Blockchain for Sustainability Posted on September 15, 2022November 29, 2022 by Admin Blockchain for Sustainability: How Does It Help? In the race to modernize, we forgot to recognize that with every techno-centric revolution, our environment has been the collateral damage. The exploitation has reached a point where there are severe conjectures if future generations will even survive to witness these revolutions for which we have sacrificed everything. As Greta Thunberg, in her famous speech on climate conservation at the UN, says, “This is not just about the environment. This is about our future.” The least we could do is to ensure that we do not end up harming the environment any more than we have, but corrective measures are immediately taken to replenish the planet. The third iteration of the web is just unfolding itself in front of us, and blockchain technology, the latest and greatest of all, guides the path of this newest revolution. Before it unveils the same effects as previous technologies have had, we need to intervene to look for a more sustainable way to use it. In this blog, we focus on exploring Blockchain’s potential to change the world in every sense of the matter for the better. As a global frontrunner in technology, we now want to lead and leverage technology to undo the damage it has done. Why Blockchain? Blockchain is a new and emerging technology that holds the foundations of a newer world that can also be beneficial to resurface the talk around sustainability and make it count. Clean and green energy is the most sort after option to get to the path of sustainability, but, as a new path, it comes with its challenges. The United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goal 7 (SDG 7) on Affordable and Clean Energy has pledged to take care of these challenges and aims to ensure universal access to affordable, reliable, and modern energy services. The idea of Blockchain to contribute to sustainability came into the picture because its multiple attributes hold the potential to become the backbone of society’s much-needed sustainable infrastructure. These CLIMATE SOLUTIONS include: Frictionless Trading Mimicking basic business logic with an ‘either’ and ‘if’ model, Blockchain-enabled innovative smart contracting is the secret recipe to streamlining business operations with no double entries. Decentralized Market This single-handedly brings so many positive changes by reducing the dependence on intermediaries, lowering administrative costs, and providing a free marketplace for the distribution of renewable energy. Financing Sustainability It helps bring individuals and corporate energy investors to off-grid energy development. It also helps streamline the process of crowdfunding for green energy projects with the help of smart contracts. Tracking Carbon Credit Data Knowing who and how much an entity contributes to the carbon credit data is essential to build a plan for future workings. It makes carbon credit data more reliable and traceable in voluntary carbon markets. IoT + AI + Blockchain Technology This is a perfect recipe for a cleaner and greener world. This trio holds the potential for a secured future that extends to every sector and domain of society, including economic, technological, and social. All these benefits have also made a mark in real-life scenarios. Some of these are worth mentioning here; for the rest, you can read this research paper. Power Ledger Power Ledger is a company based in Australia that uses blockchain technology to facilitate trading of electricity and environmental commodities. Among Power Ledger’s solutions, blockchain-based energy trading platforms allow renewables to be scaled with fewer inherent issues and help retailers invent new business models to capture value. EkWateur EkWateur, an electricity retailer in France, intends to address customers’ interest in energy choice. Based on the Power Ledger solution, the company’s Vision platform enables electricity consumers to trace and choose their energy mix based on the type, source, location, and amount consumed. SEDA National Pilot In June 2020, Malaysia’s Sustainable Energy Development Authority (SEDA) completed an eight-month peer-to-peer energy trading trial. The objective was to effectively trade surplus solar energy, with SEDA’s goal being to grow the country’s rooftop solar PV market in a scalable way, avoiding the need for curtailment and without causing issues to the grid. Energy Web Foundation (EWF) Energy Web Foundation (EWF) is a non-profit developing publicly available, decentralized solutions designed specifically for the energy sector. EWF’s Energy Web Origin (EW Origin) is a suite of open-source, fully customizable software tools for building blockchain platforms for easy and efficient renewable energy sourcing in line with the existing standards and regulations. To date, EW Origin has been leveraged by different energy actors to establish decentralized mar Sun Exchange The Sun Exchange is a micro-leasing marketplace connecting investors, individuals, and companies with the beneficiaries of solar installations in rural South Africa. Recognizing that the main obstacle to the deployment of solar energy in Africa is the lack of financing for businesses and organizations and that Blockchain and crypto assets are a class of technologies that allow money to be easily transferred around the world without financial intermediaries’ negligible cost. ECO2 Ledger ECO2 Ledger, a public blockchain programmed by Synergy Blockchain Technology and overseen by the ECO2 Foundation, has been developed within the context of the international voluntary carbon market. It aims to improve the operational efficiency of carbon credit trading and to stimulate climate actions from individuals and private and public sector organizations through a blockchain-based platform. These blockchain-led solutions spread worldwide suggest the technology’s influence and justify its potential. But even then, the solutions face a few fundamental objections and roadblocks, some due to the technology and some due to its adoption. Let us enumerate some of these for your knowledge: Lack of Data Literacy Blockchain technology is still nascent, with little data to support its use cases. This means that there is a lack of understanding when it comes to the benefits and potential of Blockchain. Data Inadequacy Data is the backbone for this technology to work. Due to Blockchain being a new technology, there is still a lack of data that can be used for analysis and decision-making. Lack of Digital Infrastructure for the Technology To Penetrate Blockchain technology requires internet connectivity which is still unavailable in some parts of the world. This is one of the main reasons why blockchain