Category: Uncategorized

Update: Kopi Kenangan representative has reached out to e27 to clarify that Alpha JWC does not return for the company’s June 2019 Series A funding round nor will they be participating in its current expansion. We apologise for the inconvenience.

Kopi Kenangan, Indonesia-based on-demand coffee chain, just announced the extension of its Series A round with investments from Arrive (backed by US rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation) and athlete and entrepreneur Serena Williams’ Serena Ventures.

Joining the round is returning investors Sequoia India, followed by new investors NBA star Caris LeVert and Sweetgreen CEO & Co-Founder Jonathan Neman.

An official statement from Neil Sirni, co-founder and President of Arrive, reads: “We are inspired by Kopi Kenangan’s tenacity, vision, and ability to execute. In just two years, they have expanded to 18 cities, 200 stores, and over 1,800 employees. We’re excited to be an investor in and partner to Kopi Kenangan as they introduce Indonesian-style coffee to the world.”

Sequoia India led the coffee chain’s US$20 million Series A round in June 2019 while its seed funding round was led by Alpha JWC last year.

Founded in 2017 by Edward Tirtanata, James Prananto, and Cynthia Chaerunnisa, Kopi Kenangan aims to answer the gap left by the market sandwiched between the high-priced coffee served at international coffee chains, which are beyond the price range for most Indonesians, and the instant coffee sold at many street stalls.

Also Read: Indonesia’s tech-enabled coffee chain Kopi Kenangan raises US$20M from Sequoia India

Kopi Kenangan said it plans to add more than 1,000 new stores over the next two years and expand across Southeast Asia.

“We want to build a legendary brand, and we’re excited to work with our new investors and advisors who have built global consumer franchises spanning sports, entertainment, F&B, and technology,” Tirtanata said.

Nielsen Company named Kopi Kenangan as the number one in top-of-mind awareness in the kopi susu or milk coffee category and second only after an established multinational coffee chain in the general coffee category.

“We recognise that this is a joint effort from our Teman Mantan [team] which includes our baristas and employees, partners, shareholders, and most importantly our customers who have made us top-of-mind for kopi susu,” said Chareunnisa.

Arrive is a Roc Nation company, full-service management, music publishing, and entertainment company founded by Shawn “JAY-Z” Carter. It was launched in 2017 and it provides strategic capital and advisory to startups and early-stage ventures with a focus on the United States and Southeast Asia.

Also Read: Startup of the Month, June: Indonesian tech-enabled coffee chain Kopi Kenangan

Serena Ventures was created in 2014 by entrepreneur, philanthropist, and tennis icon Serena Williams with the mission of giving opportunities to founders across an array of industries, focussing on early-stage companies. Serena Ventures invests in companies aligned with its core themes of diverse leadership (women and person-of-colour), individual empowerment, creativity, and opportunity.

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Image Credit: Kopi Kenangan

The post [Updated] Indonesian coffee chain Kopi Kenangan raises Series A extension from Jay-Z, Serena Williams’s VC firms appeared first on e27.

The modern business market is oversaturated with businesses of all shapes and sizes. What this means is that anybody who’s looking to start their own business in this economy should be ready to fight some fierce competition if they ever hope to reach success. This might seem particularly challenging to anyone looking to launch a startup. 

Aside from doing their homework thoroughly and ensuring that they’ve tackled every single aspect of running a business, startup owners must also be extremely vigilant. Sometimes, making even the smallest of mistakes can really propel you on the road to failure. 

With that in mind, here are the key elements of launching your startup and setting it up for success.

Don’t rush to enter the market

Without a solid business idea, there really is no point in starting a business. However, a solid business idea alone won’t be enough to set your business up for success. The fact is that many startup owners rush to enter the market when the market is just not ready for them.

Also read: The concerns, risks and success factors of any startup

That’s why so many startups fail sooner than they start. To avoid such a thing happening to your endeavor, make sure you have a good business idea and sit on it until you notice that there’s room for your business in the market. Only then should you launch your endeavor and present it to an interested audience. 

