Social media is transforming retail business (video)

13.04.2012 The increasing penetration of social media and smartphone innovation is giving rise to the availability of context-based shopping experiences, Accenture CTO in charge of...

The increasing penetration of social media

The increasing penetration of social media and smartphone innovation is giving rise to the availability of context-based shopping experiences, Accenture CTO in charge of technology Gavin Michael told Silicon Republic. But, as social permeates real-life new tensions around privacy are as well inevitable.

Michael, who earlier taking up the technology CTO role at Accenture was IT director for Lloyds' Banking Group where he directed innovation rollout for its retail banking base, is responsible for directing Accenture's research vision and embracing trends that impact on the business landscape.

He said that the retail business worldwide needs to be ready to leverage the rise of context-based services, an emerging innovation trend where real world digital data is aggregated to understand "who you are, where you are and what you are doing" to give consumers a rich experience.

This innovation trend he says is being driven by soaring Smartphone usage, the expansion of cloud computing and the explosion of social media participation. This will require tools for aggregating and analyzing multiple forms of data and acting in real-time to serve the customer who is either online or on-premises.

“I think research is in a wonderful positin right now to make a lasting impact on the business. We are already seeing forward looking CIOs taking advantage of the spike in mobility and cloud to change th way clients relate to their organisations to look for new revenue streams and ways in which the brand is represented and trusted in the customer base.

“It is the possibility that lays previously technology that becomes very passionate in the discussions we have. However you don't forget the basics - service delivery is all in all the ticket to the dance so we spend a lot fof time talking about that and the balance between strategic and operational priorities."

Great case in point

“Amazon is a great case in point, the way they share data is one we use as an exemplar of as a matter of fact putting data at the heart of the business and at the time being able to use those additional inputs, that wealth of information that exists in the unstructured world and converge with the structured world to provide those key insights. It's only a matter of time earlier these sevices start to become more a matter of fact in our every day lives."