technology has not been able to penetrate many sectors. Blockchain Technology Is Not a Panacea While everything seems rosy, blockchain technology is also prone to multiple unavoidable environmental disadvantages like energy consumption. It’s a brutal, unintended consequence for such a promising technology, and “mining” is at the heart of the problem. Blockchain technology is energy wasteful because it requires computers to work around the clock to validate transactions. For example: Blockchain used more power than 159 individual nations, including Uruguay, Nigeria, and Ireland. Although there are ways to take care of this over-dependence on non-renewable energy sources by switching to options like green energy blockchain mining and switching to a proof of work model, these are still not in everyday practice. Green Energy Blockchain Mining Enabling mining with solar power and other green energy sources. Incentivize Green Energy for Future Blockchains New blockchains could easily offer miners better incentives, like more cryptocurrency, for using green energy — eventually forcing out polluting miners. Proof of Stake > Proof of Work Switch to “Proof of Stake” (PoS) systems that rely on market incentives over energy inefficient cryptographic problem-solving “Proof of Work.” At the end of the day, we must make conscious efforts toward sustainability. For example, developers must think long and cautiously before creating new Proof of Work blockchains because the more successful they become, the worse their ecological impact may have. As a top-tier global technology organization, we have done our part educating and working towards sustainability. If you, too, want to join this community of woke leaders, join us on this transformation journey. For one, you can connect with our Blockchain experts at KiwiTech to know how this new age technology can help enable sustainability.
Bootstrapping or Venture Capital: Figuring Out the Path for Your Startup Posted on August 22, 2022November 29, 2022 by Admin A common dilemma for startup founders is to bootstrap their business or go for external funding to accelerate growth. This is a significant decision that startup founders make that determines the course of their business, their own financial growth and personal fulfillment at the end of the day. Let’s understand the ins and outs of bootstrapping and VC-funding a startup that impact its growth and sustainability. Related Reading: How Startups Should Handle the Impending Recession Bootstrap Definition: What is Bootstrapping? Bootstrappers are entrepreneurs who take an idea and use talent to build it into a business without the backing of investors. This breed of entrepreneurs “make it” without any external capital or resources. It takes great determination, work ethic, commitment and single-minded focus to achieve business success with bootstrapping. Instances where bootstrapping is necessary Sometimes, founders choose to bootstrap because they don’t want to be restricted by investors’ opinions and strategies that may or may not match their own. However, bootstrapping is necessary for B2B startups because sales cycles are long, and it’s hard to ramp up sales by investing more. Also, if you don’t need to grow the company to be profitable by scale, bootstrapping can be easier and may be the preferred option. The Definitive Guide on How to Bootstrap Your StartupEntrepreneurs use a combination of methods to minimize the amount of external investment they might need in the form of debt and equity financing. Some of these methods include: Owner financing – The owner of the startup invests their own income and savings into the business. Personal debt – The founder incurs personal credit card debt to invest in the company. Sweat equity – A party contributes to the startup through effort. Operating costs – The founder keeps operating costs to the minimum. Inventory minimization – The startup requires a fast turnaround of its inventory. Subsidy finance – The founder opts for government cash payments or tax deductions. Selling – The money to invest in the startup comes from sales. Companies That Succeeded With Bootstrapping Many successful giants of companies around us were once humble bootstrapped startups. Here are a few of those: Having said that, we would like you to know that there’s a bigger world out there in terms of startup funding. Before getting into the discussion about Bootstrapping vs. Venture Capital, get to know about the many types of startup funding available in the entrepreneurial space right now. Related Reading: 6 Types of Funding Every Startup Should Know About What Is VC Funding? Venture capitalists invest in startups, focus on growing the company’s valuation and aim to achieve high growth and monetary profit for themselves. Startups backed by VC funding often have the potential to outperform their peers in a high-growth industry or increase their market share exponentially in a modest-growth market. Instances Where VC Funding Is Necessary VC funding is the right way to go for a startup trying to sustain itself in a market with a dominating organization, such as in the case of Walmart, Amazon, Google and Facebook. Or, when founders need to grow the company to get the scale they need for profitability, they consider VC funding to drive that growth. Methods to VC-fund a Startup Here are the various methods of VC financing: Equity – The maximum share traded in exchange for investment is 49%. Control of the company lies with the owner, and profits and losses are shared per partnership ratio. Conditional loan – This is a form of debt financing where the interest rate or the repayment schedule isn’t pre-determined. The founder pays royalty and a high interest rate as compensation to the investor if the startup sees success. Conventional loan – This investment comes with a lower initial interest rate, which increases if the product succeeds. Additional royalty is given to the investor to compensate for the low interest rate, and a repayment schedule is defined. Income notes – The investor earns a fixed interest rate besides royalty on sales. The repayment schedule is pre-determined. Related Reading: Your Guide to Investor Outreach for Startup Fundraising Pros and Cons of Bootstrapping Startups Bootstrapping a startup is far more complicated than it seems. It can work for you if you’re willing to put in the work and money into it. If you can pull it off, it can bring more rewards for you. But that doesn’t imply that bootstrapping doesn’t have any downside. Before jumping into it, weigh your pros and cons, gauge your risk appetite, identify your goals and then make a decision whether to bootstrap your startup or not. Benefits of Bootstrapping a Startup Option to raise VC funds later