shopee's fulfilment strategy in Malaysia and a Shopee University session on photography in Singapore

Read the Suroor Asia blog post on Shopee Malaysia's commitment to mompreneurs

Hashtag: #ges2016, #shopeeSG

HubSpot reveals what buyers really want from salespeople

HubSpot’s latest report, Asia Pacific Buyers Have Spoken: Sales Needs to Evolve, reveals what buyers really want out of the sales experience, from discussion topics for the first call to the appropriate time to meet sales.

According to the research, it is not so much that sales is getting harder as much as traditional sales tactics are losing their efficacy. The problem is that sales tactics today do not match up with buyer expectations. If salespeople can cater to what buyers want, the conversions will happen, HubSpot says.

The research provides insights from consumers in Australia, New Zealand and Southeast Asia like:

· More than half (57%) of salespeople agree that buyers are less dependent on sales during the buying process. During the awareness stage, buyers rely on search, vendor websites, and newsletters/emails as their top channels to find information. They opt to connect with a sales representative point when they are ready to buy.

- One-third of buyers in the Asia Pacific region (APAC) seek out product demonstrations early on in the buyer’s journey. This is contrary to the prevalent belief that product demos are a final closing action. One solution is a prerecorded video demo that is clearly visible on a vendor’s website, which can double up as a useful prospecting and qualifying tool for companies that have products that require demonstrations.

- Almost half (47%) of buyers find information from marketers trustworthy but just over a third (36%) of buyers trust information from sales. However, buyers are likely still missing crucial information that is not really available online, information that only a salesperson can provide. It is important to know how long an integration/installation will take, how long it typically takes to see results, or even if the product is a proper fit for an organisation. While buyers are ready to talk pricing, salespeople should also raise such considerations by asking buyers open-ended questions.

Interested?

Read more about the research

posted from Bloggeroid

Using Tableau visualisations in real-time to start a conversation

Murphy shows how 'before Tableau' contrasts with 'after Tableau'. He discovered Tableau in 2010.

In a presentation called Don't Fear the Data, Google's Head of TV Attribution (APAC), David Murphy says that large datasets are easy to work with if you have the right tools. Speaking at the Tableau on Tour conference in Singapore, Murphy said that his life can easily be divided into 'Before Tableau' and 'After Tableau'.

Before he discovered Tableau's visualisation software, he used spreadsheets to create charts, and did not look forward to making changes as it was complex and time-consuming even to make minor changes to the chart. If different versions of the chart had to be made for different teams, a change meant updating all the different versions, with the risk of human error occurring along the way.

The software was also slow, and tended to break down, he added. Questions had to be predetermined. "You need to know what you need to pull out from the data before you can do something with it," Murphy explained.

"It turns people off big data - you come up with lots of reasons why you won't do it rather than saying 'let's do it'," he said.

The Tableau epiphany for Murphy occurred in 2010, he said. He found that he could create charts "twice as fast, or better". "It freed me up to do more cool things, there was more time for me to analyse and bring insights, rather than being a data monkey and doing manual tasks," he said. "I solved problems more easily. (Tableau) greatly reduced the concept-to-implementation gap."

With Tableau, there was no need to worry about breaking equations and cell references, as can happen in spreadsheet software, he said. "There is no need to lock in design. You can rapidly iterate, get more responsive to the needs of the business and to the needs of the users...get much faster insights," he said.

Instead of having a customer or manager ask a question and returning in a week with the charts that answered the question, Tableau allows real-time changes to the data, maintaining the momentum there and then. "I can have a conversation with the data there and then, with the stakeholders who want to know," he said.

Instead of predetermined questions, Tableau has freed Murphy to play around with the data at his disposal, he added. "If you think it, you can do it," he said, with trivial questions potentially leading to something useful.
   

Using Tableau for data visualisation has replaced spreadsheets.

At Google, Murphy uses Tableau to show the relationships between broadcast advertisement airings and online engagement. "Previously you would have had to (show the customer) a .csv file with 12 dimensions and eight measures," he said.

He noted that while each customer's needs are unique, he can now address them in real-time. "You can be really responsive. You don't have to know everything before you go in; you can learn together with customers," he said. "It shows that we care and we keep to the heart of things which I couldn't really do with spreadsheet solutions, and (that) would have taken months to do."

