Are you planning to move your business to the cloud? Why are so many organizations moving their business to the cloud? Let’s check the reasons that I found interesting about the cloud, SaaS, and PaaS. The word cloud is derived from the network schematics that are drawn around servers, represented by circles. A cluster of servers in a network diagram with several overlapping circles resembled a cloud, giving birth to the term.
Computing is the process of using computer technology to do a given task. It may include the development of software systems for aiding the creation of smart machines and services such as Cloud computing that helps people and organizations to use a shared pool of resource like servers, computer networks, storage etc.
Cloud computing helps one use various technologies without having an expertise in the same. It is a convenient, on-demand and low-cost virtual computing resource pool. The essential characteristics of cloud computing include on-demand self-service, wide network access, a pool of resources, rapid elasticity and scaled service.
Companies providing cloud computing services are known as cloud providers. They can simply be compared to a water authority, charging for their services based on the usage like you are billed for water usage. Most cloud computing services are grouped into 3 categories – SaaS, PaaS, and IaaS.
IaaS (Infrastructure as service) is the basic cloud computing category, where you can rent infrastructure for your IT development. It can include the servers, storage or networks you need. The cloud provider may charge on Pay As You Go basis. Let’s assume you want to have an ice cream. You can buy the ingredients from the market of a certain brand and quality and can prepare the ice cream. This is quite similar to IaaS. Here the major cloud computing providers are Amazon, OpenStack, and Microsoft.
Another option available for you is to buy the instant ice cream mix and prepare it at home. This is more convenient than the first one, right? If you pick the best brand, you don’t have to worry about its quality. You can buy it according to your requirement and pay accordingly. PaaS (Platform as Service) is something similar. Here you select your PaaS vendor who can ensure and provide the requirements to host your applications. In PaaS, the capability provided to the customer is to deploy on- cloud infrastructure using tools and services provided by the vendor. Some of the PaaS vendors are Microsoft Asure, Heroku, and Google App hosting.
The first thing that comes to your mind when you want to eat an ice cream is buying it from an Ice cream parlor or an Ice cream shop without worrying about the quality and brand. You just have the ice cream and pay the money. Software as a service or SaaS is similar to this. You only have to choose the flavor of the ice cream you like. Here you do not have to do anything to develop the application. The software vendor will host it for you and you just have to pay for using their software. This is the easiest way to do cloud computing and is the most popular one. Here the capability provided to the customer is to use the provider’s applications running on the cloud infrastructure. The applications are accessible from various cloud devices through a web browser or an interface. The consumer does not manage the underlying cloud infrastructure.
These benefits of cloud computing compel the consumer to go for it and have given it a huge push in the software industry. The methods of cloud computing that include SaaS and PaaS are still under research.
Let’s hope for an era where we have the best cloud computing technologies in hand and let’s start contributing towards this technological revolution.
Month: June 2017
Open Source
A software can be seen as a tool, knowledge or program. Open source software refers to computer software in which the source code is available with a license in which the copyright holder provides the rights to study, change, and distribute the software to anyone and for any purpose. For a lay person, it can be understood as a grandma’s recipe that is the base recipe to which any customization can be added by the son or daughter. Open-source software is a prominent example of open collaboration. A study states that adoption of open-source software models has resulted in savings of about $60 billion (£48 billion) per year to consumers.
In the early days of computing, programmers and developers shared software to learn from each other and evolve the field of computing. A paper published by Eric Raymond was a prominent factor in motivating Netscape Communicator to release Netscape Communicator Internet Suite as free software.
Before the term ‘open source’ became widely adopted, developers and producers used a variety of other terms. It was first proposed by a group of people in the free software movement where it was discussed against terms like free software, source ware, etc. Open source has never managed to entirely supersede the older term ‘free software’, giving rise to the combined term ‘Free and Open source software (FOSS).
The open source code helps the programmers to improve upon the source code and share the changes within the community. The code is released under the terms of a software license. Depending on the license terms, others may then download, modify, and publish their version (fork) back to the community. As the source code is published and made available to the public, anyone can copy, modify and redistribute the source code without paying royalties or fees.
Open source is more secure with bugs and vulnerabilities being fixed often. Quality and customizability in open source is better and costs much lesser than their proprietary counterparts. More than 90% of computers use Linux, a computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. Linux based operating systems are designed primarily for touchscreen mobile devices.