According to Kurt Beyer, a lecturer in entrepreneurship and innovation at UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, even though bootstrapped startups don’t fit into the traditional Silicon Valley mold, a few VCs are looking to invest in these companies. Investors may prefer to invest in bootstrapped companies for many reasons, including: These startups have experienced the valley of death (the period between startup starting operations and generating revenue) already. They have achieved a product-market fit. Bootstrapped founders have de-risked the startup. Given the countless other reasons VCs may prefer backing bootstrapped startups, bootstrapping allows for the option of raising funds later. Build a resilient business Bootstrapping proves the resilience of a business and its founders like nothing else. Founders who bootstrap their startup do so on a minimum budget, without any external support or resources, and get through based on good decision-making, effective hiring and pure entrepreneurial skills. These companies are often based outside the wealthy Bay Area, which has a large established tech ecosystem. So, founders do a lot of hard work getting access to technical talent. They face many challenges and stay committed to their business, building resilience in their own leadership and the company. Related Reading: What Does Strategic Resilience Look Like for Startups in 2022 Low entry cost Bootstrapping a startup takes all you have. But the cost of entry is low. You don’t have to first pitch to investors before you take off. You start building your business up efficiently and know the day-to-day costs. That way, you start a business with little to no pre-requisite from an investment standpoint and operate on a lean business model. Focus on building the business The fact that you don’t need to strategize and build a plan to raise VC funds means you can concentrate fully on the core aspects of your business, such as business development, marketing and sales. Founders who get VC funds are compelled to focus on growth acceleration instead of business building for the customers. Investors and not the customers are their priority. Disadvantages of Bootstrapping a Company Cash flow issues If a bootstrapped startup doesn’t generate enough revenue, it could land in a difficult position. Since bootstrapped companies don’t take hefty investments from venture capitalists, they often find themselves weighing the pros and cons of decisions such as hiring, business development, and how much to invest in each. Cash flow issues can become an opportunity for business resilience and frugality if the founder possesses rich business acumen and leadership. In the worst cases, a startup can stagnate and perish due to the lack of funds. Equity issues amongst founders Equity issues spring up when multiple founders are involved in a bootstrapped startup. An imbalance among founders in capital/time invested or the experience they lend to the business can cause disharmony or adverse tax consequences. In cases where personal and business funds are not separate, it can help to record-keep founders’ capital and consult an attorney to ease any conflict. Risk of failure When profits generated by a bootstrapped company are not enough to cover the operational costs, the risk of failure is high. This risk is more pronounced as the money invested in the company didn’t come from a wealthy investor but a founder who possibly gave the business their all. All risks and issues in a bootstrapped startup become personal risks and issues of the founders as everything falls on their shoulders. Therefore, another challenge of bootstrapping a startup is handling the stress that comes with it. Benefits of Venture Capital Investor network When you are focused on building your business from the ground up, you have little time left to network with other entrepreneurs. Partners at a venture firm spend a lot of time building and growing their network to ultimately help the companies they invest in. Access to this network can fast-track your growth and put you in touch with the right people at the right time. The “People” part of the equation comes in handy whether you want to build new partnerships, fill up your lead pipeline, boost sales, hire top talent or raise another funding round. Resources to accelerate & scale Venture capital can amount anywhere between $100,000 to over $25 million for more mature startups. Startups can also raise VC money several times to accelerate business growth and pursue opportunities continuously. Besides monetary resources, experienced investors bring along insightful leadership. They augment the experience of the founder in scaling a company and solving its pressing challenges. Strategic funding Strategic funding is a lucrative way to obtain capital from potential clients and prospective companies that may want to acquire you. For instance, Lyft’s investment from General Motors falls into that category. Companies seeking strategic funding form a long-term strategic alliance to work together on a common agenda that benefits both. Attract top talent What got you here won’t get you there. The team that helped you start up may not be the one to help you scale and grow. Getting VC funded puts you in the limelight and enhances your credibility as a business to attract top talent. VC firms help you get the right people through the door. Many top performers consider joining a VC-backed startup less risky and more lucrative than a traditional one with no external funding. Disadvantages of VC Funding Focus shifts from business building Fundraising can take months and essentially distracts founders from managing the daily operations of the business. Often founders make the mistake of starting a fundraising campaign when all their resources are exhausted, meaning they now devote nearly all their time trying to achieve VC funding. By starting the process earlier, entrepreneurs can continue to manage their company whilst raising funds. Cost of financing Giving up equity in your business is more expensive than taking out a loan. The cost of equity comes to the fore only when you sell the business. VC capital offers so much more than money, but the decision needs to be well thought out if other forms of financing are available. Extensive due diligence Venture capital partners extensively and exhaustively screen startups for their technology and business fundamentals. Then they conduct a more thorough review of the startup team’s background and the company’s legal and financial standing. This process yields some advantages but can take up to months and a lot of effort. Pressure to grow VC firms aim to grow their investment in your business. That only happens when the startup can grow