Category: Business

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If Your Messages Matter, Make Messages Memorable.

Have you ever wondered ? Why some brands seem to have better share of mind, which over a period of time translates to better share of the Customer’s wallet. We associate good vibes very directly with these brands as ‘bringers’ of positivity or as even as ‘removers’ of negativity. The Indian Premier League, the Indian T20 Cricket ‘Festival’ is a nice example of the former. The Life Insurance Corporation of India, the LIC helps by reducing the (monetary pain) of a dear one’s loss. Hence it too enjoys good brand equity.

We are, as individuals a bundle of ideas, thoughts, feelings etc. Personally or professionally, we also engage with businesses as persons or as brands. We prefer engaging with those brands or personalities that better appeal to our sensibilities. We love talking about those entities whose actions and communications (action is a great communication tool in itself) are behaviours we love and applaud.

One Life To Live – 100% Cotton T- Shirt – White Colour . T-Shirts For Both Men & Women with Size Options. Click To Choose.

VioorA DressQuote – Walk The Thought

At VioorA, we believe that what we essentially communicate are… our thoughts, feelings, values, hopes, ideas, emotions etc. Hence Brands that Make their Messages Memorable have a much better chance of getting good share of their customers’ minds. If you are a ‘Evolved Consumer’, as many coffee-drinkers surely are, you may wish to use more natural products. Especially in food, you may wish to avoid items/ brands that use Additives/ Preservatives/ Stabilizers to increase the shelf-life of their products.

The chemicals as above will have their say in due course, however safe the product marketers/ consumers wish them to be. Hence many consumers may prefer a brand like Kaaveri Coffee that promises 100% natural processing/ brewing of their coffee products. Kaaveri can thus easily differentiate itself from competition based on this 100% natural USP.

A brand may be many things to a Consumer/ Customer. But one or a few things may be top of mind for their Consumers. For Kaaveri Coffee, it could be being 100% natural, with no additives/ preservatives/ stabilizers. Kaaveri’s USP maybe NO ASP. For many hundreds of Indians who would not or could not have flown their entire lives, Air Deccan would be the brand that literally gave wings to them, by exhorting them to SimplyFly.

What Is Your Message? The message (about yourself) that you wish to communicate to your circle of family/ friends/ associates etc. If you own a brand, what is the message you wish to communicate about it? We would be happy to note your thoughts …..

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Thanksgiving : KARVY-ng the Customer – the new Turkey?

karvy,scam,pledge,pledging,customer,stock,loan,corporate,governance,

Today, the Fourth Thursday of November, will be celebrated in the world’s largest economy, the U.S.A., as Thanksgiving Day. One of the key traditions is Carving of the Turkey and dinner with family. Back home in India, among the fastest growing large economies, KARVY-ng of a different kind has been reported by SEBI.

Unfortunately, one of the leading Stock Brokerage and Security firms is suspected to have raised money by pledging Customers’ stocks placed in their custody. This, by misusing the Power of Attorney the clients would have shared with the firm for other purposes.

Customer, the New Turkey

This development comes close on the heels a recent discovery of gaps in Security of Customer Data…… Of customers being taken for a ride or rather, their data going places, without their knowledge or approval. Technology Service Providers and Marketers getting enriched while rendering the Customer Privacy values poorer. KARVY seems to have taken Customer Care to more s(ub)lime levels. Customer Car(v)e may be the new function. Why Celebrate or Thank customers. More profitable, may be to leverage Customers and tank them.

SEBI & SETI

Those not familiar with SEBI and those open minded enough to believe that intelligent life could exist beyond earth may think of SETI . Speaking of intelligence, one is surprised how the banks allowed the said Customer stocks to be pledged with them. Maybe the MoF, GoI could engage some SETI – like search. The Search for Economic Transgressors in India may well be a worthwhile pursuit, even if the search for intelligence or Corporate Governance in our financial institutions may disappoint.

Strengthen Whistle Blower Policies (as needed) and Communicate the same

Human minds and endeavours being what they are, no amount of Law may completely eliminate wrong doing. One way to minimise this is to make it mandatory for each establishment to prominently display whistle blower policy/ process/ rights to all employees and stakeholders.

Do you feel it is easy to be a whistle blower? What more should the government or society do to ensure whistle blowers are not left high and dry, just because they answer to the Call of their Conscience?

https://www.peta.org/features/thanksgiving-grace/

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whistle_Blowers_Protection_Act,_2011

karvy-scandal

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Secure Data or SeeUR Data – Privacy under Cloud?

data,it,security,cloud,privacy,technology,service,oxydata,people,lab,vinny,trois,night,lion,security,

An IT Security expert, Vinny Troia of Night Lion Security has revealed that personal information of almost 1.2 Billion users has been compromised by exposure. This data has been left unprotected
on a Google Cloud server. These data may have originated from two different ‘Data Enrichment’
Companies. People Data Labs (PDL) and OxyData.Io (OXY). Innocent consumers may part with just their e-mail ids to a Marketer. But marketers may leverage Data Enrichment to know much more about the consumer than he or she may like to share. Now personal data left without protection on a cloud server means it is potentially available for anyone to exploit, not just Marketers who may pay for it. In the wrong hands it can injure the well-being of individuals and communities. An individual’s basic Right to Privacy is anyway compromised.

Servers may not necessarily Save Ours (Data)

We assume our data (including surfing patterns) is our own and it is safe. We may have some knowledge that our data is being used by Technology Service Providers (for genuine software related purposes as claimed by them). A few of us may even be aware of other entities whose business models is to ‘scrap’ and garner more detailed information about users online. Those agitated by this may even get more bellicose when these entities call themselves ‘Data Enrichment Companies'(DECs).

Terabyte Trove – Data, the new Treasure

Searching for hidden or lost treasures of gold and precious gems is passe. Data is the new wealth. The Indian concept of Anna-dhatha takes a new connotation. Annam (food) is no longer analog. It is increasingly digital. And the Dhatha (Provider), is increasingly Data. Thus it is no surprise that DECs desire Data Dumps. The average person may baulk at these mountains (even if not in machine language). But the DEC’s raison d’être is mining these treasure troves, sorry terabyte troves.

Communication/ Adherence to Users’ Data Rights – Businesses’ Responsibilty?

Today, not all businesses may feel the need to be pro-actively transparent about their stand on Consumers’/ Customers’/ Users’. But laws will gradually ensure the rights of users are not violated. We already see the European Union authorities piling on the pressure on technology giants on some issue or the other.

What are your thoughts on DECs/ Data Mining? Do you feel the current Laws are sufficient to meet the needs of an increasingly tech-driven economy? Do you feel Businesses leverage DECs and (grey areas in) the law to know more about customers without their knowledge? Do you feel Customers will trust those Brands/ Service Providers better which are pro-actively transparent (in the absence of clear laws) and have a clear policy which is communicated to all stakeholders? We would love to know….