Set clear goals

Another thing you need to take care of is setting clear goals. While wanting to reach success is certainly a goal, it’s not very clear how you intend to achieve it. That’s why, instead of setting such a vague and distant goal as your only one, you should instead set a plethora of smaller and clearer goals that are somewhat easier to achieve.

Not only will this enable you to prioritise better and see which of the things need to be done first but it will also offer you a visual representation of just how well your business is truly doing. Pro tip: create a goal board and write down all of your set goals on it so that you can have the additional satisfaction of ticking them off one by one as you manage to achieve them.

Put together a strong team

No matter how big or small your endeavor is, the fact is that you simply can’t do it all by yourself. Instead of trying to achieve something on your own, you should let like-minded people help you out. So, when hiring, make sure you carefully select individuals that share your vision and passion.

Even more importantly, make sure you select individuals who have the necessary skills to make your dream a reality. Additionally, do know that there are no born A players. Instead, they are being created and molded in the workplace. Therefore, when trying to put together a strong team, choose individuals who display the biggest potential of becoming your own A players. 

Design a good website

In this day and age, trying to run a successful business without having a good website in place to back it up is simply pointless. The fact of the matter is that the majority of modern consumers will turn to the online realm to research a business before they actually decide to put their hard-earned money into it.

Also read: Why moving fast and pivoting is necessary for startups

That’s why you need to ensure that they are able to find your business there. Aside from that, not any website will do. You need to make sure that your site is well designed and optimised to allow for a seamless browsing experience. Also, you should make the transition from HTTP to HTTPS to offer your visitors – and potential customers – another layer of security when interacting with your website. This way, you will not only appeal to your audience but you will also make your website more appealing to online search engines. 

Always be on top of your finances

Another mistake startup owners make is not paying enough attention to their finances. The fact is that, in the business world, money truly is everything. You entered the game hoping to make money but you need to be very conscious of how much money you’re actually making.

The fact is that here, you will need to give some to make some, i.e., you will need to invest some of your resources into something that promises a good ROI in the end. However, if you’re not crystal clear about your finances, you may end up making mistakes that will cost you greatly in the long run.

Know when to take a step back

Finally, the thing nobody really talks about much is the negative side of the hustle culture. While yes, you do have to work hard and keep on pushing in order to reach success, you also need to be able to understand when it is time to slow down. Overworking yourself might present some short-term positive results but that’s just it – they’re all short-term. If you continue to work too much without having enough time to rest, you will reach burnout sooner than you think.

If you’re considering launching a startup and you want to ensure you do everything in your power to make it a success, keep these elements in mind. Sure, you will need to do much, much more than just what’s previously been mentioned, but this is a great place to start.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

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Businesses these days spend typically significant amounts of money on quality assurance, especially for those in the tech sector – just one significant product issue can be enough to be a significant detriment to a company’s reputation for years to come, even if they had produced rock-solid products until that point.

One critical strategy that can often be overlooked by larger organisations: using their own solutions for their infrastructure and business operations, ensuring that all employees are familiar with the nuances of the solutions their company offers, both positive and negative.

SMEs and startups would be more familiar with this approach, but in this article, I’d like to offer some additional nuances for consideration by tapping onto Synology’s own experiences.

The use of this strategy has definitely paid dividends for the company in the form of customer accolades. The Synology brand has topped PCMag’s Readers’ Choice Award every year in the home network-attached storage (NAS) category since it was added in 2012, with customers lauding our reliability and fantastic customer service. The same publication has also awarded us top honours in its Business Choice Awards.

Also Read: Getting out of the weeds: Simplicity is the key to scale startups

We’ve identified a few key takeaways that we feel were critical in our success:

Take time to understand how your products fit into your own business

One of the biggest factors in our quality assurance success is our commitment to using our own products for almost all of our business’s IT infrastructure, allowing the organisation to collect feedback from all of our workforce – from IT to HR.

Aside from quality assurance, one huge added benefit is that our sales, marketing and support teams are very familiar with the company’s products since they’re using those solutions on a daily basis.

This might seem like a basic first step, but does require the investment of time and resources to conduct an intense scrutiny of an organisation’s infrastructure and processes, from both business and operational leaders. This might even spark some additional ideas about how your products could be further refined to better fit into businesses.