rapidly, which puts immediate pressure on a startup founder to scale. Founders can manage this stress by aligning themselves with the investors’ goals and delegating when appropriate. The pressure to grow can be enormous for some founders, nevertheless. You lose leverage in negotiations Often startups seek VC funding when it’s the only option they have. In these cases, startups have no leverage over the terms of investment and end up giving away too much for too little or compromising on their North Stars. This can be mitigated by starting the process of raising VC funds when you still have a runway and some leverage. To Bootstrap Your Startup or Get VC Funding? Here are the primary factors that dictate whether a startup founder should bootstrap or go for VC funding. Independence and control – If you are wary of having to answer to a board of directors, VC funding may not be the right way for you. However, if you can handle that, board members and investors bring a wealth of experience for you to leverage. Dilution – Venture capital dilutes the founder’s equity in their company. After multiple funding rounds, entrepreneurs can typically be left with 15% of their company, a substantial share in case of explosive growth and not enough if success is smaller. Available cash – Startups that are cash-rich may choose to grow on their own through bootstrapping. Those that need fuel to the fire may prefer VC funding for the bulk of investment it brings through the door. Relationships & connections – Bootstrapping can be a horrifically lonely process. Investors bring in more than cash- their connections, network and experience. Stomach for risk – Bootstrapped startups are always at the brink of extinction. Any bump in the road could become their last. However, they are built for resilience. Depending on what you value more in a business- explosive growth or self-sufficiency, you can choose to raise venture capital or bootstrap. Access to opportunities – Female entrepreneurs are still far away from a leveled playing field. Since VC funding is elusive to many marginalized business owners, bootstrapping may be the only option they have. Companies often end up following a hybrid approach where startup founders self-fund their company for a while as they hunt for the product-market fit. Revenue from early customers helps them stay afloat and refine their offering. Then, when they are in their prime, these companies go out for VC funding with leverage and a better negotiating position. Give this piece a re-read and decide for yourself. If you need some more help to identify which funding round your startup needs to raise and when, we hope the blog below helps you clear your doubts. Also Read: How to Know Which Funding Round Your Startup Needs to Raise and When Still at sea about the right approach to fund your startup, help is always available. Reach out to expert consultants at KiwiTech to receive guidance through the fundraising process. Meanwhile, you can also stay informed about the latest developments in the Venture Capital and Startup Funding space. We’re sure our Learning Centre will be of great help.
Women in Innovation Posted on August 16, 2022March 13, 2023 by Admin Despite the challenges women face in the entrepreneurial turf, female entrepreneurship in the US has continually increased – 48% year-over-year (Inficile). Despite the Covid-19 pandemic, the number of women-owned business are seeing positive growth and are expected to rise even further in the coming few years (source: women entrepreneurs statistics) Here at KiwiTech, we’ve always supported women entrepreneurs with mentorship and capital, onboarding several women founders and investors in the past few years. We have built an ecosystem of over 500+ startups, including founders and investors of diverse backgrounds, with 137 women-founded startups. Among these, we have: 135+ female-founded startups. $70M+ capital raised for female founders. 700+ female investors in our network. I am proud to have brought 40 Startups to KiwiTech’s portfolio, where 53% of the founders are from diverse backgrounds, including women. The progress for women has proven substantial. We see more women founders pitching at our Demo Days and even securing significant funding for their innovations. In June this year, we hosted our in-person Female Founders Demo Day in San Francisco to discuss the current trends, challenges, and opportunities for women innovators in the industry. Partnered by the First Republic and Swissnex, the event was a huge success in terms of startups and investors in attendance. The evening saw around four women-led startups pitching in person with an insightful panel discussion between our eminent panelists, including Leslie Goldman, Shih-Fong Wang, and Maryam Haque, moderated by myself. The panel discussion was indeed very inspiring as the panelists shared their personal experiences, tips, and advice for upcoming women entrepreneurs. Some of the key takeaways from the event were: Shih-Fong Wang, Managing Director at Golden Seeds, stressing upon diversity and inclusion in entrepreneurship, said, “Golden Seeds is proud to be at the forefront of propelling women-led companies and providing leadership within the angel investing industry. We focus on gender diversity, believing that gender diversity produces better investment results.” Echoing the same sentiment, Leslie Goldman, General Partner & Co-Founder at Artemis Fund, rightly stated, “We cannot hope to solve the world’s problems if we leave out half of the world’s problem-solvers.” Calina Thompson, Relationship Manager, Tech & VC Banking | Private Banking, First Republic Bank, and our event partner, said, “It’s important for us to continue to champion women entrepreneurs and diverse founders, their voices and their views. “ “Diversity and divergent thinking is the base of creativity – With interdisciplinarity at its core, Swissnex strives to empower female founders and funders to make their voices heard and drive innovations of the future,” added Corine Thommen, Head of Impact Programs, Swissnex. I couldn’t agree more with my fellow panelists at the event. We need more women leaders in the entrepreneurial domain to achieve sustainable growth. I am optimistic that with such empowering events and forums, we will see a rise in the number of women-led startups in the coming years. I would also like to highlight the wonderful women founders who pitched at our in-person event. Our Female Founders Demo Day was a success and we’re excited to see more women-led startups, funds, and female leaders in the industry, coming up on this platform to create the dialogue, discuss trends, and drive change. In our last Female Founder Demo Day on March 3, we had a group of talented early-stage