The Association of System Integrators and Retailers in Technology (ASIRT) hosted a monthly flagship Techday event. Sponsors for the evening, i-Ball discussed on IoT Technology initiative, while Deltakraft unveiled its unique Smart Service Voice Enabled, Virtual Assistant AI-powered solution for IVR automation.
The event ended on a high note with an engaging session on ‘Negotiating to Success’, by keynote speaker, K V Jagganath. The evening began with an informative discussion on IoT and its current applications, potential growth and the future of smart devices by iBall team. IoT offers an integrated platform that brings together Machine Learning, Data Mining, Artificial Intelligence and Pattern Recognition to connect and transform ordinary, everyday devices into smart devices. Nilesh Rane, Asst. General Manager, iBall, said, “The IOT is largely futuristic and is considered as the 3rd wave of Internet technology, after the desktop and smartphones. We thank ASIRT Members & its Board for their keen interest and enthusiasm to promote this technology. We assure about providing the latest updates and further roadmap & our mission to esteemed ASIRT Association”.
The next presentation on the agenda was one by Deltakraft who introduced their unique “SMART SERVICE VOICE-ENABLED VIRTUAL ASSISTANT” – an automated, AI and NLP powered solution that can improvise the current IVR functionality and Customer Support for the current telephony based assistive function. Although IVR has been around for quite some time, it only functioned as a filtration step, categorising calls through relevant numbers that need to be dialled by callers. That means that while the calls received by agents are more relevant, a large scheduling of human resources is essential to man the service support Centre usually entailing in long wait queues. The Voice Bot which also has Text and Touch by Deltakraft helps reduce the dependency and assists not only minor/ repetitive but more complex queries to be solved by the Bot with due authentications, thus reducing the service time, increase in efficiency and cutting down on actual human resources deployed to for consistent functioning of the centre. Speaking about the Voice Bot service and the potential of the innovation and the support from the SI community, Dnyanesh Kulkarni, Founder & Director, Deltakraft Solutions Pvt. Ltd., said, “This solution was created when a client from the BPO Centre approached us to solve a critical Service Centre issue. What followed was this innovation that has been tested and also offers customisation to meet the needs of several different industry verticals, including internal communication! We selected ASIRT to promote our innovation, as the SI community represented by ASIRT is a resourceful set of people. It is thus relevant for the SI’s to move from selling products to offering solutions. The uniqueness of the innovation coupled with lucrative margins makes this a great business proposition for ASIRTers while Deltakraft gains from the endorsement of senior SI’s in the industry.” Though this product is promoted, marketed and sold by Deltakraft it is developed by Spaan IT Solutions Pvt. Ltd., which is also founded by Dnyanesh Kulkarni in December 2015.
Post the sponsor sessions, the Board announced the success of the first Membership drive that was organised by ASIRT in the month of August 2018. The drive had received an enthusiastic response, with over 11 new Members joining ASIRT family. As a token of appreciation, the first three Members who joined ASIRT instantly during the Membership drive event were felicitated with a copy of a book by Dr Radhakrishnan Pillai, titled ‘Chanakya And The Art of Getting Rich’.
The event then proceeded to the high point of the evening, a session on ‘Negotiating to success’ by motivational speaker and corporate trainer, K V Jagannath. Known for his witty presentations and effortless transfer of his insightful observations, Jagannath enthralled the audience with amusing anecdotes while highlighting the key principles of healthy and successful negotiation for closing business deals. A passionate reader, an author and a student at the age of 55 years, Jagannath has been a veteran in the IT industry and boasts of a strong understanding of the industry and its challenges.
When speaking about the benefits of the session, Jagannath said, “An average SI today leaves a lot of money on the table. They fail to negotiate right and end up, under pressure, to hasty bargains. For a successful business model, one needs to understand that any product or service which cannot create value, can be purchased at a notionally 10% cheaper cost. Furthermore and more online players are also moving onto the solution side of the business. They are not restricted only to products anymore. The customer is spoiled for choice and all options – products or solutions – are available online, at the click of a mouse. Especially in this background, SI’s and IT Retailers need to understand that a customer service oriented approach that offers multiple value-added advantages, will need to be provided by them to stay relevant in the future. Adaptation to new technology, new competition and new market ecosystem is imperative and one can only survive through quantifiable value that can be justified during a successful negotiation.”
Good post but I was wondering if you could write a litte more on this subject? I’d be very thankful if you could elaborate a little bit further. Appreciate it!