The types of licenses can be reciprocal, partially reciprocal and academic. The 6 most common licenses cover 90% of open source project like GPL, LGPL, Mozilla public license 2.0, Eclipse public license, Apache license 2.0, BSD License, MIT License. Android, for example, is an open source software that Google releases under the Apache license.
An open source software acts as a common platform to share ideas. Here people collaborate, create and produce ideas. It deserves popularity as it can provide maximum benefit and it is very rare to find a company which does not use open source.
Touchless Processing – The Genesis of RPA Technology
Over the last 2 decades organizations have invested billions of dollars in technology including ERPs and other solutions with the aim of automating all processes and making them ‘Touchless’.
Touchless Processing is one wherein no human intervention is required to complete any task other than decision making ones. The most common example of this is Invoice Processing where in an ideal scenario no human intervention is required to pay and a PO based invoice is received from the supplier, provided it matches all the defined validations.
ERPs helped in:
- Integration of data across various domains (finance, HR, procurement, sales functions)
- Removal of paper by digitizing all transactions and standardizing all processes
- Real-time availability of data that can help in strategic planning
But ERPs were UNABLE to help make the processes touchless due to multiple reasons:
- ERPs are internal to an organization and are therefore not accessible to external business partners
- ERPs are NOT designed for all types of user tasks and all steps of current processes
- Manual effort is required for continuous training, change management and handling adoption
- Manual effort is also required for managing technology and ERPs operations
These shortcomings led to the next evolution of cloud based self-service, domain centric, specialized systems like Salesforce, Success factors, Ariba, to name a few. These cloud systems helped overcome the above issues of mapping all the steps of processes and connecting with external business partners, but required more effort for integration and change management.
Moreover, as these cloud systems added a new functionality, they also required more effort from the business users. For example, when a catalog system is introduced, it also brings with itself the need for supplier onboarding and content management. Unless this is done, the technology cannot not become effective. As these systems increase workload instead of reducing the overall effort, as technology introduction is ideally supposed to, business users are not very happy with this idea This leads to adoption issues and the original business case for technology investments suffers.
To solve this problem, organizations started looking for solutions that:
- Stitch processes across systems/landscapes without large integration projects and while leveraging existing investments
- Reduce manual effort, increase agility, increase scalability and improve flexibility
- Perform repetitive rule-based tasks and improve consistency, productivity and data quality
This gave birth to Robotics Process Automation or RPA as it is known today. As per IRPPAI, “RPA is the application of technology that allows employees in a company to configure computer software or a “robot” to capture and interpret existing applications for processing a transaction, manipulating data, triggering responses and communicating with other digital systems.”
In my next blog, I will explain how this software, “Robot” is helping organizations to make processes nearly touchless. I will conclude this series with a blog explaining the future of RPA and how when coupled with machine learning and artificial intelligence it can lead to 100% ‘Touchless Processes’.
Robotic Process Automation
As a child, I often heard Dad wish if he did not have to stop what he was doing to go and turn off the switch of a light or fan at home. He always said, “how I wish there was a button system for this”.
Well, 25 years since then, and he has Alexa to do that for him!
Automation Software (Technology) directly impacts all of us (People) and almost everything we do (Process) on a daily basis. From our homes to workplaces there is constant innovation on how to carry out tasks faster and better.
At my workplace, and many of yours too, RPA is a common word these days. There is no organization today that does not want to adopt RPA and derive quick benefits from it. In general, a conversation about RPA largely ends in highlighting 2 benefits:
- Increased in productivity of resources – human, software applications, hardware systems, etc.
- Reduction in cost incurred by an organization in performing specific processes.
Almost all global organizations and those that market RPA software solutions are constantly trying to differentiate themselves, and are finding ways to highlight other benefits that they will deliver. What possibly could be the other benefits?
Benefits for People
- Relief from performing mundane repetitive tasks on the job, like searching, matching, comparing and filing. Focus on value added and strategic activities such as thinking innovatively to design a new process – something that robots cannot do!
- Managers can support multiple repetitive processes by using a digital workforce (robots) while preserving the flexibility of human resources and yet achieve efficiencies.
Benefits for Process
- Organizations need not embark upon massive transformation projects to centralize and standardize global processes. RPA allows separate business units within a company to stay with their customized processes that best suit them, and yet achieve sustainable value.
- 100% auditability is a possibility with RPA due to the digital trail that is created, thereby increasing compliance.
