Marketable Items Let You Have Your Content And Eat It Too

In his blog post titled Wasted Words – Why Marketing Content Longer than 3 to 5 Items Does Not Work, Gartner Research Director Hank Barnes makes a strong case to technology vendors for simplifying their story and emphasizing only two or three things that matter most in their marketing collateral. He goes on to explain how … Read more

Omnichannel Fiasco #2: M-PESA

In Omnichannel Fiasco #1: Standard Chartered Credit Card, I’d described a recent omnichannel experience that started well but went downhill soon thereafter. In this post, let me describe another omnichannel experience that was a fiasco from the word go. This was with Vodafone M-PESA mobile wallet. When M-Pesa was on the drawing board, my company … Read more

Frictionless Loyalty Programs – MakeUseOf Case Study

The leading British technology and Internet apps blog Make Use Of recently launched a loyalty-cum-rewards program where readers earn points for sharing its articles on social networks. In the past, I’ve come across rewards for filling forms, completing surveys and taking other actions but this is the first time I’m seeing a website rewarding social sharing … Read more

How Security Can Actually Increase Vulnerability

Security increases friction. That’s not news. I’ve myself written many blog posts – click here, here and here – on this perennial tradeoff involved in payments. However, I recently found a new security measure that actually creates new sources of vulnerability. Ironic but true. Since December 2013, India’s central bank RBI has made it mandatory … Read more

Shopper’s Stop – Loyalty Or Disloyalty Program?

Since I wrote Loyalty Or Disloyalty Programs? and Beware Of Losing Sales With Bad Loyalty Programs, a couple of companies have used mobile technologies in very innovative ways to design loyalty programs that truly foster loyalty. But Shopper’s Stop is not one among them. The pioneer of India’s organized retail industry recently introduced a mobile app variant of its … Read more

Omnichannel Fiasco #1: Standard Chartered Credit Card

I recently went through two omnichannel experiences, one that started well but went downhill thereafter, and another that was a disaster right from the beginning. Before I deep dive into my experiences, here’s a quick working definition of omnichannel: Omnichannel is where a single business process is deliberately split across multiple channels so that each … Read more

Three Reasons Why Conventional Résumés Are Thriving Despite LinkedIn

I’ve been asked many times why, in this day and age of LinkedIn, I insist on job applicants sending me conventional résumés in DOC or PDF formats. Well, that’s not strictly true. I’ve been asked only twice, most recently by a man in Pune, Maharashtra*. In my experience of helping a couple of customers with … Read more