Consumer perception about Smart Services

On the fringe of contemporary, up-to-date smart and sensor enabled products connected to the internet in this tech savvy world comes SMART SERVICES. By utilizing information produced by present-day devices, astute new participants can offer inventive, esteem services. Are we as consumers of these services ready for this dramatic change? The shift from a customary product-driven economy to a service-centric one!!!

With the sudden eruption of smart gadgets which are expected to reach 50 billion by 2020 with respect to its usage represents a multi-billion-dollar opportunity world-wide. Smart devices from watches to tablets, from cell phones to thermostats have a much larger potential if they were managed and overseen as core elements to provide Smart Services.

As we all are well aware that Smart India Mission began in 2015 with the point of giving a superior personal satisfaction to the residents, but like any other mission it’s going to face difficulties in the route forward. The Union Urban Ministry is asking governments at the State/UT/nearby level to make professional dynamic strides in assembling coordinating measure of assets, and in getting ready and actualizing the undertakings on time, so that the finishing due dates are met. 

In order to understand the current status of adoption of Smart Services, a Questionnaire was formed. A survey strategy was utilized to gather information from 115 respondents of various categories i.e., from college students to office going professionals, from Unemployed to Retired Professionals.

There is no doubt that smart services are going to replace traditional processes. In this survey, various smart services were mentioned and respondents were asked to choose the smart services which are going to grow at a faster pace in future. The smart service which got the maximum response is E-payment. Hence, we can say that there is scope for all type of smart services but the smart service which might grow at a much faster rate than others according to this survey is E – Payment following E – Governance.

There is always a reason behind using any service. People will accept and start using any of the smart services if they have a reason to do so and also there must be the value addition to their daily life after using that service. In this survey, we have asked respondents about the reason to accept smart services and the main reason which came up in this survey is saving time. 79% respondents agreed that they want to use this service for time-saving 

Smart services are going to impact most of the industries as well. We have asked the respondents that which industry is going to be impacted the most due to smart services. 59% of the respondents agree that BFSI Industry is going to be affected the most because of smart services 

Every technology has some challenges adhered with it. Smart services are also having some major challenges and we have asked the respondents that which could be the major restraining factor that can affect the acceptance rate of smart services. The major problem that most of the respondent agreed on is lack of knowledge 

There is no doubt that industries will try as much as possible to be a part of the major projects running in this country. We have asked our respondents about the sector which is going to be the biggest investor thus aligning its interest with the upcoming smart services. According to respondents’ IT industry is going to be major stakeholders for smart services with a consensus of 76% respondents 

Some key findings from our analysis:

a.     Smart Services Solving Traditional Problems

Technology is of no use if it can’t solve the problems of people effectively and efficiently as compared to the traditional process. So, we have asked the respondents whether they agree or not that smart services can solve their problem much easily as compared to the traditional process. 50% of respondents agreed that smart services can solve their problem in a better way as compared to the traditional processes.

b.     Smart Services v/s Standard of Living

Technology has always increased the standard of living of human beings. Same is expected from smart services also so we have asked the respondents whether smart services will increase the standard of living or not. 57% of respondents agreed that smart services will increase the standard of living in future.

c.      Acceptance of Smart Services among SMB’s (Small Medium Businesses)

There is a huge market of SMBs present in India. In order to take the full benefit of smart services, it must be accepted by SMBs. We have asked the respondents whether SMBs will accept smart services or not in India. 46% of respondents agreed that SMBs will accept smart services while 18% disagree with it. Rest have neither agreed nor disagreed.

d.     Is Rural India ready to adopt Smart Services?

In India, majority of the population still lives in rural areas and penetration of technology is also not good there as compared to urban areas. So, we have asked the respondents whether rural India is ready to accept smart services or not. 54% of respondents agreed that rural India is ready to accept smart services and it’s a positive signal for large-scale acceptance in future.

e.      Impact of Smart Services on Indian Economy

Any technology has the direct impact on the economy of a country. It is expected from all technologies that they will enhance the economy of that country. We have asked about expectations from smart services in enhancing India’s economy to the respondents in which 53% agreed that smart services will. 31% disagree that it will have any impact on economy and 16% are doubtful about the result

f.     Fortune of Smart Services

Technologies should be resilient enough to exist in the market for the longer period. We have asked the respondents whether there is any future of smart services in India or not. 52% agreed that smart services are going to be useful in future whereas 36% disagreed that it will be useful.

Be that as it may, are we ready to embrace the Smart Services?

With diverse players in the ecosystem at various phases of Standards & Maturity, Smart Services are still nascent. There is no intelligible business or specialized model. Consequently, even as organizations confront innovation difficulties to monstrous scaling, they are likewise considering how to expand the valuable existence of huge scale interests in Machine to Machine interaction, IoT, and therefore in providing Smart Services. In any case, industry pioneers are not sitting tight, waiting for the pieces to become alright. Rather, they are pushing to make a manageable plan of action for smart services. Also, some of these visionaries are governments in developing economies.

Written by

Yatin Jog, Sugandha Rupani and Saurabh