Back in 1900, any purchase by consumers had limited choices; he could visit the store and pick the product from a select few available. In this era, consumer is aware of the numerous choices he can pick from, check on reviews and then finalize the delivery date and time at his door step. Today, 2011, the digital consumer an essential part of any business, where being able to select and choose from a given set of products and offerings is trend that is sure to change the enterprises of tomorrow and how they engage with their consumers. This engagement with the consumer also allows the business to work with them in order to identify and match up to their needs, consult and personalize the products for them. Where face of a bank was a teller with long wait time for simple activity such as deposit or withdrawing the money, today bank's website provides personalized products and services with limited visits to the bank location!
There have been bigger role of modes of communication with the consumers, real-time helpline, feedback, analysis of data received by surveys etc. And only to enhance this is social networking that constantly works on understanding the consumer with the perspective of his likes, dislikes and creates a digital intelligence of the consumer. For example, a hospital that patient visits irrespective of whether it is the local hospital or not, the patient information is provided to doctors with the awareness of the allergies he has as complete of data is already available with detailed medical information. Websites like TripAdvisor can select the preferences and provide the details on which destination, and which package to pick from numerous available options.
Businesses see this as an opportunity to enhance the consumer experience they provide and today with help of technology they can build the enterprise of tomorrow. This change in consumer perspective will bring in a huge shift in the way organizations have been working in the past. Organizations are being asked to provide personalized products and services. At the same time, consumers are also collaborating with organizations to create a greater understanding.
In my opinion the businesses exploring the social networking and working towards co-creating their businesses with consumers will be lost in the run to future proof their businesses! The future of this kind of association and of personalization lies in seamless integration. Technology being the key enabler for a future such as this!
