When you want to learn about the global tech trends that are and will affect us all, you go to CES in Las Vegas.

WE ARE NOW LEAVING THE CONNECTED AGE AND ENTERING THE DATA AGE

We’re about to leave the connected age where the world saw services such as social media, Uber and Netflix make their way into our lives. Instead we are now entering the data age where making best use of data will be the primary value driver. In the Connected Home and in the Smart City many things will manage themselves so that the users instead get time and freedom to do whatever brings them most value. To confirm the value of the shift, its now formally stated that oil is no longer the world’s most valuable resource, the most valuable resources is data!

CUSTOMERS CONTINUE TO MOVE AWAY FROM COMPLEXITY

During the last years there has been a clear trend where customers show an increasing lack of interest in complexity. They naturally want to maximize value in their lives and one way of doing this is to focus on products and services that provide great value and at the same time demand as little effort as possible in return. By reducing the input effort, the user will be able to handle more and, in that way, increase the total value.

We recommend for our industry to keep on strengthen the path we have been started the last years meaning: put your customers in the absolute center, make sure to make the buying and learning process for your products and services as simple and intuitive as they possibly can and evaluate if you are present in the channels where your customers find it most relevant to meet you.

VOICE ACTIVATION - ROLLING OUT FASTER THAN THE SMART PHONE DID

In the Nordics the Voice Activation and Smart Speaker trend has just started. In other parts of the world like in the US this trend has moved from being used primarily by early adopters and into the early majority of customers.

Their use is booming because this technology has the ability to make many small things in a person’s everyday lives easier, like setting an alarm, getting the weather report, listen to podcasts, create a shopping list, buy things online and you can even pay directly just by talking to your device.

The speed that this technology establishes on a global scale is now faster than the implementation of the smart phone and its estimated that the world will reach 900.000.000 active devices by 2022.

We recommend that brands start thinking of this as a new channel to implement in the omnichannel approach so that customers get the same good service in this channel as they do in the other channels where you are present. 

Why not get yourself a Smart Audio device and start learning how it can help you out in your everyday. The estimation is that there will be several providers overlapping each-other in the future so based on that you can go with whatever system you prefer on your first device.

There are many more topics and possible implementations so if you are interested to discuss further, please do get in touch!

Best regards
Christian Lystrup
COO & Client Service Director
Gorm Larsen Nordic

Gorm Larsen Nordic