Murphy has also set up a personal site, Datasaurus-Rex, which features visualisations created with Tableau. Among his projects are a dog year calculator, connecting dengue fever cases with mosquito breeding habitats, through crowdsourced insights. "It makes things accessible to people," he said. "I can dive into unknown datasets with ease, and empower others to understand data."

Interested?

Check out Murphy's visualisations on the Datasaurus-Rex site
View visualisations made with Tableau Public
Get a free trial of Tableau

Read the TechTrade Asia blog posts on building a Smart Nation and why visualisations matter

Hashtags: #data16, #datasaurusrex

Consumers are now phy-gital. What should companies do?

A global, cross-industry study* from Mindtree, a digital transformation and technology services company, pinpoints personalisation as the key driver that will help "phy-gital" consumers reach their ideal mix of online and offline shopping. It also reveals that while most companies are in transformation mode and consider themselves pioneers in adopting or investing in digital technologies, few are investing in personalisation initiatives that consumers say will increase the depth and breadth of their shopping experience.

Source: Mindtree infographic. Nearly three-quarters (74%) of customers say personalised promotions will influence them to buy products for the first time.

Key findings include:

• Personalised promotions encourage consumers to buy products and services they have purchased before (78%), as well as relevant products and services they have never purchased (74%)
• Only 28% of the decision makers from companies surveyed globally say their organisations are investing significantly in personalisation to improve the online purchasing experience, even though it has improved their online sales over the past 12 months for the majority (58%)
• Consumers expect their use of mobile apps for shopping to more than double in the next three years. While 6% of consumers said their preferred channel for making retail purchases as of 2015 was mobile apps, 15% said they expected mobile apps to be their preferred channel by 2018. 

The survey also highlights some notable disconnects between what online features consumers desire and what features companies are investing in. As an example, consumers crave improved search and compare/aggregate functions, but companies are investing more in features like shopping lists, wish lists and social features. 

"There are a lot of stories to be gleaned from this study, but what stands out most is that companies need to prioritise more investments in personalisation, an area that quite clearly drives more commerce," says Radha R., EVP and Head of Digital Business at Mindtree. "Many of today's personalisation approaches are ineffective since they are based on a siloed view of the customer. With the right data engine and digital underpinnings in place, customised experiences will allow companies to target the right people, at the right time, in the right place, on the right device, with the right content."

Next steps

Mindtree recommends that companies:

• Break up data silos to get a more enriched view of customers from various digital touch points, using a big data-led approach 
• Deliver relevance for customers by creating content, offers and recommendations using context-weighted personalisation algorithms 
• Implement the technology to automatically deliver these customised messages and offers to customers in a cross-channel, cross-device landscape 

This will only work if a company has the right digital infrastructure at the broadest level. Mindtree believes that companies need to blend four cornerstones that are crucial to achieving true digital transformation and success: creating digital customer experiences, digitising the value chain across the front and back end, developing 'sense-and-respond' systems, and shaping new, innovative business models and partnerships.

"It's important to note that an online presence should focus on serving customers and not just on selling to customers," says Paul Gottsegen, Chief Marketing and Strategy Officer at Mindtree. "With better personalisation, companies will essentially embed themselves in the ongoing phy-gital lives of consumers and earn the right to be part of a continuous stream of engagement. It will strengthen the relationship for the long haul and give the companies that get it right a big advantage."

Interested?

Download the infographic (PDF)

Read the report (PDF). Industry-specific findings on retail and consumer goods, travel and hospitality, banking and insurance, and media and entertainment are available

*The study, Winning in the Age of Personalization, was commissioned by Mindtree and conducted by independent market research firm Vanson Bourne. It surveyed 6,000 consumers across three primary regions (US, Europe, and Asia Pacific), as well as 900 decision-makers from companies spanning the retail and consumer goods, travel and hospitality, banking and insurance, and media and entertainment industries.

Singapore retailer uses Qlik, Deloitte Digital solution to track customer's stories over time

Inverted Edge, a Singapore-based online retailer, is using its retail space at Scotts Square mall to provide customers with a personalised interactive digital shopping experience with the help of Qlik, a visual analytics provider, and Deloitte Digital, a design and development agency. 

