Mobility Trends for 2016

Organisations looking to unlock their full business potential must keep in sync with the upcoming technology trends and must master a wide range of digital technologies which are critical to connecting with customers (and employees) now.  Mr. Yatish Mehrotra, Regional Head Mobility – South, Tata Teleservices talks about a few trends that made news in 2015 and are further expected to evolve in the coming year for the enterprises to take notice:

Here comes the age of digital disruption

We are in a period where digital technologies are reshaping relationships between customers and companies as well as blurring the boundaries between industry sectors. Organizations are having to reinvent not only their operating models, but in many cases their business models as well, just to survive. 

However, research suggests that, digital disruption and the need to prepare for it is still not receiving the direct attention at the Board level. Companies are either not acknowledging the risk of digital disruption, or have not addressed it sufficiently. Digital disruption is not just a buzzword – it is here to stay, and to bring around radical change in the way companies think and operate. In 2016, we see the trend of transitioning from traditional methods of managing the business to getting real-time analytics of every aspect of the business solidifying and becoming a part of mainstream business.

The rise and rise of mPayments

In India, there are over 1crore mobile subscribers who use some or the other form of mobile money and payment application today – certainly critical mass. Whether it be customer convenience and lower cost-per-transaction for urban customers or the safety and ease of transactions it offers to the un-banked and under-banked rural population in India – mPayments are only bound to grow.

Mobile payments technology is offering many small businesses and business men, as well as the underprivileged in our society, the opportunity to access basic financial services. We believe consumers are looking for operator agnostic services – by creating products for all customers who can now have a choice of cashless dealings.

Public Wi-Fi is the traveler’s best companion

The growing popularity of public Wi-Fi services – especially among millennials in India – is largely because mobile devices have become the number one information source for receiving and sharing everything from current affairs to celebrity gossip; and public spaces have become fundamental to this trend. Visitors at shopping centers, railway stations, sports stadiums and other public spaces consider Wi-Fi access in the same way as air-conditioning or lighting; simply a given; and airline passengers are no exception. Travelers have their own ‘Magic Hour’ which they use to check mails, access flight information, browse the web and send messages prior to boarding their flight. According to SITA’s global research, air passengers are becoming increasingly reliant on social media throughout their journey

Just over four in five passengers carry a smartphone and 76percent of them use airline apps, 43percent say it’s made a definite improvement to their travel

Provision of airport Wi-Fi represents a top three priority for passengers (after price comparison services and real time flight information)

45percent would use their connected device to purchase food and drinks or browse a virtual duty-free shop while waiting to board

By 2016, airport status notifications and flight status updates will be provided on social media by 75percent of airports, while 70percent will offer customer relations.

Wearables makes Internet of things real for consumers 

As predicted by Gartner, the Internet of Things (IoT) will result in approximately 26 billion connected units by the2020. The revenue generated with respect of IoT products and services will cross $300 billion-mark which provides a plethora of opportunities for organisations across sectors. In order to lead this change, individuals and enterprises will have to fasten their hold on to the open standards for improving device monitoring and management, big data information gathering and analytics; and overall network communications.

Wearables are also growing in importance as mobile commerce gathers greater acceptability among consumers. Growing digitization, device automation, innovations in security and payment gateway services as well as growth in ecosystem partners will mean that new frictionless cashless payment methods will come into vogue – through the things we wear!

Mobile and Cloud are joined at the hip

After growing at an exponential pace in 2015, cloud computing has become an integral part of the enterprise business strategy. Large global multinational firms are now looking to cloud to not only offer better front-end customer service but also to fully leverage advances in back-end manufacturing. For CIOs to be sure they are getting the cost efficiency and resource optimization the cloud promises, requires them to deploy cloud analytics solutions. In a connected device world where data resides in the cloud, mobiles are ideally placed to track the business outcomes most critical to them. Today, businesses no longer debate whether cloud and mobile analytics will work together – its about how can these two key trends be merged to create a seamless unified business management tool.

Smart connectivity means green connectivity

Going green is the latest trend being followed the world over. Products and devices which are connected also will have the ability to sense, process, report, and take corrective actions. Enterprises are currently involved in the process in reducing their carbon footprints in all verticals and introducing options such as green data centres for their customers. At Tata Teleservices we stand true to the social responsibility credentials of the Tata Group. Growth is inextricably linked to the well-being of our ecosystem - employees, business partners, local communities and the environment. To us, Sustainability is not an option but an ethical imperative. We believe that green telecom is not just environmentally responsible but also sensible for business. This trend is most likely to spread over other sectors such as smart clothing, watches, phones, to smart buildings and smart cities with environment friendly elements attached

Tata Docomo, as an integrated technology specialist, has moved beyond providing just traditional voice and data services to customers. The company now provides solutions across ICT, IoT, cloud and mobile applications domain, to enterprises while bringing leading edge public wi-fi, data connectivity and mobile payments offerings to Indian consumers.