Benefits of Technology - Agility is key in current times. Widespread adoption of RPA is constantly pushing the development in RPA technology. Advanced technology offers enhanced the ease with which RPA is deployed without the need for complex programming.
- Naturally progressing from procedural automation to intelligent automation through cognitive computing, machine learning and artificial intelligence.
Considering the above benefits, and looking beyond driving productivity up and costs down, will help in organizing a better future.
As you would have noticed, the relationship between People, Process & Technology cannot be undone and what RPA does, brings them much closer than ever before. People will always think of new processes and technology will be required to get them working effectively. Can technology completely replace people?
Since Alexa’s arrival, Dad is happy and Mom is happier since she does not have to repeatedly remind Dad about the lights and fans anymore. Alexa listens the first time and the job is done. How I wish Dad would put the newspaper down when told the first time! Humans are smarter you see
Credits: Alexa from Amazon https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Amazon_Alexa
RPA Software: https://www.edgeverve.com/assistedge/
Mystic World of Analytics
Analytics – Verb: a thought process to discover, interpret and communicate information hidden within a situation or event.
Knowingly or unknowingly, Analytics function as a basis of all the things that work around us, and all of us are the recipients of the benefits of analytics at every moment and everywhere.
“War is ninety percent information.” – Napoleon Bonaparte
Analytics is not a new craft that was born out of the evolution of computers. It was born out of the basic human instinct of survival and urge to win. Analytics was used to hunt, to fight, to win wars and to trade. The techniques and tools used were primitive, however; even today the thought process remains relevant and universal.
Analytics, as it stands today, helps us in deciding which movie to watch at what time, what accessories suit our lifestyle, which books we should be reading, which candidate we should choose as the next Prime Minister or President of our country and even who could possibly be our soulmate!
In this blog, I would try to walk you through the mystic world of analytics – and you do not need to be a scientist to understand it. All you need is a bucket full of common sense.
Five SENSES of Analytics
- Question: This is the ‘Why’ behind the ‘Buy’. It is very similar to looking down at a crystal ball and asking the question for which you seek the answer.
- Data: Collecting, assimilating and structuring the available data.
- Constraints and Assumptions: Equally important in identifying the nuances of the situation and its data. “Facts do not cease to exist because they are ignored” – Aldous Huxley
- Model: A technical term involving selection of appropriate techniques to format the data. When applied to new data or records, it predicts the outcome based on the available information.
- Application: Actual validation to respond to the questions asked in the first place.
Now that you know the basics, let us consider a real-life example of the use of analytics.
A very popular dating site was founded by a group of mathematicians who believed that match-making is possible by crunching data and less by emotional connect.
It works primarily at two levels:
- First, by asking the users to answer predefined questions. (Question)
- Second, the users decide the relevance of each question. (Constraints & Assumptions)
Thus, creating a data set (Data) based on which people are matched (Model), by measuring if the question was important to both people, as well as how they answer it (Application). However, this is just the tip of the iceberg in the field of analytics.
The addition of socio-economic and behavioral data to the above multiplies the chances of a perfect match and new results emerge. Accumulation of such results over a period of time improves the quality of future match results.
Advancement in computing capabilities and thanks to our great mathematicians, today we have very sophisticated tools & techniques to analyze and make better fact-based decisions, fueling our basic instinct of survival and winning. In years to come, the term ‘intuition’ may not refer to a human feeling anymore.
Related Topics & Credits:
‘2017: Advanced analytics enter the real world’ – by Zubin Dowlas, https://thestack.com/big-data/2017/01/19/2017-advanced-analytics-enter-the-real-world/
‘The Dark Side of Customer Analytics’ – by Thomas H. Davenport and Jeanne Harris, https://hbr.org/2007/05/the-dark-side-of-customer-analytics
Deciphering Blockchain and Our Future
A LAYMAN GUIDE TO BLOCKCHAIN AND IT’S WORKING…
We undertake a number of contracts & transactions on a daily basis; across regions, countries, industries; as individuals, as small business owners and of course as large corporates. During these transactions, a lot of documents and contracts are created and need to be stored, verified and maintained. We rely on intermediaries and ‘trust’ keepers to see our transaction through safely, seamlessly and without disruption.
Think of the last time you moved money between countries, or paid your supplier in a different country; you had to go through a process of identification and verification at your local bank, there were intermediate banks / clearing houses which assimilated, verified and passed on your information and value (Important!!) before finally, it reached the other end. Often times the ‘trust’ and value you pass on cannot be verified and then your bank calls you up to sort that out and then proceed.