Source: Inverted Edge website.

Apart from housing quality contemporary luxury apparel, the in-store solution includes a continually changing showcase of photos and stories from customers, shared on social media, about the clothes they wear and their related stories. As a wearer adds a new garment or story, it will appear on the visual display, inspiring others and adding to the excitement of discovering and sharing new looks, bridging fashion and everyday life from posts shared across social media platforms.

“At Inverted Edge we are proponents of Fashion that Matters, or sometimes we call it Slow Fashion. We believe that when you buy something you love, you should wear it and wear it in multiple places and in different ways and across multiple seasons. It’s not disposable, it doesn’t get thrown out after two months; it becomes something that has meaning,” said Debra Langley, Chief Executive Officer at Inverted Edge.

“As a garment is worn as part of a lifestyle, it takes on a life and emotional quotient all of its own, developing a story between the wearer and the items purchased. We want to develop something that captures these relationships, and from a business standpoint, understand what fuels our shopper’s purchasing decisions.”

Built mainly on Qlik's Sense platform, Inverted Edge’s in-store digital solution delivers an interactive and personalised digital experience for customers. The framework allows Inverted Edge to manage and study purchasing data to identify key factors that drive customers’ decisions to purchase high quality items that are designed to be worn for more than a couple of seasons. This enables the company to discover what it is their customers are looking out for, and tailor their services to customer needs.

Added Donald Farmer, Qlik’s US-based Vice President of Innovation and Design: “By transforming dry material such as purchasing data and customer analytics into engaging, informative digital stories and conversations, Qlik is providing Inverted Edge with the ability to tackle real and significant problems that fashion retailers face in brand new ways. In particular, we are enabling them to design fresh means of engaging with the stories we tell about ourselves, and the clothes we wear and aspire to own. It’s a fascinating approach, and a perfect partnership for Qlik.”

The digital experience will later be replicated at Manifesto, Inverted Edge e-commerce partner’s new concept store carrying international contemporary brands in Singapore’s Capitol Piazza development. Focusing on integrating both online and offline initiatives, the two retailers are aligned on their desire to create a new and different retail shopper experience over the next six months.

Interested?

Inverted Edge is at #01-11 Scotts Square
Manifesto is at #02-19, Capitol Piazza

Educate and incentivise employees to ensure UC success: Jabra

Jabra, a manufacturer of intelligent audio solutions, has called on the industry to take greater responsibility to redefine the global success of unified communications (UC) deployments. 

Source: Jabra website.

Currently, UC adoption rates are at just 10% due to employee hesitancy to give up their current working patterns and tools. And whilst companies are spending thousands implementing new technologies, employees are still failing to understand how UC can benefit their productivity and efficiency levels on a daily basis.

Jabra believes that education and incentives are crucial but having a companywide adoption plan, with considered input and expertise from key functions of the business, will be the key to a successful implementation and ensure that organisations are seeing actual return on their investment quickly.

A new Jabra business brief published today on UC understanding and adoption says that UC vendors must work with their customers to help end-users understand and embrace the transition. Jabra believes that the key to driving up the successful adoption rates will be creating a planning and implementation team that involves company experts from multiple areas of the business including IT, marketing, corporate communications and human resources. By bringing representatives of these functional areas into the project from the beginning, soliciting their input and expertise throughout rollout and ensuring their support, businesses are more likely to see successful adoption, companywide.

Mark Leigh, ‎President, Asia Pacific at Jabra, commented around the findings within this recent business brief: “It’s our job as IT professionals to redefine success as that time when UC technologies are actively enabling new and better ways of communication, collaboration, conversation and concentration - and not just whether the deployment was launched on time or within budget.”

He continued: “UC is a key enabler in connecting today’s modern knowledge economies. At the same time, these new tools require entirely new behaviours. And, as it has always been the case when introducing new technologies, we need to find ways to ensure that end-users adopt these new tools on their own terms. No matter how beneficial your new technology may be, not everyone will share your passion for it. To generate acceptance you need demonstrate how it benefits people personally and gently steer them toward embracing it.”

