Long before the events caused by the coronavirus pandemic, new technologies were already developing alternatives to carry out contactless commercial exchanges. It is not new to order food at home from an app or manage movements and bank payments through the mobile.
The new normal more emphatically manifests the need for companies to refine or deepen digital and contactless solutions to meet the needs of consumers and businesses.
The reason why the contactless solutions trend is on the rise is partly due to a need for accelerated adaptation to generate a business alternative that adapts to current health risks. This health concern has affected all sectors and disciplines, without exception. It is imperative to start and follow up on business initiatives and developments to address this “Contactless Era” and thrive in the face of present and future challenges.
How to start structuring a contactless strategy?
It will be important that companies work researching each of the contact points that were traditionally part of each company systems. Focusing on providing solutions that deliver effective end-to-end experiences for employees and customers. Actions that maintain brand value and that are adjusted to all operations. Provide a robust yet flexible landscape to help the organization predict risks, evaluate options, and create solutions to iteratively address each as the external environment evolves.
Technology is a fundamental axis for contactless strategy development. It makes it easy to eliminate unnecessary interactions between people and customers; at the same time, it enables these efforts to be profitable, efficient, and evolutionary over time.
5 drivers of the contactless technology
High awareness of health and safety
Physical health is the top consumer concern at this time, followed by financial concern and getting back into social life. Many people no longer feel safe going to a store or participating in social events. Although daily life recovery begins to be on the rise, the consumer will take time to regain confidence and will continue ensuring the safety of him and his loved ones.
Digital consumers can maintain a greater sense of normalcy
During lockdowns, consumers sought out digital channels to maintain their normal ways of life from their homes. One of the fundamental motivations was human interconnection. The videoconference was an alternative to working, living, and connecting with other people.
Houseparty, a previously unknown app, is now the # 1 app for social gatherings in 82 countries.
On the other hand, the adoption of cashless payments has made it possible to maintain purchasing habits. Digital payments and e-commerce will continue to boom, becoming the first payment choice for all sizes businesses.
Walmart moved quickly to transform its online shopping experience by linking its perishables app with other products. The goal was that customers meet all their home shopping needs in one place. With this change that might seem subtle, the online sales of the mega-retailer during the first quarter of 2020 grew by 74%.
5G drives the development of other technologies.
Wireless technologies are critical to the efficient development of AI, IoT, and cloud computing. In light of, COVID-19, the importance of connectivity has become even more apparent. The automation acceleration to promote social distancing means that organizations also need a powerful network infrastructure. 5G’s advanced capabilities will enable companies to improve the customer and internal experience, unlock new competitive advantages, and thereby advance the contactless economy.
Rise of human experience platforms
The “human touch” will be one of the main digital experience’s goals. The lack of connection can lead to a user alienated and little connected with brands. This leads to the rise of people-centric platforms that support bringing a more human experience to consumers’ digital lives. The affective computing market is projected to grow by $ 90 billion by 2024. While it cannot replace human physical contact, it can detect the moods of consumers, infer their needs, and respond personally and emotionally.
The emergence of the new cloud-enabled technology architecture
With technology as the backbone of digital experiences and innovative contactless offerings, technology architecture has become a way for companies to take advantage of these opportunities. This marks the beginning of a trend that emphasizes an agile and scalable enterprise technology architecture, pointing towards deeper adoption of the cloud. This will help consumer-oriented businesses improve efficiency and react quickly to changing consumer behaviours.
In this sense, it is key to implement an efficient corporate cloud architecture, connect the different environments in such a way that we offer a single integrated vision.
The needs for security and personal privacy are here to stay. The market has changed rapidly and forcefully.
Companies that now develop a long-term strategy to mitigate risks, while offering distinctive, human-centric experiences, will emerge from the pandemic with greater operational resilience. Becoming more agile organizations with a sustainable competitive advantage to better respond to a changing economic context and with greater adaptability to the future.
