Introduction The purpose of this document is to record and discuss research and

Question

Introduction

   The purpose of this document is to record and discuss research and findings pertaining to issues faced by HP. Research was conducted in regard to both academic and practitioner-based decisions and findings. This research can then be used to frame HP’s problem so that we can offer suggestions. The following is a summary of our relevant findings, separated into the overarching topics: technology trends and customer trends.

Technology Trends

   Before we can recommend any solutions or courses of action to HP it is important to understand and analyze the technology trends in the industry and where they will take consumer needs. Breaking down the various aspects of technology and the future trends and predictions allows for specific decisions and recommendations to be made.

Technology trends are drifting more and more to Big Data, or collections of vast amounts of data chronicling how we live that require the use of multiple computers and programs to be analyzed. These analyses allow researchers to find trends, relationships, and patterns within the data. This research “has been an enabler for innovation, reconstruction, and advancement of most sectors of our society, and it's receiving continuous and growing attention from researchers and practitioners in academia, industry, and government (Pan, W. 2017)”.

While Big Data drives a lot of computing trends it is important to be aware of several other technological trends. Sasa Marinkovic, Head of Technical Marketing at AMD, discussed the future of personal computing in regard to ‘seismic’ trends. Marinkovic notes various computing trends;“Virtual and augmented reality, exascale supercomputing, heterogeneous computing, contributed, anticipatory computing, deep learning, and more. Overshadowing all of these tech trends is the ongoing cage-match between competing software and hardware vendors and ecosystems for market leadership, all vying to influence or determine the future of computing (Marinkovic, S. 2015).” This last note describing the desire of competing companies to influence and determine the trends seen by those dependent on this software and hardware is pertinent to understanding the trends. For HP to be able to appropriately plan and adjust for future trends, the influencers must be known.

Another aspect to be aware of in the ever-changing trends of technology in the workplace is the increasing presence of augmented and virtual reality. Augmented reality (AR) is inserting images digitally into a real-world view while virtual reality (VR) immerses people into a digital world altering perceptions and experiences. As both of these technologies have been developed and gained market share, businesses are finding it to be more and more relevant to incorporate AR and VR into their business models. Gavin Finn, President and CEO for Kaon, explains why businesses are seeing an increase in AR and VR trends. “Why will AR and VR be important for businesses of all kinds? Well, for every company, building engagement with customers is a key element of their ability to develop long-lasting and lucrative relationships. At Kaon Interactive we have identified three primary factors that contribute to successful engagement strategies… (Finn, G. 2017).” The primary factors identified by this organization are multi-sensory engagement, intellectual engagement, and emotional connections. Because of this, AR and VR are desired by this organization as a way to engage with the public.

As these technological trends occur, it is important for companies to be aware of and identify the process these trends go through to become commercialized. The information found in “Commercializing Technological Innovation: Learning from Failures in High?Tech Markets” details that, “how commercialization decisions can influence consumer acceptance of a new high?tech product in two major ways: (i) by affecting the extent to which the players in the innovation adoption network support the new product; (ii) by affecting the post?purchase attitude early adopters develop toward the innovation, and hence the type of word?of?mouth (positive or negative) they disseminate among later adopters (Chiesa, V., & Frattini, F. 2011).” All companies, including HP, must be aware of this when relating new technologies that are hitting the workplace with the acceptance anticipated by consumers.

Artificial intelligence is another trend in technology that is gaining ground in 2018 . As AI takes over some of the workload in many workplaces, "IT is the most frequent user of AI, with more than 46 percent of IT organizations at large corporations incorporating AI into their work portfolios"(Korolov, M. 2018). As AI begins to take over functions, its important for enterprise technology professionals to evolve and learn how to work together with their technological companions. Customer support staff can have trouble keeping up with the needs of consumers, and technology can serve to alleviate the extra work, but this means the way customer service employees are trained needs to change with the technology. Some AI technology can even learn to respond to customers from customer service agents. Especially for firms whose business strategy relies on technology and technology trends, AI and new technologies like it should become part of the business strategy. New career paths in deploying and integrating AI technology into businesses, and training employees to work together with it will open up in the future and companies like IPSoft (IPSoft Services, 2018) and IBM (IBM Services, 2018) offer trainings for employees to deal with the changes in their organization, and enable them to take on higher-value tasks while leaving the simple repetitive work to technology.

According to Bernard Marr, a writer at Forbes, the current technology trends that will change the way consumers interact with technology in 2018. First if all, everything we do leaves data 'breadcrumbs' behind us and this data allows analysis to track consumer trends.The internet of things is growing, computing power is increasing, AI is becoming more capable, automation is taking over more functions and we communicate more directly with our devices than ever before. In this world, according to Marr, the best way for businesses to create value for consumers is to have platforms that facilitate connections and exchanges. “A platform is essentially a network (digital or physical) that creates value for participants by facilitating connections and exchanges between people for services, products or information.” (Marr, B. 2017) The future of business to consumer interaction might be in communications platforms that will allow businesses to communicate more smoothly and directly with their customers.