For example, to name just a few, we use our products for the following critical business functions: storage for virtual machines; Active Backup for Business; collaboration and messaging; surveillance; and disaster recovery.

Also Read: How this fundraising programme helps these two startups access better funding opportunities

Proactively foster a culture of openness towards constructive feedback

A company’s products are often a labour of love from its employees, and this emotional investment might result in them being resistant to feedback, whether it be from customers or from their colleagues.

The organisation’s leaders will need to be proactive in fostering a culture where employees are receptive to criticism, and where feedback is valued and seen as an essential part of helping the company and its solutions succeed.

From the R&D team to department heads, we ensure that all employees understand the importance of actively addressing feedback and that this is seen to be a priority from the management. Our own efforts in this regard are perhaps most clearly demonstrated in the anecdote that the company’s Chairman spends a couple of hours every day reading through user comments and enquiries.

Develop clear lines of communications

Of course, it’s also important to ensure that customers and internal staff are able to share their comments easily. Aside from emails, our teams also visit end customers from time to time to get them to share their comments and address any issues they might have, allowing our team to gather feedback directly from the ground; we find that this also helps to encourage our users to share thoughts that they may not have penned in written feedback.

Similarly, our employees are encouraged to use email or internal messaging platforms to share feedback freely, both when they have positive experiences and whenever issues arise.

Also Read: How to shine like a diamond in the coalfield of startups

Develop SOPs to ensure all feedback is addressed

In using our own products, our R&D team is able to examine how our products function in real-world scenarios, allowing them to quickly identify issues and possible improvements, accelerating our development process.

Another possible point of failure for many businesses is that feedback can be lost down a black hole, where internal teams can decide to prioritise what they themselves deem to be important rather than addressing actionable feedback.

Going back to what I mentioned earlier, all feedback is also read by the management so that they are aware of any issues that they might need to direct their team’s attention to. We also collect and log all of such feedback for internal reference.

Don’t lose sight of the competition

One potential drawback to using only your company’s own products is that your team’s vision of the competitive landscape can become quite insular, owing to a lack of experience with the solutions offered by your competitors.

The management, therefore, needs to ensure that the team proactively keeps itself up to date on the latest news and products on the market through thorough market research; in this era of information overload, the difficulty is not in finding the information, but rather in ensuring that the team avoids complacency and keeps an eye on the competition to ensure that their own products are always a step ahead.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

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Vox Dei reveals startup coverage trends of the 2010s – Press Release

Vox Dei, a Singapore-based startup that specialises in text analysis, today announced the results of their startup media coverage analysis for the 2010s.

Conducted as part of a test for their software Lexikat, the startup tracked media trends both in general and in various specific fields in 2019 and all the way back to 2020.

The analysis looked at coverage from media such as Dealstreet Asia, e27, Wired, and Popular Mechanics.

According to the analysis, “Hype in the tech press does not necessarily predict investor interest levels … Except possibly in the case of crypto which saw increased interest during the Bitcoin spike of 2018.”

It also noted a spike of interest in blockchain by English language media in 2018. Meanwhile, in Chinese language media at the same time, big data was a more popular theme.

The analysis also pointed out the popularity of sectors such as cleantech –and the reason behind it.

“Cleantech is frequently mentioned in the same breath as other technologies, as a way to boost their image. For example, Uber is principally a sharing economy startup, but also helps the environment,” the analysis elaborated.

SoftBank’s US$3B WeWork financing talks stall with Japan banks – Reuters

SoftBank Group’s talks to secure US$3 billion from three of the biggest banks in Japan have stalled as the lenders have hit internal lending limits to the firm, according to a Reuters report.

Citing two people familiar with the matter, the issue is said to further complicate the US$9.5 billion rescue package for the coworking space giant.

The sources also said that the banks are concerned about the risks involved in rescuing WeWork.