In the present-day world of technology, UC deployment plans and associated tactics are starting to focus on changing end-user behaviours by incorporating new theories and methods from the world of behavioural economics to similarly overcome employee resistance to change. This usually involves using indirect suggestions and positive reinforcement to influence choices, instead of the traditional model of mandating behavior.

Jabra is working with its customers to provide real-life examples of some of these new methods, including creating competitions between workers to use UC; building online communities to share experiences, ask questions and get advice; and recognising and rewarding workers or departments for embracing new UC technologies.

Interested?

Learn more at Jabra’s New Way of Working page. 

Good toilet facilities are good for business: MyTravelResearch.com

Source: Restroom Association Singapore website. Restroom Association Singapore maintains the Happy Toilet programme, and has an interactive map on its website which shows which toilets around Singapore have been rated three-, four-, five- and six-star Happy Toilets. The Happy Toilet grading initiative for public toilets was begun in 2003 and focuses on design, cleanliness, effectiveness, maintenance and user satisfaction.

Clean, reliable, functioning toilets are still hard to find around the world, says Bronwyn White, Co-founder of MyTravelResearch.com, a market research and marketing firm specialising in the travel, tourism and aviation industries.

"At MyTravelResearch.com we often see a disconnection between what travellers want and what the travel industry delivers. Destinations obsess about their product or service in a way that customers don't. They lose sight of the basics and what is important to customers," said White, noting that tourism toilet campaigns underway in Thailand, India, Indonesia and China.

"Toilets cross all barriers for both business and leisure travellers. Often the two are combined. We have reported toilet findings to destinations, airlines (big source of concern is aircraft toilets as well) and tour operators alike… the feedback is strong. Toilets are pretty well on the minds of nearly all travellers. And a source of worry that is consistent," White said.

White advises destinations, attractions, hotels, and dining establishments to upgrade their toilets for visitors, as good social media reviews could follow. She pointed out that those who are visiting the toilet might also purchase goods or services at the venue.

In the Asia Pacific region, toilets which have received positive attention include the "loo with a view" in Mooloolaba, Queensland, Australia, and the Shell public toilet in Bohol in the Philippines which has attracted over 165,000 views on YouTube, White said.

Genesys explains how Asian businesses can do e-commerce better

Source: Genesys.
Thomassain.

Many businesses fall short of their e-commerce promises or fail to keep up with the rapidly evolving expectations of their customers, says Genesys, which provides businesses with a customer experience platform that enables them to leverage customer information and data from their contact centre interactions for a seamless customer experience.

"According to a Forrester report, the estimated total of annual abandoned shopping cart revenue will reach US$31 billion dollars in the next few years," said Erwann Thomassain, Head of Marketing, Asia Pacific, Genesys. "Forrester’s 2013 study, CX online, revealed that 52% of customers will abandon online purchases if they can’t find a quick answer." 

One reason is an attention span that is growing shorter, says Thomassain. "It’s estimated that 55% of people spend fewer than 15 seconds actively on a page and 38% who visited a page closed it immediately after it loads. When moving online, businesses have to get it right. As statistics show customers can be unforgiving, so creating a unique customer experience is pivotal to retention and repeat sales," he said.

Another reason is logistics, he said. "Customers are increasingly demanding shorter lead times and reliable logistics providers," he noted. 

Another hurdle businesses in the region have to overcome is the underdeveloped banking services, Thomassain added. "Low banking and credit card penetration rate is an obstacle to businesses looking to offer fast and convenient online payment to complement their e-commerce offerings. Across the region, markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, Vietnam and Philippines said less than 5% of e-commerce shoppers paid online last year."

Genesys believes that live multi-channel interaction along with detailed profiles and catering to the buying behaviours of customers is what will help convert the remaining 80% of ‘wanderers’ during the browsing stage of the buying cycle. "With the competition for customer loyalty heating up, understanding that customers expect an effortless yet engaging service is crucial and must be considered in the customer experience journey provided," he said. "Businesses ignoring this trend are simply missing out of potential sales and giving away market share to their competitors."