Customer Trends

   An important aspect to providing efficient feedback about an organization, is understanding the customer trends. After research, the customer trends in the industry include customers responding positively to feeling valued, customers wanting to purchase a “solution” instead of a product, and the fact that customers today are more technology independent than before.

   The first trend that should be focused on is making sure that the customers feel valued. “New measures of service industries like software and banking suggest that customer loyalty is a more important determinant of profit (Heskett, Jones, Loveman, Sasser, & Schlesinger, 1994).” If a customer feels valued, then they will begin to feel loyal to the organization. Loyal customers want to make sure that they are spending their money on companies that value them. In order to have the customers feel valued, the employees must focus on customer needs. “Customer service is not a department. It is a philosophy to be embraced by every employee – from the CEO to the most recently hired (Hyken, 2017).” If the employees of an organization are able to understand the importance of excellent customer service and creating value for the customers, then the entire organization has a better opportunity to thrive.

   Continuing on the topic of customer loyalty and value, in order for the customers to feel valued, the employees must understand the point of view of the customers. “The manual clarifies that they don't mean "sympathy," which is the ability to feel sorry for someone, but encourages, nay, demands that their staff put themselves in the customer's shoes and be empathetic towards them (Khan, 2016).” Empathy is important, especially in customer support, because the customer does not want to feel embarrassed or foolish for their questions. Customer support teams must remain empathetic towards the customers in order for the customers to feel valued. Also, in order to be empathetic toward customers, employees should view situations from all different points of view. “It has been argued that social capital helps interactors obtain important information, obtain it quickly, and develop shared points of view (Tuli, Kohli, & Bharadwaj, 2007).” If the customer support employees are able to obtain important information about their customers, then they will gain different points of view for various situations.

Once the customers feel valued, then the sense of loyalty will follow. For further understanding of how to gain loyalty, organizations can use their research resources. “Strong analytical departments can provide the required input (i.e., drivers of loyalty) for developing strategies, and firms can evaluate these strategies using customer-focused metrics (Verhoef & Lemon, 2013).” When the organizations need to evaluate the strategies of loyalty and values, they should reach out for feedback. “You simply cannot improve the customer experience without managers who give and solicit feedback and employees who ‘fearlessly’ offer feedback as well (Gallo, 2012).”

   The second customer trend occurring in the industry is that customers want to purchase a “solution” instead of a product. “As high-tech managers come to understand this, many start changing the way they speak of their offerings. Instead of selling "products," they sell "solutions" or "benefits (Ward, Light, & Goldstine, 1999)." Customers, especially in technology support, want to put their money towards a service that will help them. If organizations are able to focus on the solution they can provide, instead of the actual product, then customers are more willing to pay the organization. A great example of a company that focuses on the solution is Apple presenting a program. “They described a program that is an especially vivid reflection of Apple and the image it presents to the world (Chen, 2014).” Apple has been able to successfully present a beneficial solution to their customers, instead of only presenting a product.

   The third trend is that customers today are more technology independent than before. “Many technophobic Baby Boomers have left the workforce and been replaced by Millennials who not only don't need as much tech support, but often want to choose their own equipment and view the IT department as an obstacle to productivity (Hiner, 2011).” With a group of customers that don’t need as much help as they used to, customer support groups should focus on new ways to offer support.

   A different customer support option for organizations is self service systems. With an increasing number of independent customers, they can have the option to work through problems themselves. The organization can setup a self service system for the independent population, but the organization must make sure that the customers understand how to use the systems. “It is important for providers of self service systems to understand how customers evaluate self service systems so that the firms can improve them (Meuter, Ostrom, Roundree, & Bitner, 2000).” Customers need to have information given to them in order for them to understand a product or system. If there is not even information is given then the customer may not use the system. “External customers can face the negative effects of information not being made available and openly ready for them (Elsacker, 2016).” Once the customers are able to use the systems, they will gain more confidence while using the tech products. With confidence comes a stronger sense of self efficacy. “The higher the individual's computer self-efficacy, the higher his/her use of computers (Compeau & Higgins, 1995).” Overall, if the independent customers are given the resources to use support systems on their own, then they will most likely choose those systems over depending on another person.

**** Im just having trouble coming up with a solid conclusion for my paper, and am looking for some strong ideas to wrap it all up. My conclusion only needs to be a paragraph (5-6 sentences).

Explanation / Answer

Thus, we can say that Big Data/ collections of vast amounts of data chronicling will require the use of multiple computers and programs to be analyzed. It allows the researchers to find trends, relationships, and patterns within the data, which helps us to get relent inputs for attracting customer as well as serving them better and better. These technological trends like Artificial intelligence, augmented reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) has impacted every walk of life as well the functional areas of business management like human resources, marketing, operations, financial planning, research and development. Self service system can be said to be possible for the customers due to technological development. Even, the question to provide them quality delivery as well best services experience will be most important for the competing organization in the marketplace.

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