Also Read: 6 key elements of a successful startup

Kopi Kenangan raises Series A extension from Jay-Z, Serena Williams’s VC funds – e27

Indonesia-based coffee chain Kopi Kenangan today announced the extension of its Series A funding round with investments from Arrive (which is backed by US rapper Jay-Z’s Roc Nation) and Serena Ventures (which is owned by athlete and entrepreneur Serena Williams).

Joining the round is returning investors Sequoia India, followed by new investors NBA star Caris LeVert and Sweetgreen CEO & Co-Founder Jonathan Neman.

With the new funding, Kopi Kenangan said it plans to add more than 1,000 new stores over the next two years and expand across Southeast Asia.

Myanmar’s Phandeeyar launches new investment initiative, backs restaurant booking app Resdi – e27

Phandeeyar Accelerator today announced a new investment initiative, which aims to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage startups in Myanmar.

The organisation has also announced a US$25,000 investment in restaurant booking and discount app Resdi from the new fund.

The startup will use the money to expand its team, fuel product development, and reach a wider audience.

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Image Credit: Daria Nepriakhina on Unsplash

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One of the areas that will always remain challenging while launching a startup, is funding. Funding is a necessary part of any startup and getting it is far easier said than done. The ideal type of investment for an early-stage startup is an angel investment, an injection of a good amount of cash to fuel the early stages of your project.

However, it is surely not easy and there are steps you can take to increase the likelihood of attracting one. So let’s take a look at what those might be.

Lay down the basics with care

A business needs a solid foundation. It has to be built on rock, not on the sand and if you are all enthusiastic but fail to and no planning at the start, then you won’t achieve this. This means bad things for the company as a whole, but it also means bad things for your investment prospects.

“Angels are looking at a few things when they size up a startup. One of those key things is how rigorous the process of establishing the company has been, something which will indicate to them the care and effort that will be maintained once their money has been put into the business,” explains Dick Rutherford, tech writer at LastMinuteWriting and Writinity.

Have a concrete understanding of the basic principals of your business to impress a potential investor.

Also Read: Angel investor Mike Flache shares his tips to begin investing in startups

Don’t be afraid to say what you need

An angel investor would far rather have you making solid demands based on actual projections and the data that you’ve gathered about your idea than floundering or asking them what they think they ought to give.

You’re not talking to them for business advice, you want money, it’s as simple as that. So there should be no beating around the bush, just try to get straight to the point about what it is you need to make your startup a success.

Research your angel

Reaching out to a stranger that you don’t have any information about and asking for massive amounts of money is not a good idea. You need to know who you’re pitching your business to in order to be able to impress them in the proper way.

“Ideally you know as much about your potential angel investor as you can without it getting weird. You need to be able to predict the conversation so that you come to it prepared with all you need to prove to whoever it is that you are worth both their time and, crucially, their money,” explains Doug Howard, business blogger at DraftBeyond and ResearchPapersUK.

Also Read: What your startup needs to know about angel investor funding

Contact people who know them, try and encounter them out of a pitch meeting, do anything you can to know that there won’t be any personality curveballs when it comes to the crunch.

Professionalism to a fault

Don’t make any mistake about it. It’s crucial that when you engage with your potential investor, everything about the way in which you act is geared for professionalism. Essentially, you’re auditioning and the part they are auditioning you for is the dedicated, organised professional who will continue to do their absolute best to avoid letting them down or causing them big financial losses.

Even once you’ve relaxed with them, you need to be on guard against any sort of test and make sure that you stay on top of your game for the entirety of your meeting and any further exchanges.

Conclusion

Getting an angel investment is hard, but it’s by no means impossible, it happens all the time. You just have to make sure that besides having a good idea, you are setting up for success in those crucial pitch meetings.

Hopefully these tips will help to maximixe your chances of securing funding.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

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All over the world, companies are increasingly providing remote working as an option to employees. It helps companies save money, while at the same time it provides flexibility to employees (we at e27 also have overseas employees, most of who are working from their home).

The infographic given below discusses every aspect of remote working.

 

The post (Infographics) Advantages and disadvantages of remote working appeared first on e27.

The fourth industrial revolution bought more than a few drastic changes with itself. We now live in a world that is driven by technological advancements. No matter where we look, we find the technology present and penetrating in every sector.