female founders presenting their pitches. We also had a panel of investors comprising female-led firms, including Alysa Duval, Head – CatalystU, Carolyn Lowe, Founder & CEO – ROI Swift, Eastin Rossell, Venture Analyst – HearstLab and Leslie Goldman, Co-Founder & General Partner – The Artemis Fund. Spotting a pattern on the investment side of the startup industry, Leslie Goldman says, “We all gravitate towards familiarity and pattern recognition, and if most investors are white men, it follows that most investment will be in people who look like them.” Addressing the issues women entrepreneurs and working women faced during the Covid-19 pandemic, Carolyn Lowe of ROI Swift came up with a unique solution. She created part-time jobs for working moms where women get the flexibility to work when their kids are at school. As a result, they don’t have to worry about leaving their kids at care centers or quitting their jobs to be a full-time mommy. Venture Capital Panel Our Venture Capital Panel focused on empowering female founders and funders. I invited my east bay neighboring seasoned VC, Rohit Gupta, Managing Director, of Future Communities Capital to speak his mind on the topic. He had some various stories about women founders he supports, and spoke at length about how biases still affect women entrepreneurs fundraising. He says, “The bias implicitly exists even today. Since I’m on this side of the table, I get to hear things that others don’t.” He added, “I also believe, on the other side, women should be confident in themselves. Do your homework right, outreach investors, and most importantly, stop being so humble. Don’t undersell your ideas. Be confident, build allyship with others.” Adding her thoughts about the same, Michelle Waite from Florida Funders expresses that there has been a positive shift in the entrepreneurship domain when it comes to gender neutrality. She said, “Over the last few years, power has shifted to founders that have traction, revenue and a strong business model, regardless of gender. It is interesting to see how this shapes up further in the near future.” From those couple discussions, here are some key lessons as a reminder. Key Lessons: Authenticity: A more ‘real’ founder committed to solving a problem is more likely to secure funding. They should know the problem and its solution and be sure if people are ‘willing’ to pay for it. Storytelling: There should be a story behind why a founder started their startup. Instead of pitching traditionally, storytelling helps an investor understand your business from your standpoint. Allyship: Building allyship in the industry is as important as building a great product. Startups that cultivate allyship are more likely to win over top talent and improve performance, employee satisfaction, and retention. Know Your Investor: Startups need to understand their investors well before reaching out to them. Identify and target investors with similar interests or portfolio investments in the past. Seeing so many women among the panelists, founders, entrepreneurs, and even investors at our internal events and the ones around the world, one thing is apparent: today’s women are no longer the ones to accept the patriarchal norms of society and sit back. Instead, they are the game changers, innovators, pioneers, rulers, and decision-makers. Also, today we are lucky to have people who stand with women against patriarchy and believe that ‘the hands that cradle the world can rule it as well.’ Continuing to open dialogue for inclusion and diversity for funders and founders If you’re a woman entrepreneur or founder looking for mentorship, resources, or investment, do reach out to us. We would be more than happy to help you grow your business. Connect with Amy McCawley, VP-VC & Corporate Partnerships at amy.m@kiwitech.com to continue this conversation.
A Comprehensive List of Design Principles for Startup Websites and Blogs Posted on August 11, 2022December 26, 2022 by Admin A website and a blog can make or break a business on how well they are structured to meet the intended audience’s needs. People quickly decide whether they hate or adore your website or blog, and design has a lot to do with it. The design of your website is mainly responsible for how visitors engage with your business and how many convert to customers. “70% say that demand for UX has increased in the past years- yet budgets stay the same.” –Userzoom Without beating around the bush, let’s look at a comprehensive list of UX design principles you can work with to establish yourself in your market, regardless of your industry. UX Design Principles for Your Website 1. Visualize before you speak If you want to sell us a phone, we’d like to see it first. Take a look at Apple’s homepage. It only features necessary text and some immediate-conversion links on the page. If you want to learn more, they’ll take you to a separate page, or you can immediately jump to checkout. But before all that, they’ll give you a glance at their iPhones and the colors they’re offered in. Apple Homepage Visitors love it when you don’t take much of their time explaining, so your design should focus largely on visual presentation. 2. Generously use white space Subtle amounts of whitespace meaningfully sprayed on your website adds breathers to the design and makes it simplistic. White spacing doesn’t necessarily mean that the website background color needs to be white, just that there needs to be enough space between site elements. For instance, increase line spacing for text, add white space in lengthy text blocks to the left and right margins and avoid putting images in line with text but position them above or below text blocks after meaningful spacing. Related Reading: The Business Case to Stop Overcomplicating UX 3. Optimize for page speed 53% of site visitors will abandon your site if it takes over 3 seconds to load. A one-second delay in page loading reduces page views by 11%. Ensure that website visitors can quickly accomplish their primary objective of landing on your site. Any load times, waiting times and the quality of pop-up animations can largely impact the perception and experience of users on your site. 4. Visually segment design elements One of the most important goals for UX site designers is to build a visually distinct page layout to create a flexible and engaging user path. Visually distinct elements make it easy for site visitors to find what they are looking for on your site with minimal effort. Make the most critical elements of your site stand out, such as blog post headlines. Add navigational tools to ensure users know where they are on the site at all times. CTA buttons should be clear about where they lead to and distinctly accessible and readable. Common elements such as contact form and search feature should be placed in the common places with the most prominently used design elements, such as the glass icon for the search function. The text must be readable by way of contrast and color, which enhance readability. 