To establish a successful presence in e-commerce, Thomassain advises businesses to: 

- Make it as easy and hassle-free as possible. "With the average attention span on a website at 15 seconds (that is, if they stay pass the page has completely loaded), customers can get easily frustrated when maneuvring through sites, so it’s important to simplify the process and ensure they don’t switch elsewhere else in one swift click," he said.

- Think about security. "Nothing ruins a customer’s confidence in a retailer than having all their personal and financial information leaked to hackers due to vulnerable firewalls," he pointed out.

- Use multi-channel platforms to fully identify and understand the context of each customer interaction. "With a holistic view into the customer journey, businesses will then be able to power great customer experiences," he explained. 

Read what Genesys thinks about e-commerce potential in Asia Pacific here.

Euromonitor shares four pillars to a successful entry into emerging markets

Global market research company Euromonitor International has released Succeed in Emerging Markets: Selection, Strategy and First Steps, an e-book focusing on a four pillar model to assist in entering emerging markets.

The first pillar is market, and it incorporates macroeconomic stability, consumer market size, growth and openness.

The second pillar in Euromonitor’s strategy is population and focuses on demographics. This assists in understanding how a business product or service will fit into a competitive landscape.

The third pillar focuses on access, or the reality of market entry. If a country is not easily accessible, businesses will not successfully produce goods in the market or reach consumers. Other topics discussed within the access pillar are infrastructure, Internet, partners and the retail landscape.

The final pillar reviews the business environment in a particular market, with emphasis on the regulatory environment and corruption.

According to Euromonitor’s Head of Strategic, Economic and Consumer Insight, Sarah Boumphrey, “Too many companies perform inadequate amounts of research prior to launching a product or service in a new market. This is problematic because some markets simply might not work. Utilising Euromonitor’s four pillar model before entering new markets provides a better understanding of the needs of consumers and the business environment in countries of interest.”

Euromonitor’s four pillar market entry strategy model should be tailored on a case-by-case basis based on sector-specific and business-specific factors to ensure the best information is used for each business.

Download a complimentary copy of the white paper about market entry in emerging markets here. 

Creating a successful email campaign

Want your marketing emails read? Then make sure it is all about the customer, says GetResponse, a provider of online marketing tools.

The top three things companies have to consider for a successful email marketing campaign, according to GetResponse CEO Simon Grabowski are:

Subscribers’ activity

"Check past history of ‘opens’ and ‘clicks’ to understand what your subscribers are interested in, how often they access their inbox and what time do they actively engage with your emails," he said. 

Subscribers’ device preferences

"Currently more than 40% of emails are deleted because of the incorrect display of content on mobile devices," Grabowski shared. "Find out which devices they use to engage with your emails as content for mobile and desktop has to be tweaked accordingly."

Responsive email systems

"Autoresponders should be customised to match your subscribers’ preference to increase the relevance of your outreach," he added.

"Emails of news and offers which do not cater to the preferences along with the presentation and time it was sent risk being irrelevant," he warned. 

Source: GetResponse.
Grabowski.

The company is currently focusing on Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand as the initial countries for building a local presence in Asia.

"The EU and US markets are not developing as rapidly, while there is still room for email marketing to grow in Asia with consumer groups here being more willing to experiment with new solutions and technologies,” he said. 

"This region is also the fastest growing technology market globally but there is a lack of regional email and online marketing solutions. Email also goes hand-in-hand with digital and mobile marketing although small organisations may not have the budget for digital and mobile options. As such, we still think there’s a need for a comprehensive email marketing service such as GetResponse,” he said.

Besides email automation, GetResponse offer complementary marketing strategies and channels such as social media integration, landing pages and stock photos which can be customised for marketing campaigns.

The Landing Page Creator 2.0 software, for example, helps GetResponse clients create promotional landing pages and mini-sites, and can also collect data from potential subscribers. “This helps online marketers and SMEs here to create effective and comprehensive lists of information for their marketing campaigns,” Grabowski said.

For US$15 a month, small businesses are given access to fully-automated marketing tools, while the GetResponse Enterprise version is for companies with more advanced email marketing strategies.

But what about email spam? “All of our subscribers are required to comply with our anti-spam policy which prohibits users from sending out unsolicited emails,” Grabowski said. “We also participate in industry initiatives to promote responsible, permission-based email marketing.”