Most of the tasks are automated or digitised and we turn to Google for all answers. The internet is our go-to for everything we can think of. Booking movie tickets, checking show timings, finding locations, paying bills, getting online consultation along with plenty of other things.

Moreover, combined with the internet we have devices that we can’t live without. Whether it is our smartphone, wearable watches, home automation appliances or more.

As humans, we want to stay in a connected world. This connection need not be just with each other but also with our devices, home, vehicles and everything else in between. As a result, we are progressing towards a world of the Internet of Things (IoT).

The more we embrace IoT, the more we will be moving into a world filled with all kinds of new and smart devices. Statistics suggest that by 2020, we will have more than 20 billion devices that will be connected and running fundamentally on the principle of the internet of things.

Whether we choose to realise it or not, the expansion is far bigger than we can imagine. While last year experts could only conceptualise IoT and dream about it going mainstream, the day has finally come when it takes over the world.

IoT explosion

Everything, as we know today, will be impacted by the explosion of the internet of things. Be it web application development, testing, or devising practices for cybersecurity, all major industries will undergo a rapid transformation.

Moreover, the market size of IoT will reach 11.1 trillion by the year 2025, giving more than enough reasons for entrepreneurs and researchers to enter the segment and capitalise on it.

Also Read: From products to businesses: the hidden opportunities of IoT

It’s amusing to even imagine that the internet of things didn’t even exist a decade ago, but today here we are witnessing a world transform due to it. Be it the changing customer demands or the need for staying connected, the tipping point of IoT is finally here.

By 2025, we can expect more than 75 billion devices installed under IoT. This is also being fueled by the popularisation of technologies such as 5G.

The implementation of IoT solutions will play a crucial role in business applications throughout industries and societies. The IoT edge is closer than ever before, while the top tech enterprises around the world are on board with it, small and medium enterprises are still struggling and trying to find a middle ground amidst the market chaos.

Edge computing

In its latest mobility report, Ericsson predicts that by the end of this year there will be as many as 1.3 billion cellular IoT connections. By the year 2025, this is expected to jump to five billion.

Moreover, as enterprises embrace digitisation and enable more connected machines, the current computing power of the cloud will fall short enough. Organisations will, therefore, need to invest in computing power that can sustain a plethora of devices.

If we look at the current scenario, enterprises are mostly centralised or using cloud service providers such as Amazon, Google, and Microsoft that perform all the computing at their specific data centers. But, with the changing implications of storing, utilizing, calculating and analysing data to the limit, IoT experts want the data to be transferred first to a local computing centre that is closer to the source or edge of the network.

Being referred to as edge computing, this offers a series of benefits such as reducing the traffic to a network, better management of large amounts of data, reduced dependency on the cloud along with lesser consumption of bandwidth. But Gartner predicts that by 2023 there will be a shift from edge computing to another form of computing which removes the dependency on the internet.

Also Read: The IoT opportunity is right outside your door

Moreover, 2020 will witness the emergence of mesh networking which will be a type of computing designed just for the needs of IoT. With this, the transmission of IoT messages will be done through a network topology of radio nodes, where every node transmits data to the next through flooding or routing.

5G will be a hit

The need for ‘on the edge’ computing provides an opportunity for communication service providers who are building and expanding the 5G network. The rapid deployment of 5G networks around the globe along with an uptick in 5G subscriptions will contribute significantly towards increasing the number of IoT connected devices, all across the globe.

The fifth-generation cellular network technology, along with giving faster speeds, better connectivity and lower latency will improve network responsiveness. This means it will allow connectivity on far more devices than 4G.

Finally, IoT innovations such as driverless vehicles among others will have a technology that can handle and sustain their needs. Considering the massive expansion scenario.

Moreover, the reduced power consumption will also unbridle energy and cost savings, thus, making IoT even more popular at a household level. In other words, the high capacity, speed, and density of the 5G network, when combined with cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence, machine learning, will allow enterprises to adopt and make shifts to their existing processes for a higher ROI.

This will also enhance node participation and decentralisation, enabling shorter block times and facilitating on-chain scalability.