5. Keep website pages consistent Web design should be consistent as visitors feel uncomfortable and distrust unknown design elements. As per Gestalt theory, six principles are often applied to UX design and make for consistency: Good figure – The human mind’s tendency to simplify means objects in a group are perceived as a single figure. Similarity – The similarity principle states that objects tend to be grouped if they are similar. Closure – Closure relates to the visual continuity in sets of elements that don’t touch each other in composition. Proximity – The human mind groups objects together if they are close to each other. Continuation – When there is an intersection between objects, the human mind perceives each as a single uninterrupted object. Symmetry – The human mind perceives each object as a symmetrical shape forming around its center. 6. CTAs Should Be Central Your goal is to make your visitors take action. So, don’t hide the CTAs. They need to be eye-catching and easily noticeable. It is detrimental for a website to have CTAs in order to drive conversions. Yet, 70% of businesses don’t have any CTA buttons. A call to action is most effective if implemented into a button. Determining where you should place your CTA buttons depends on the type of the page. A good standard is to place CTA buttons high on the homepage – preferably under your opening and in the corner of your main navigation. For an article page, the CTA buttons should be placed before and after the main text. 7. Emphasize effective UX writing Amidst all the design, make sure that the message isn’t lost. Use language on your site that users are familiar with and create a seamless connection with the site visitor by way of words. Well-written text that speaks to the user’s motivation behind visiting your site can transform their experience. 81 percent of marketers say that interactive content is more effective than static content when it comes to grabbing consumers’ attention. Use simple yet powerful language to convey what you want visitors to know about your company, encourage them to take action and leave them feeling satisfied. Related Reading: Should You Indulge in Conversational UX for Your Startup 8. Make it responsive As of January 2022, mobile is responsible for over 55% of the market and desktop devices follow at 42% market share. The remaining meager percentage attributes to tablet devices. This data is worldwide. Specifically in the US, 50% of people use a desktop to surf, while 46% of the market share belongs to mobile devices. So, businesses like yours should focus on responsive site design to address the major chunk of their audience. Optimize your site for mobile devices by taking care of information placement. Place buttons in the center of the screen as people navigate using their thumbs. It also helps to ensure that users can interact with a single touch and decide whether or not your users will use both hands on the mobile device to create a site layout for responsiveness. UX Design Principles for Your Blog Focus on the UX Before we dive into the UI elements that deserve placement on your blog, consider the user experience. Determine the goals and desires of your audience as they land on your blog. What are they looking for? Why are they visiting your website? Where are they learning about you and your blog? What do they want to achieve through your blog? To plan your blog for a positive user experience, take note of how your audience responds to each blog post. Do they need to be distracted by five pop-ups on your blog page? Will they appreciate the one pop-up about joining your mailing list? Streamline your blog experience for your audience by starting with them and then aligning their needs with your business’. Focus on the font size Font size makes a huge impact on how site visitors consume your content. Some people will scroll by if the font size is too small for them. While there is no specific rule for font size, Derek Halpern of Social Triggers has rich research showing it should be at least size 12 to perform optimally. Set page margins A web design fundamental is to increase page margins to make your blog posts readable. Smushing words between two huge margins makes the content easy on the eyes as we have to do less work going from one line to the next. As an experiment, look at the blogs you really enjoy reading that easily cover 1500+ words in each post and see if they have wide margins on both sides. Reduce clutter and options Conversion Rate Optimization and User Experience both agree on this. Busy pages with many banners and links make it hard to engage with anything. Ensure that each page on your blog focuses on one kind of conversion, such as, “Follow me on Facebook”, “Sign up for my newsletter”, “Check out my most recent LinkedIn article”, etc. The cluttered design doesn’t convert. Reduce clutter and options from your blog to make it easy for your visitors to take action. Related Reading: Why Startups Fail to Get UX Right the First Time Segment content on the blog While blog visitors can find out all the content on your blog by clicking on ‘read more’ and sifting through the many topics you cover, segmenting blog posts by meaningful criteria can highly increase blog readership. For instance, if you are an investment advisor to different age groups, segmenting content on your blog as per first-time investors, mildly experienced investors and pro investors can highly improve readership as your audience can find exactly what they are looking for without having to sift through a myriad of content. What would be a meaningful way for you to segment your blog content? Introduce search A search function on a blog has quickly gone from a nice-to-have to a must-have as readers want to find what they need quicker than ever. If a reader wants to read a specific topic on your blog which doesn’t fall into one of the prominently mentioned categories you’ve created, they will be completely lost. However, a search function would make it easy for them to discover information and consume it seamlessly, enhancing the overall UX. Add a progress bar No matter how interesting your blog is, your readers will wonder where it ends. That’s just how the human mind works, as it is goal-oriented and wants to finish things off. Adding a progress bar provides continuous information to your readers. Users can anticipate the end of each blog post and also decide whether they want to read it word-to-word or give it a skim. Add a progress