IBT: What were the major disruptions faced by Crayon Data due to the onset of COVID-19 in its global business operations? How have you managed these disruptions, and how are you navigating ongoing challenges vis-à-vis the pandemic? Suresh Shankar: Crayon’s core value proposition for maya.ai is to create personalized lifestyle experiences. Be it in dining, retail or travel, we had it all covered. Until COVID-19 changed the world. Worldwide dining and travel came to a standstill. Brick-and-mortar shopping now feels…
Rediscover life at your workplace: thrive in the post-crisis world
In this week’s episode of the Crayon Lighthouse Fireside Chat series, Shagufta Anurag, or Shagu, as we know her, spoke to us about rediscovering our lives at the workplace. Shagu is the founder and CEO of Saltmine, a B2B SaaS company in the workspace design-build market. Before COVID-19, the physical office space was always taken for granted. But things have changed with the pandemic. When asked about their concerns about returning to the office, employees at Crayon expressed that health…
Lighthouse fireside chat with B.S Nagesh: Trends in consumer retail and ecommerce post-Covid-19
In this week’s Lighthouse Fireside Chat, B.S Nagesh, the founder of Trust for Retailers & Retail Associates of India (TRRAIN) and the Chairman of Shoppers Stop spoke to us about the changing retail landscape. Shoppers Stop is one of India’s largest department store chains, with 86 stores in 40 cities across the country. We had a candid conversation about the tectonic shifts in retail and ecommerce due to Covid-19. And how businesses can best capitalize on these new trends. While…
360° customer experience with personalization
Right now, banks face more competition from non-banking FinTech players than ever before. They have ushered in a new era of relevance and personalized online experiences, that has elevated customer expectations. Due to the competition, banks find it difficult to acquire new customers and retain their loyalty. If they fail to adapt to the new normal, they will face shrinking profits, and will lose out on customer interest. By 2025, FinTech startups could take away over $280Bn of payment revenue…
Accelerating digital transformation: how AI can help banks in Oceania
In the past several years, enterprises around the world have adopted digital transformation projects on various scales. According to the International Data Corporation (IDC), worldwide budgets on technology and services that facilitate digital transformation is predicted to reach 2.3 trillion USD by 2023. In fact, transformative tech is the fastest growing sector worldwide. The report goes to mention that some of the largest use cases for digital transformation is autonomic operations, robotic manufacturing, self-healing assets, automated maintenance, and 360° customer…
Crayons Of Lockdown – Devaki Gopalan
In the finale edition of #CrayonsOfLockdown, we have the guru of art & craft, Devaki! She talks about working from home while staying productive, and shares her de stress secrets How does it feel to work from home on an extended basis? I don’t mind it too much! 🙂 The idea of having time at home and the possibility to work around my schedule is something that i like. I definitely get more done from home! I would, however, like to…
How to push the envelope on client delight
Customers are delighted when you exceed their expectations. . To do so, you need to always be one step ahead of them, understand and anticipate their needs. But the current COVID-19 pandemic hasn’t exactly made it easy for us to have all the answers to wow our customers. It’s safe to say that no one was prepared for this pandemic – not our clients, not us, nor our competitors. But that doesn’t mean that we should let ourselves be sitting…
How to go-to-market in 9 days – Lessons from lockdown
We’ve shared the story of how we identified a new business opportunity and developed a product for it in 2 weeks. And we promised we’d share the second part of that story – going-to-market (GTM) in 9 days. So here it goes! A typical GTM plan takes a while to put together. According to The Cult Branding Company, developing and executing a comprehensive GTM strategy can take anywhere between 12 to 36 months. It is a cross-functional undertaking that requires…
How to identify new business opportunities in 2 weeks – Lessons from lockdown
Crayon’s core value proposition for maya.ai is to create personalized lifestyle experiences. Be it in dining, retail or travel, we had it all covered. Until Covid-19 changed the world. Worldwide dining and travel came to a standstill. Brick-and-mortar shopping now feels like a distant past, with all non-essential retail shifting online. From industry reports and our clients in the US, Middle East and India, we observed a 20 to 30% decline in overall spending. With discretionary spends in travel (-90%),…
Unlock your OMS potential. Here’s how
By the year 2022, the total number of credit card holders across the globe is projected to grow to 1.2Bn (from the 1.06 Bn in 2017). And these card holders will look for relevant experiences that match their interests. Be it fine dining, globe-trotting or shopping. This leaves banks and credit card providers with enormous potential. To grow their portfolio, and increase customer spends, and offer personalized relevant experiences to their customers. Traditional financial institutions with their current technological…