Statistics suggest that 90 per cent of senior executives in media companies believe that IoT is crucial to their growth, while 80 per cent of retailers will use it to customise store visits in 2020. Similarly, 66 per cent of US cities are investing in smart city IoT technology and the healthcare industry has saved as much as 25 per cent from the adoption of IoT devices.

As we progress towards 2020, we will see the widest number of applications of IoT. From smart speaker displays to the product as a service ecosystem, smart cities, unified IoT framework, industrial IoT, there will be far smarter applications on the internet than there are people in the world.

For customers, it could mean the age of personalised and revolutionary services, while for enterprises it can be an excellent opportunity to jump into the opportune market.

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

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Being named Asia’s Best General Insurance Company of the Year in just two years of starting operations, has been humbling and overwhelming for us. When we started the company’s operations in 2017 with a mission to simplify the insurance this was a dream that we did not imagine to be fulfilled so soon.

Now that we look back, we would like to share seven important learnings have helped us be on the track that can be helpful for changemakers and innovators in building a digital business:

Learning #1: Choosing a purpose

One of the key learnings to build any business is the importance of the company’s purpose. Everything you build, or your company offers should be an answer to the purpose and problem you are trying to solve. This purpose should be ingrained in each and everything the company strives to do.

We started with a mission to “Make insurance simple”. Our goal was not only pasted on our walls, but it was also the thought-starter for everything we did. And in that process, if we had to change the entire process or go against the tide, we weren’t hesitant about it.

For instance for our flight delay claims in Travel Insurance, we intimate the customers about their claims proactively. All they have to do is send us a photo of their boarding pass and their bank details. This not only makes it extremely simple for the customer but also ensures that when the customer is already frustrated, their insurance only gives them a sigh of relief.

Learning #2: Build a product like it was meant for you

This was one learning that completely changed our perspective and the way we build anything for our customers. We realised that understanding what the customer wants will naturally happen if we build a product like it was meant for ourselves.

Also Read: What startups can learn from the challenges and success of Uber

Hence, any product or service that Digit offers to the customer is first tested by the internal team and if it is something that we would buy for ourselves or our family members. We recognise the points that make our colleagues hesitate and simplify it to suit the needs, ending with a product that is completely in sync with the customer’s ask.

For instance, we found that 65 per cent of people accidentally damage the screens of their mobile phones. Hence, we thought of building a sachet Mobile Insurance product where people could protect their mobile screens for their new as well as old products. What better way to be relevant to the customer!

Learning #3: Making sure customers understand

With insurance customers, most of them often complain that they do not understand what they are purchasing and at the time of claims it is too late an understanding about what is not covered by their policy. This gave us an understanding of gaining customer trust by building products that are transparent and simple to comprehend.

We came up with a simple solution, to introduce a policy summary that gives a birds-eye view of everything that the policy includes and includes. To further understand the simplicity level of the document, we shared the document with 15-year olds and tested if they understood clearly the terms and conditions of the policy. And they did!

For our Health Insurance product, we went a notch higher where we invited kids to co-create the policy with us, simplifying it till the last word.

Recently we also launched a board game called InsuRace, that lets you learn about insurance while playing! Well, you always learn better when you are having fun!

Learnings #4: Building processes that build customer trust

The current market is such that customers want convenience and speed over everything else. So, processes should be such that empowers the customer, more so making it smartphone-enabled. Also, we believe that every good relationship stays only based on trust. So, as much as the customer trusts as, it is important that we trust the customers too.

Also Read: 11 easy strategies that are important for every start-up to succeed

Hence, we built a DIY smartphone-enabled self-inspection process for Car Insurance where the customer could shoot the damages using their phone and complete the inspection. This removed the need of waiting for a manual surveyor to come and check the car. This brought down our inspection time from 24 hours to seven minutes and also improved our TAT for claims! What more we got kids to test how fast the process is!

Learning #5: Use automation not to replace but aid humans

Technology should help humans and continually work towards making processes easier and removing redundancies. We looked at our value chain and identified repetitive tasks for our teammates and partners. We automated such tasks that helped in increasing the overall efficiency.