The reality is that all of us have aligned ourselves to these processes, or delays, as part of our life. In fact, we are used to saying – that’s the way it works, and will in the future.
Or will it?
In Dec 1974, Vint Cerf and Robert Kahn designed the foundation of our Internet –TCP/IP. Initially, TCP/IP allowed us to connect and send emails, and then it transformed into a wonderful, organic way of communication through a computer at both ends. Today, this has ingrained itself in our daily lives.
And this is what Blockchain, I believe will do. While of course, the final state of the Blockchain revolution is many years away, the process has started. It is important to understand that Blockchain in itself is not disruptive. Blockchain, as I have learned to appreciate, is a foundational technology and will end up creating new foundations for global, economic and social structures. The world will be perceived differently – Pre Blockchain and Post Blockchain perhaps!!!
Blockchain and Core Building Blocks
Blockchain, simply put, is an open, distributed ledger that can record transactions between two parties efficiently and in a verifiable and permanent way. The ledger itself can also be programmed to trigger transactions automatically.
Blockchain, while an innovation, is not a NEW technology – it’s a coming together of three technologies
- Distributed, Peer to Peer Network with a shared ledger
- Private Key Cryptography
- Incentivization Protocol – an incentive to service the network’s transactions, record-keeping and security.
Private Key Cryptography
This component of Blockchain serves to establish one of the key Blockchain concepts – SECURE DIGITAL IDENTITY. Identity is based on a possession of a combination of a public and a private key. The combination of these keys forms a very useful digital signature.
Distributed Network
This component technology helps in APPROVING TRANSACTIONS THROUGH CONSENSUS and MAINTAINING A TRUSTED SHARED RECORD
When a node (A) initiates a transaction with another node (B) in the Blockchain, by the very nature of the protocol, a new block is added to the record (Ledger). Since this ledger is shared by all the nodes in the blockchain, the next step is for these nodes to start validating the transaction to verify if indeed A has the funds for e.g. to transfer to B. Validating the transaction involves going back to the 1st transaction (block) in the chain and accounting for every transaction in the chain, before arriving at a confirmation on the transaction’s genuineness. Once a majority of the nodes verify this new transaction and confirm, it’s then that the new transaction is added to the system of records (a new Block is confirmed and added to the chain).
Incentivization
The integrity of the blockchain requires many participants to be constituting the peer to peer distributed network (and consequentially the very high-power consumption). One of the cleverest parts of the BTC blockchain is its incentive for participating in the expensive consensus-building process. Every time a new block is accepted, the system randomly rewards one participant with a reward or token. In a Bitcoin Blockchain, this is how new Bitcoins are created or “mined”.
AI and Automation: What’s the latest and how will it impact us?
In the last century, mankind has made huge strides in technology. Many of the inventions had been predicted by sci-fi writers of the centuries before. To quote a few examples, Tanks had been predicted by H.G Wells, Submarines, and a Moon Landing by Jules Verne and so on. However, the author whose predictions have largely come true in the last few decades is Isaac Asimov who predicted gadgets that would prepare automates (microwaves etc.), make coffee (coffee maker), video calls (Skype, Google Hangouts etc.), robots that would perform manual tasks (multiple examples of this exist), wireless gadgets and even unmanned ships on Mars.
But the most interesting thing he predicted is about Robots and Automation, writing this in 1964: “The world of A.D. 2014 will have few routine jobs that cannot be done better by some machine than by any human being. Mankind will, therefore, have become largely a race of machine tenders.”
This indeed is true. Robots are doing so many repetitive, tedious activities that it’s difficult to imagine life without them. Though of course, these robots are not necessarily machines that we can see and feel but more often than not these are pieces of software code that take over a routine task and automate it, thus freeing up our time and letting the human agent in question do something more creative. So, here’s a look at some interesting areas where automation is set to change the game!
Advertising & Marketing: ‘Smart Ads’ is the latest buzz word. By using machine learning and automation, the whole aspect of advertising is shifting from an uncertain subjective process to a more predictable, deterministic one. The right analytics with Big Data will ensure that the ads target the right audience, industry and use the right kind of channel. AI and automation will help in figuring out the right message at the right time to the right person. Automation clinches the deal by helping marketers make real-time bids for ad space, figuring out the right places to display ads, displaying the ads to the right people and on the correct websites and so on.
