Companies used to think how to draw customers to their business. With digital technology, they are able to bring their products and services directly to your home and the competition is stronger than ever.
- Indian Tech Industries Come Out Stronger
- Digital Gaming Is More Accessible
- The “New Normal” May Be Here to Stay
Indian Tech Industries Come Out Stronger
The 2020 lockdown caught some companies unprepared. Some faced unavoidable pragmatic hurdles, such as local events, physical shops or print media. Others tried to adapt quickly, reorganise their business and acquire digital service capabilities and flexible logistic solutions.
And then there are the Indian IT and digital service industries – they were ready from the start. More than a national priority, digitisation was a firm entrepreneurial conviction, with daily stories of consistent investment in innovative capacities such as Mixed Reality software or green technology process management.
In May, KPMG published its analytic report on the state of the Indian digital media and online entertainment sectors in the context of a global post COVID-19 reality. Referred to as “the best of times [at] the worst of times”, the sector’s stability and growth has been praised as consistently proving its flexibility, innovative drive and tech-based ability to respond to unexpectedly high demand levels.
Technological solutions have been providing quality across the supply chain as content creation and IT development companies have facilitated remote distribution of local favourites such as streaming videos, traditional games or top eSports virtual leagues. As consumer patterns have changed, so have digital media and entertainment companies, investing increasingly their resources in digital technology able to create added value when and where needed.
Digital Gaming Is More Accessible
Leading factors shaping some of the lasting changes in consumption patterns include affordable mobile technology empowering Indians to access online services and entertainment and today’s data packages which are much cheaper than ever before.
Both urban and rural users enjoy socialising via online platforms and mobile Apps, exploring the best blackjack strategies by G2G or simply challenging their friends in Mumbai over a game of Teen Patti. Fantasy leagues have become an urban classic, while social gaming still takes up the largest share of the digital gaming universe.
While online gaming grows in popularity and importance among the huge young Indian population, middle-aged users prefer streaming content and tend to adjust their shopping habits to the new reality, increasingly dependent on online services and tech-driven product distribution.
Both macro user groups have grown more demanding and service and product providers are expected to saturate the digital ecosystem with more locally targeted content and original production packages – in terms of language versions, traditional genre favourites, local preferences and bottom-up product development.
Such trends have urged both smaller operators and global tech giants to invest in local product delivery – grocery chains such as Grofers and BigBasket have almost doubled their customers post-Covid, while Amazon India has launched its Fresh and Pantry operations starting in the bigger cities.
The “New Normal” May Be Here to Stay
It should come as no surprise that a growing number of public authorities have recognized what businesses and consumers have already come to terms with: the consumption paradigm may change further, even for the better, but it may probably never be the same as before. Regional government and the Department of Telecommunications have started simplifying requirements for work-from-home businesses, digital Business Process Outsourcing providers and other tech-dependent businesses.
IT-enabled services contribute a lot to India’s way of working and living, as they do to Indians’ having fun. Building a sustainably growing digital environment gives the country a clearer vision of a realistic socio-economic horizon and provides more opportunities for young talent and dynamic consumer groups.