For example, we observed that we were spending 4 minutes 15 seconds post the approval of a claim to process the payment. This time was taken for manual checking and filling of data for all the parts of the vehicle that were damaged and for which the claim was approved. We felt this time could be shortened, so we now run a BOT for this, bringing down this time by almost 50 per cent, to two minutes 30 seconds!

Learning #6: Co-create with partners and customers

We firmly believe to grow we need to work in tandem with our customers and partners. This brings the need for empowering our partners with the right tools. So, we set out to build our partner’s knowledge on what we are trying to do, how they can contribute and take their inputs on how we can help them further to make the journey smoother.

One such tool was an “Endorsement and Cancellation Module.” This was built to help partners in cases of changes to the policy documents or if any policy requires to be cancelled. They do not need to send mails to us asking for the changes to be done. Instead, they can select the data fields that need to be changed, upload the relevant documents on the portal and the request is processed via a bot. This tool has seen a 100 per cent adoption and an improvement in productivity by almost three times!

Learning #7: Environment that supports continuous improvements

Building a digital business in this modern world would mean constant updates and constant updates means continuous improvements. We can’t build and invest in business thinking this is where it ends! There will always be a new update, a new way to look at improving the current performance. This is what will help the business grow and gain continuous momentum leading to a successfully built organisation.

For example, We publish a Transparency Report every quarter sharing all numbers and updates, any process delays or achievements. This helps us be more accountable to our customers thereby leading to continuous improvement. It also helps us in looking at our processes from a fresh perspective, find newer, faster ways of doing things and reinvent ourselves over and over.

It has been a fun journey building our dream brick by brick. The satisfaction of our five million customers and their happy reviews online with a 4.7 rating on Facebook gives us assurance that we are on the right path motivating us to continue to think differently to build our business around our core value – Simplicity!

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Editor’s note: e27 aims to foster thought leadership by publishing contributions from the community. Become a thought leader in the community and share your opinions or ideas by submitting a post.

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Thanks to growing internet connectivity, in addition to the increasing ownership of more sophisticated mobile devices that can stream high-quality video content, the OTT industry is on track to reach a sky-high value of US$52 billion over the next five years.

This growth is unsurprising as OTT can provide content to users when and where they want it– regardless of place, time, device or network– and as such content producers are focused on generating as many profits as they can from distributing content directly to consumers.

This is urging traditional content providers to rethink their strategy in this on-demand age; they need to evolve their marketing strategies to catch the consumers’ attention when their eyeballs are now on a wider variety of devices.

Also Read: 5 email outreach tips to aid your startup marketing efforts

At the same time, as OTT viewers also have the benefit of choosing what they want to watch at their own leisure, how these platforms contextualise their offerings to the viewers need to be laser targeted to be in line with their preferences.

However, all this needs to be done by balancing the line of understanding the consumer without making it appear as if they are too intrusive. Here are some ways in which OTT platforms can market their products to viewers with better contextuality to improve their ways of monetisation. 

Customer is king

OTT platforms have upended traditional viewership, placing far more power in the consumers’ hands than ever before. Yet, while viewers now have greater control over how they want to watch content, addressability has become a greater concern.

This is as viewership has become more fragmented, therefore posing a greater challenge for marketing efforts as compared to their prime-time broadcast forebears. They now need to target different ads to different audience segments watching the same content.

To overcome this, OTT marketers need to gain a better understanding of their marketplace to determine the best messages that can resonate with this fragmented base. They need to do so by utilising richer data to create relevance amongst viewers in order to deliver the best possible customer experiences.

Messages should be present on all devices

OTT platforms were born in the digital age, and therefore many have been designed to be viewed on devices that can be connected to the internet. In regions such as Asia, traditional TV viewership remains dominant, however, most OTTs require smart TVs to be played or separate devices connected to more conventional TVs to power them.

However, portable devices such as laptops and smartphones seem more practical for many viewers, especially if they’ve subscribed to OTT services for their own personal use.