Film industry: ‘Cinematic automation’ – Did you know that certain scenes of the movie Gravity were filmed by four industrial robots? Yes, it’s true! These robots moved the lights, props and even actors around the set as required with ultimate precision and timing. In fact, non-robotics experts like animators and designers can actually run these robots using software they are familiar with. Another example is in the field of screenwriting – to cater to the huge demand in scripts there are software applications which help aspiring writers get recognized by using a unique automated scoring system and algorithms for easy discovery, thus ensuring more transparency and opportunities for screenwriters.
Medical Science: Recently a robot completed a cochlear implant with the assistance of a human surgeon. Of course, completely automated robot surgeons aren’t there yet but it’s not far off. Smart algorithms that feed on existing medical history can provide expert advice and diagnose results with high accuracy. In the fields of oncology and radiology machine learning and automation is already being used extensively. With the advent of wearable devices that track bodily functions, the day is not too far when robots will be able to predict our health issues accurately and help cure them as well.
In the next part of the blog, I will focus on some other industries where automation is making a lot of difference and in the third, conclusive part I will explain how all these changes will affect us and what we can look forward to in the future.
Customer Engagement
Customer engagement is a connection between a customer and an organization which can happen through various online and offline channels of communication.Thedepth of this relationship gets established over a period of time over various interactions, actions or even opinions shared by our near ones.The result is an overall customer experience which then takes shape to being a positive engagement or a negative one.
In a banking environment today, gone are the days when interest rate or product differentiators attracted customers to a bank. With branch setups, banks had opportunities to interact and build on customer engagement and develop positive long-term relationships. But with digital banking fast becoming the key channel of engagement banks are in a dilemma to maintain and sustain such relationships. Also, today’s generation wants everything at their fingertips.Needless to mention we also want to be attended to as individuals. Banks hence have no choice but to raise their bar on improving their customer experiences.
The answer to a great extent today lies in being a true partner with the customer and less looking at him only to make profits.It is more like a marriage of two human minds. The bond will sustain till there is a great relationship going. Some 4 tips for such a relationship going from good to great are as below.
1. Focus on Differentiation – Banks need to set realistic expectations for their deliverables in general and about their relationships in particular. Which obviously means that a doorstep service for a wealthy client will be a bare minimum ask but an over the counter service in a branch or a 24-hour turnaround will not be unreasonable service for the general customer.
2. Rewards and Recognition – It’s important to have an emotional confirmation with your customer so that they know they are special, valued and you don’t take them for granted. This demonstration can be shown through different communications and actions. The key is to ensure consistency in such affirmation rather than they be loaded all at once. This could be as simple as a call or an email wishing a customer on his birthday or giving a ticket for two or a surprise gift on his wedding anniversary. Not to miss you hence get the family connects as well.
3. Improved Communication – Get to understand your customer’s inner world. Assessing customer behavior through his various interactions across different channels with analytics can provide insights to how you can improvise your customer convenience and even prompt him for necessary positive actions. An option to ask your customer on how the bank can make his financial life easier and convenient can also be undertaken.
4. Higher benefits v/s lower cost issues –The positive things really need to outweigh the negatives. Cost issues can come through delays in handling requests, hidden costs, escalations etc. Hence it’s very important to strengthen what’s already going well as this increases the opportunity to deal with those negative issues in the professional journey.
Are Management Consultants contrarians to Design Thinking?
“Your middle management is broken” – it seems (on a lighter note) is familiar conclusion of many management consulting reports. The troubled organizations pay fat sums to the consultants to tell them that poor middle management is the culprit in strategy execution that was defined by the same management consultant few years ago. So every time the CEO of the organization hires a management consultant to fix their problem – one team that fears the most is middle management – they end up being the laboratory rats.
Of course this is not a generalized view of the great work many of the consultants do in solving problems that organizations face. There are categories of known problems where traditional consulting works best. But when it comes to solving problems in the space of innovation, the consultants do not have the best approach.