bar to enhance your users’ experience of your blog. Build trust and credibility The credibility of information is critical today amidst fake information and exaggerated news. Add the following elements to your blog to improve the trust and credibility of users in what you have to say: Author Bio – Who is the author behind the words, thoughts and opinions? Even in the specialized tech sector, it makes sense for companies to have their writers recognized and mentioned in their content. When you put a face to it, you increase the credibility of your blog. Links – Only add links on your blog to relevant and recent information. Linking to authoritative websites and credible information improves your credibility, too. Social elements – The number of comments, likes and shares your blog posts receive are validating signals for all your readers. Incorporate these on your blog to increase trust. Design for conversions Your blog is a significant sales channel that works relentlessly to answer your audience’s questions and concerns around their challenges, proposes solutions and positions your business as a top choice. To maximize this conversion opportunity, inculcate the following in your blog- Balance hard and soft sells – Your blog content should meet the buyer where they are and then take them forward. Do they need detailed information about your product, or are they simply browsing through? How aware is your target audience about their pain points, and how ready are they to buy from you? Your blog’s UX will speak to those to balance hard and soft selling points. Use metrics to inform updates – A few metrics that can inform your decision-making around your blog design and content are- bounce rates, dwell time, heat mapping, page load time and unique visitors. Leverage email marketing – If you are in a business with a long sales cycle, as is frequently the case in B2B scenarios, keep your audience engaged through weekly emails directed toward their pain points that speak to their awareness of your brand and their needs. This way, you create a fully rounded experience for them and stay top-of-mind when they are ready to purchase. A website and blog are a startup’s most significant digital assets. It makes sense to invest time and effort into ensuring they are set up for ROI and lead generation. A smooth UX will ensure high engagement as well as ROI from these critical digital touchpoints. If you are in the initial stages of designing the UX of your site and blog, speak to one of KiwiTech’s UX consultants today.
What You Should Know About Regulations in a Web 3.0 World Posted on August 8, 2022August 8, 2022 by Admin As a new computing revolution starts, we are building an interactive, virtual world where humans appear and function in the form of digital avatars. We reside in this virtual space just as we inhabit the reality of our lives. We work, play, shop and interact socially in the metaverse. Several up and coming technologies such as blockchain, cryptocurrencies, augmented reality, virtual reality, and non-fungible tokens are responsible for the next iteration of the internet, Web3 or Web 3.0, a version of the decentralized internet also called the metaverse. Gartner predicts that 25% of consumers will spend over one hour each day in the metaverse by 2026, and 30% of organizations globally will ready their products and services for the metaverse around the same time. Naturally, the evolution of the internet doesn’t come without risks. Therefore, regulatory bodies are getting up and ready to lay down necessary laws and regulations to ensure the next version of the internet is safe and accessible. Related Reading: The Current State of DeFi and Potential for Startups Is Metaverse Regulation Different From Social Media Regulation? The arguments made to regulate social media can act as a foundation for the legal and philosophical regulatory bases for the metaverse, as detailed in the research titled “Regulation of the Metaverse: A Roadmap” by Louis B. Rosenberg, Chief Scientist, Unanimous AI, San Francisco. The research mentions a study of the adverse effects of social media conducted by the Commission on Information Disorder formed by the Aspen Institute. For six months in 2021, a diverse group of experts from academia, industry and government summarized the harmful effects of social media in an 80-page report. They found that “social media contributes greatly to misinformation and disinformation which have become a force multiplier for exacerbating our worst problems as a society.” While there may be many ways of tackling the issue, regulations are a part of the action. Yale Law professor Jack Balkin says social media companies act as key institutions in this century’s digital public sphere and that it may not work properly without trustworthy institutions. Clearly, the metaverse will be a successor to the public sphere created by social media today, making it all the more immersive and critical to safeguard. Dangers to Users in the Metaverse The aforementioned research outlines three M’s of the key dangers facing users in the virtual world- Monitoring users in the metaverse – In recent years, technology companies have made it an objective to study and track user behavior on the two-dimensional internet to influence it. Influence is made by advertising and marketing to different consumer segments with personalized products and services. Unfortunately, we are still barely balancing personalization with the privacy of data and user information. In the metaverse, clicks and scrolls become in-depth, critical data points such as the avatar’s location, actions and moves in the metaverse. There is little limit to what organizations can track in the metaverse. Having users’ vital signs and emotional states figured out, companies can manipulate users to a frightening extent. Related Reading: Personalization Vs. Privacy: Where’s the Fine Line Manipulating users in the metaverse – Advertisers and marketers make it their full-time job to skillfully influence users on a broad scale as well as drive personal wants and needs on an individual scale. This pervasiveness of messages strategically placed to manipulate human emotions puts users in the metaverse in a vulnerable state. As corporations gather intimate emotional and psychological data from each user’s movement in the metaverse, their potential for manipulation increases. Instead of seeing pop-up videos and advertisements in the two-dimensional world, digital avatars will be targeted by life-like people, products and activities that blend into their virtual reality. Agenda-driven conversational bots and AI-powered algorithms will be extremely persuasive in the metaverse due to the vast amount of information they will hold around each