Mobile is already replacing TV as the go-to choice for video content and thus, marketers to rethink the channels they use to engage with customers. This is as mobile and desktop marketing require different engagement strategies than viewers; they need to keep in mind which devices are being used, as well as when and where they’re being used. Marketers, therefore, need to adopt a wider-reaching omnichannel strategy to reach as many consumers as they can throughout the day.

Minimising friction

Broadcast TV has traditionally been the medium for ads, and therefore viewers are more than familiar with the concept of needing to sift through a programme’s sponsors to be able to enjoy their content. However, OTT platforms – especially the on-demand kind – are perceived as a more attractive option as they’re typically less ad-heavy, or have no ads at all.

As such, when ads do appear, they need to be done by keeping viewing disruption at a minimum, which is best served by ensuring that the messages being receive relevant or well-targeted.

This is why understanding customers are paramount. By using the right data, marketers can better contextualise their messages according to the consumers’ viewing preferences so that they won’t seem disjointed at best, and at worst, intrusive.

Also Read: 6 strategies to give valuable feedback that sticks

It is the challenge of intrusion that marketers need to be wary of. While using data to laser target consumers can help marketers sift through the audience clutter and target may help to ensure that the outreach is effective, using consumer data that’s not relevant to the content at hand can be off-putting and may even alienate consumers from the OTT platform.

Sophisticated solutions for today’s on-demand viewers

The upside is that we now live in a digital age where we can leverage more sophisticated tools to reach customers effectively.

For instance, SilverPush are artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning, which – when coupled with computer vision – help ups understand large droves of complex data to get the right messages out at the right time to the right people.

This is done by using our technology to identify the specific context in video content and serve in-video ads which align with the advertisers’ core messages without detracting the user experience.

To illustrate how our technology’s been applied, we’ve worked with iflix and HOOQ to disseminate ads based on specific metrics – namely TV and film genres. What this does is help us make better recommendations to viewers based on what they’ve already watched and positioned them in ways that enhance their viewing experience.

OTT platforms are bringing video content viewership into a new era, and therefore marketers need to understand how they work to reach audiences effectively.

While this task is definitely more complicated than before, marketers also have the choice to adopt technologies which are designed to do the tedious legwork that can support valuable human operations and, in turn, help them add more value when conducting their outreach strategies.

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Image Credit: Will Francis

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Mark Britt, co-founder and CEO of Malaysia-based online streaming company iflix has officially stepped down from his position after more than five years with the company. Marc Barnett, iflix’s managing director will take over the role, as reported by Marketing Interactive.

“A huge congratulations to him on his new appointment – a recognition of the massive contribution he has made over the past three years,” Britt said about Barnett, who now assumes overall responsibility of the business.

Britt added that he will be joining the board as executive director. He also will spend more time with his family following his decision, as stated in his LinkedIn post.

Iflix’s spokesperson also shared that Britt will lead iflix’s advertising business with a particular focus on Indonesia as executive director. He will also spend time between iflix’s key markets and Australia.

Also Read: Streaming platform iflix announces funding round, partnership with Indonesia’s MNC

Before running iflix, Britt worked at Nine Entertainment’s digital arm Mi9 as CEO. During his time there, he was responsible for its SVOD investments and portfolio of startup ventures.

Meanwhile, Barnett just got promoted to be managing director just in November from his position as COO. He first joined the company in 2016 as Chief of Staff.

Before that, he was director at The Australian Institute of Food Science and Technology, and COO of Bohemia group.

The company also bid farewell to its Malaysia’s Head of Marketing this year. Awin Roslin left for Astro in September.

It also welcomed Kevin Liu as Chief Technology Office for iflix Advertising to spearhead the programmatic strategy.

Also Read: iflix gets funding from Japanese entertainment giant Yoshimoto Kogyo, establishes JV

In July, the Kuala Lumpur-headquartered company announced the closing of a new round of investment led by global asset manager Fidelity International, with participation from existing backers Catcha Group, Hearst, Sky, and EMC.

The final size of the round has not been disclosed, but the company said in a statement that the total size is in ‘excess of US$50 million’.

The money from the new round was reportedly used to drive growth ahead of a prospective IPO.

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Image Credit: iflix

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