It’s a long haul since I last wrote on this blog but I guess I was waiting for something big to happen before I wrote. Any Guesses on what topic I would write today. It’s most definitely AI – Artificial Intelligence and Digital Transformation.
The world has seen a Digital transformation in the sense that everything around is coordinating with our requirements and ease of performing those tasks with the help of a digital medium. Look at your phone for a minute and list out the applications you have downloaded. You never perhaps looked so needy while looking at your device.
All those bank payments, online shopping , watching a movie on the OTT platform, ordering food, listening to music or creating your own music, etc through your mobile applications are all a part of the digital spectrum that grossly makes us dependent on electronic handhelds – a phone or a pad.
I would refrain from calling this digital era as just the beginning because we have seen the demand for electronic devices like washing machines, dish washers, vacuum cleaners, landline phones, microwave, oven, etc as a part of daily lives since years but what it has given way to is a more prompt solution to our needs in the form of AI.
To Understand AI, it is important to look into the history of AI and for that matter, AI has been in the establishing period since years. So why are we putting AI on a pedestal in this millennia or better still in 2020s?
I explore this and more in future blogs.
Mobile E-commerce: How Smartphones Influence The Way We Shop
Its tough to imagine how a smartphone has increased our dependency for
our day to day activities. Ordering food & groceries, clothing etc
that needed one to take out time to go outdoor, select and buy, can be
done from anywhere now.
One of the areas, where mobile has made a massive difference is in
shopping on the mobile. It’s as easy as opening up an app downloaded
on the phone, looking for what you want to buy, read the reviews,
check the credibility of the sellers, and get the product delivered to
your doorsteps. All this with the ease of your fingertips. If the
product is not to your liking, you can get a refund within 3 to 4
days. Online brands in India like Amazon, Flipkart, Snapdeal, Myntra,
Jabong and now Paytm use the internet as the potent tool to further
their business. There are other segments too where shopping has been
made easier through mobile apps like ordering ready meal on Swiggy and
Foodpanda. Big Basket and Nukkad have created a space for themselves
in easing out shopping for groceries. These products can be delivered
to your doorstep anytime you choose to slot the delivery. There are
other apps like Pepperfry and Urban Ladder, through which one can buy
furniture. Furthermore, it is impossible to think of moving around in
the world without the convenience of taxi services of Uber and Ola &
their added services like Ola Cafe (now closed).
According to research, app usage has a dramatic effect on the
purchases that are made from that app. The convenience of payment and
the modes of payment adds to the ease factor of using the app. With a
valid mobile number, One Time Password can be used to verify any
purchases thus eliminating security concerns. Having access to emails
and social media information on discount and special offers has also
eased purchasing over the mobile phone.
It can be argued that while there is no face to face interaction to
discuss product credibility, shopping through app has made the public
more aware of their surroundings and competition in every segment
ensures that one cannot be cheated with inflated prices and bad
quality of the product. This also means that the target audience of
these apps still remain the literate part of the population especially
the younger generation, who remain more dynamic in using new
technology and using it to their convenience as compared to their
skeptical older counterparts.
US alone has doubled the advertising for mobile apps. New graduates
and companies are working on new apps that can facilitate the lives of
the people. With automation and robotics, machines will be entering
our life in each segment with mobile staying as a focus tool to remote
control our surroundings.
Future of e-commerce optimistically remains mobile and investing time
in learning the nuance seems to be the order of the day.
Livestock, Semen & Embryo available online
In an initiative to organize the sector of buying & selling livestock, Indian government has introduced a website http://www.epashuhaat.gov.in that allows breeders, buyers and sellers to trade cattle, buffaloes and their frozen semen & embryo online under a verified and certified system without a middleman.
56 semen stations across 20 states have been connected through this portal. The portal provides information on the forms of germ-plasm with price tags and all agencies and stakeholders. Farmers can also access services like handling of artificial insemination, good care practices, animal certification, nutritional advisory and disease screening & testing of animals. The portal saves the farmers from being cheated and encourage e-transactions and home delivery.
http://www.epashuhaat.gov.in is a replacement for the animal fairs & local haats most prevalent in an unorganized set up across the country. This initiative would help in checking the quality and quantity of milk production in the country.
Some stats:
- Indian contributes to 20% of total milk production in the world
- India is the largest producer of milk in the world
digitalcalling 