We were serious about the big list of autumn business events that we plan to attend. Two weeks ago we went to CodeCamp, the fall edition of the IT conference, and next week we’ll be at GPeC, the biggest e-Commerce event in Romania, to sustain the growth of the online market and to present our e-Commerce solution, Magstoria.
In the last years, the focus of companies from all over the world has turned to digital, in marketing, as well as processes and business development. The purpose is to create an unforgettable customer experience, by using the right tools and business solutions.
The Focus on Technology & Telecoms 2015 Conference we have attended on November 17th brought together many contributors to the growth of the digital economy, from telecom representatives, to cloud solution providers, software gurus, business developers, specialists in digital security, and other digital enthusiasts, like we are. The 6th edition organized by Business Review Romania had all the ingredients for a successful event: skilled speakers and valuable content on two of the most powerful industries today, technology and telecom.
The event had 3 tracks. On the first one, “Technology that boosts top line revenues”, the speakers brought some smart solutions for business digitalization, they talked about Industry 4.0 in Romania, and how do applications and M2M (machine-to-machine) solutions impact consumers and businesses. According to Violeta Luca, from Microsoft Romania, every business should think digital. This can be done by prototyping an agile strategy, by adopting an End2End thinking, by creating value from Data, and by positioning the business in a broader ecosystem.
“The digital revolution turns from a convenience facilitator into a business catalyst.” Florin Popa, Orange Romania.
The first track was spiced up with some cool case studies on how some business solutions have helped companies to grow top line revenues. Vlassis Papapanagis from Predicta had another interesting talk about the importance of using Analytics. He provided some useful tips on how to unlock the true value of the data that can help you deliver optimized decisions to your operational systems.
The second track was dedicated to cloud and digital security. The speakers talked about the main factors limiting companies from using cloud computing. Security is the top cloud adoption inhibitor. 57% of the companies are afraid of the risks of a security breach, 46% of them are uncertain about the jurisdiction, and 46% are uncertain about the location of data. This is why most companies prefer an internal private cloud.
“Every time you adopt a new technology, you have to secure it.” Cisco Romania
In order to remove these fears, Dorin Pena from Cisco Romania talked about digital security and how to ensure safety. Cristiana Fernbach from Noerr completed the track with a legal checklist for cloud services procurement.
At the end of the second track, Marius Filipescu from Microsoft Romania talked about some of the most important cloud solutions that a midsize company should get in order to work efficiently.
The last track was about Digital Transformation. Even if a business is not online, enterprise leaders have to reimagine their businesses, in order to reach their potential customers. 67% of them use a search engine to get informed before making a purchase. Their attention is split up across relatively few apps, sites, and channels, and those represent that channels that will get brands closer to their consumers.
“We don’t go online. We live online.” Google Romania
In order to ensure your business’s success, you have to redefine a good digital strategy and to use all the necessary tools to reach the clients. Although they still say that content is king, a customer’s experience has to step beyond digital, by creating touch points and tangible experiences. This was emphasized by all speakers in the panel, as all brought examples of offline-online approached that are smart, simple, yet able to boost engagement and brand adoption. Mihai Tataru talked about apps and client bonuses, Stefan Iarca explained how gaming can engage customers, create community and increase revenues, and Robert Berza talked about an online shopping experience completed through offline touch points for human interaction. Remus Visan from Paravion gave some cool examples on how you can use video content for your online business – it’s fun, the costs can be relatively low, and it can bring amazing results.
What we took home (or, well, in the office) from this conference? It’s not enough to present a commercial message to a client. The secret is to innovate, to make them laugh and to create memorable customer experience. How you can do this? Keep informed, keep open, catch up with the latest trends and meet the community – as you can do in events like these – innovate, test and have a fresh approach at all times.