Grabowski added that every message sent from a GetResponse account contains a link to unsubscribe which cannot be removed. “If a subscriber opts out, the link will automatically update the mailing list to take them out of future mailings,” he said.

Code Halos are a ticket to business success: Cognizant

According to Cognizant Technology Solutions, the most successful businesses today are making use of a new trademarked concept called 'Code Halo' to win. Specific data include digital clicks, swipes, "likes", purchases, comments and search actions, which can be built into a unique identity or Code Halo. 

Source: Cognizant. Roehrig.

Paul Roehrig, Global Managing Director of Cognizant’s Center for the Future of Work and Co-author of Code Halos: How the Digital Lives of People, Things, and Organizations are Changing the Rules of Business, which reveals how organisations can catalyse business with Code Halo thinking, says that a growing number of businesses are finding new ways to compete with Code Halos.

"We’ve already seen early winners—for example, Google, Amazon, Pandora, and Netflix—and losers—like Kodak, HMV, and Borders. What’s exciting for business and technology leaders all over the world is that this same shift is starting to impact more traditional firms in banking, insurance, manufacturing, and retail. Public and private organisations in Asia Pacific are absolutely embracing digital transformation," he said. 

To get started at the individual level, Roehrig tells employees to maintain a 'code-friendly' mindset.

"When we work, where we work, how we work, who we work with, and how we manage are changing at a breakneck pace due to the emergence of the Code Halo economy. We devote a whole chapter to this in the book, but one of the most important recommendations is to manage your teams with code. It’s now imperative to hold yourself and your team accountable to a data-driven method of management by leveraging the massive amount of data swarming around you and your business processes," he said. 

"Information must be generated, managed, and shared openly. As we note in the book, the key is working with your team to determine your own data management supply chain: what data is important to you, how is it captured, what analytics do you utilise to understand your data, and is it utilised—and even enforced—in key portions, of your management process. Managers who ignore this trend and try to wing it or fly solely by intuition will be in for a rough time." 

The first chapter of the book can be downloaded here. 

Dos and don'ts for startup success

So you have a business idea and are thinking of starting up a company to market it. Will it sink or swim? Fabian Vandenreydt, Head of Markets Management, Innotribe and the SWIFT Institute, has seen financial technology (fintech) startups do both. 

Source: Innotribe. Vandenreydt.

Some of the main factors for success, Vandenreydt said, include:  

1) A clear understanding of the problem that you are trying to solve, and also understanding that it is a real problem 

All the time, energy and money spent developing the most amazing product comes to naught without starting with a problem to solve, explained Vandenreydt. "Without a clear problem to solve, you may get lucky, but 99 out of 100 times you won’t. Innotribe will help companies by identifying the problems the industry is facing," he said.

 2) A clear and detailed way to explain and implement the chosen solution, and a clear understanding of the market for this solution
 
"Without understanding who you are trying to sell to, you often over-complicate your product. The key to understanding your market is to test early, and test often. When the people behind Dropbox had their original idea, their initial product was a video of how they envisioned the service. They distributed this product to see if there was a market. By creating enough validation of their idea, they then went on and invested the time, energy and money to develop Dropbox," Vandenreydt said.  

3) A strong team of quality individuals who can collaborate and work well together, and 

4) A deep understanding of the expectations of venture capitalists and bankers

A significant key to success however, is the willingness to change if needed.
"Agility, the ability of a small startup to succeed, is often measured not in how great their initial idea is, but by the agility and ability to respond to better understanding of the problem and the market," Vandenreydt explained. 

"This pivoting of ideas is what separates success from failure. One famous example is Flickr, which started as a game but later found that photo sharing ability of the platform was what people used more than anything else. They responded by pivoting, and moving from a game platform to a photo sharing one."

Creating visibility is also essential, Vandenreydt added. "You may have the best product in the world that solves a number of issues, but how does one person or a small company grab the attention of a multinational? 

"This is one area where Innotribe excels. Our mission is to bridge the gap between the fintech innovation ecosystem, and SWIFT and its members, by exposing what these companies are doing, and how they are doing it."