- Wearing your expert cap vs dropping your hat
Consultants do wear hats (figuratively or at times literally) that make them look different and sometimes superior. The air is overwhelming for the so called subjects (e.g. middle management who always despise these consultants) – they would always pose superior to those whom they work for – it goes well with the profession. One would be fortunate to meet a humble consultant that empathizes first with the end-user.On the contrary, the design thinking approach professes submitting oneself to the immersive experiential learning from cross functional team and most importantly from the users. The empathy for the users is more humbling than the expert view that claims to know the pattern of problem and the solutions. A consultant questions the users as the subject of their study while design thinking emphasizes on user empathy. A consultant solves “for” the user while a design thinker solves “with” the user. - Solving future problem with past knowledge Vs learner’s approach
I always wonder why the management consulting companies never feature in the list of innovative companies though they hire the best brains and possibly have best resources. They are up to speed on all new trends and happenings but they fall short of defining those trends. At the best they track the trends and provide useful commentary on what others are innovating. They are their best when one has to solve a known problem with past experience and knowledge. When it comes to problems of the future, there is not much precedence to fall back to and rely on. The problem solving becomes an exploratory process in that case and the past knowledge, a baggage to be dropped. Design thinking approach works best when one has to solve problems for the future. - Problem identification Vs problem solving
Design thinking is not only solving the problem but implementing it along the process. The solution gets refined and changed during the prototyping and validation phase. A problem and solution approach defined in a ppt has little significance until it sees the light of the day. So the meaning of problem solving is somewhat different in consulting and design thinking parlance. A problem is solved only when the end user has adopted the solution in practice and not only accepted in thoughts. - Proprietary knowledge Vs public knowledge
Proprietary knowledge has been the greatest tool for the consultants. The organization relies on the famed case studies to solve problems of the similar nature. There are precedence to problems and templates to the solutions. Thanks to the rapid growth of the internet, public data and generic information that the outside world is getting bigger and lot even. With information asymmetry solved the key to problem solving will be creativity and innovative thinking.
Conclusion
Consulting is a long surviving discipline that has evolved through the years. It works best for the known problems of today that has potentially similar solutions applied earlier. When it comes to identifying problems of the future and solving it – a collaborative, prototype based, user centered and iterative approach of design thinking is more appropriate. I believe consulting itself will embrace design thinking for specific types of problems.
Smart Shopping Assistant
Many of us do online shopping / offline – Showroom purchase, How about having a Smart Shopping Assistant from Bank using AI and Analytics, which can advise us instantly anywhere and anytime 24×7. Customer generally need advice on following
- What to Buy? -Choice
- When to Buy? – Offer / Holiday Season Sale
- Is it worth Buying? – Utility of the Product
- How to buy? – Based on Price / Financial Strength of the Buyer
Let’s see some basic Use Case of a Buyer doing Offline Showroom Purchase.
Mr. John wants to Visit an Electronic Showroom nearby his Residence to purchase an SLR Camera.
Smart Shopping Assistant APP:
- Asks John to select the Product he intends to buy. (Example: SLR Camera)
- Provides the list of Showroom available nearby his Residence along with Google route map.
- John selects Shop No.1 and proceeds his travel.
What to Buy from the available Choice:
App provides the SLR camera with different Specification, John selects one from it. (Choice of Specification)
App provides the SLR camera across Brands with price (Choice of Brand & Price)
When to Buy to avail best offer:
App provides an ALERT to John stating the Current Offer prices is not competitive against the forthcoming Christmas Holiday Season Offer, which is 10% more.
App provides an ALERT, if John proceeds to buy, he can avail the Credit Card Offer which is 6% on top of the showroom offer.
The app can provide an ALERT, that SHOP no.2 which is 1 km away is having the same product and the offer is 1% more than the Shop no.1.
Is it worth Buying?:
The app captures the last purchases made by John through online / offline and does an Analysis, that John already bought a similar type of SLR Camera with a lower specification. Suggest him that you already have a camera. Do you really want to buy? Also suggest him, that it was recently bought 4 months back.
App advice John to sell the previous camera in a resale portal or postpone the buying of new SLR camera.
This feature will provide assistant to User, as to whether the product is really useful buy / hint him that already similar product is bought, which may or may not be used. In general, a consumer buys just because to avail the offer but do not use it.
How Do I buy?:
The app can check the Account balance of John and advice if he has sufficient balance to purchase based on a future commitment like EMI, Standing Instructions, Bill Payment.
The app can suggest John to Avail Credit Card offer of Zero % EMI or advice him that he still has a unutilized limit on the credit card, which is cheaper than utilizing his Account balance.
This feature helps John to assess his financial commitment and options, finally whether to buy or not.
Conclusion:
Using AI and Analytics, System can advise a customer on Purchase through analyzing Location, Product, Product Specific Offers, Seasonal Offers, Financial commitment/strength of the consumer. This feature can help consumer take an advised decision on purchase, instead of some random purchase, ending up in defaulting EMIs or overshooting his spending limit.