user’s beliefs, inclinations, tendencies and interests. Monetizing users in the metaverse – Every platform provider and player in the metaverse perceives a return on investment high enough to drive substantially expensive innovation and disruption today. If the attention of the users is the real currency, without proper regulations, we could be looking at a far worse state of advertising and monetizing in the metaverse than in Web 2.0 today. One possible solution to this issue is for users to be willing to pay for access to the metaverse instead of selling their attention to third-party advertisers. Related Reading: Web 3.0 & Metaverse: Key Challenges Regulatory Challenges and First Steps in Web3.0 Investor protection Blockchain technology, virtual tokens, cryptocurrencies and virtual real estate are only a few lucrative investment avenues that have raised concerns among regulators. Preventing fraud and protecting investors has evidently become a priority for organizations in the U.S., such as the SEC and CFTC. Recent actions by these organizations suggest that they may incline on the side of too much regulation, hindering the development of the metaverse. These bodies want to force the metaverse into compliance with known legal structures, no matter how little resemblance they bear. According to SEC member Hester Pierce in a recent speech, “Regulators…tend to be skeptical of change because its consequences are difficult to foresee and figuring out how it fits into existing regulatory frameworks is difficult”. The SEC’s litigation against Ripple has made it apparent that it will continue to wage war on innovators. However, we do need regulations in the metaverse because the currencies exchanged in the virtual world are not traditional. Meaning, that there are accounts and wallets to store these new-age currencies but no government-backed protection from fraudulent behavior or loss. And, the value of a non-fungible token or real estate is less tangible than in the real world. These products may appear to have an inherent value, but they don’t. There are no laws protecting a consumer’s right to a refund or other protections laid out in the real world. The key will be to regulate without hampering progress. Privacy and disclosure laws One of blockchain’s lucrative characteristics is that it empowers people’s privacy and security regarding their personal information. However, that comes at the cost of complicating tracking criminals and fraudulent activities. Many potential privacy issues relating to biometric data such as facial expressions, voice recordings and fingerprint images pose another major security risk. Furthermore, how much disclosure governments require will affect individual privacy and how the technology takes shape in the coming years. Heavy regulations could hamper development, and fewer than needed regulations would increase the risk of criminal activity. Regulatory action may involve restricting the storage of low-level data for more than short periods of time, including data that’s necessary for users to navigate the virtual world and notifying the user of a platform’s monitoring of the duration and direction of a user’s gaze, for instance. Jurisdictional concerns Finally, regulators are worried about jurisdictional concerns that raise the question of who has control in a decentralized internet, how individual laws are applied and to whom, if the new internet evolution will become its own jurisdiction and more. The Need for an Open and Accessible Metaverse A handful of companies rule the internet of today- Google, Meta, Apple and Microsoft. These companies grew increasingly powerful, and the U.S. government only recently started antitrust proceedings against technological giants. It’s ripe time to ensure that we don’t repeat our mistakes in the new version of the metaverse. These giant corporations again possess the potential to tip the metaverse in their favor. Therefore, the metaverse must be regulated to some extent. According to Don Heider, Executive Director, Markkula Center for Applied Ethics at Santa Clara University, “…open source and open access is always best because it facilitates more people creating, and doing so largely for the common good and social justice. Technology should generally be as widespread and accessible as humanly possible”. Heider added that metaverse governance would exhibit the same openness, consisting of a joint collective where governing bodies work alongside industry groups and citizens to form a collective that lays down principles and standards. Accessibility would be a critical factor in building the metaverse for fairness and inclusion. Still, 98% of websites in the 2D internet version are inaccessible to the disability community. This can change if the metaverse is designed for accessibility starting now. Safety and ethical design standards hold special value in the metaverse that aims to emulate life as we know it as a digital reality. Individuals with mental health issues also stand at the risk of being traumatized in the metaverse through many possible risks. Organizations such as the Open Source Initiative, Oasis Consortium and many others are focused on discussing the implications, research and principles that apply to the metaverse and how it enables openness and sharing of information in ethical ways. Such dialog can open up avenues for ideation and execution. Related Reading: How the Metaverse Will Transform the Way We Work Three Steps to a Metacode of Conduct A recent Forbes article lays down three steps to creating the principles of operating in the metaverse, which may require trial and error but serve as a starting point- Set standards – The most active players in the metaverse could create an independent industry body and build codes of conduct permitted in the metaverse. Four critical elements of the metaverse would include- KYC requirements to authenticate the identity of users in the metaverse, safe spaces that boost mental wellbeing and AI tools to monitor PTSD and addictive behaviors, the ability to opt into and frequently consent to certain levels of content and maintaining a cross-industry database of malicious actors and their real-world identities. Drive financial best practice – The financial risks in the metaverse should be well managed by publishing exchange fees when stablecoins are transferred in and out of meta wallets, posting real-world collateral for significant trades and loans, outsourcing ID verification to third parties and providing insurance against personal losses and third-party injuries. Give consumers clear choices – An industry body could stamp virtual worlds that are self-regulating and adhere to prescribed standards to show that they are safe places to visit. The key to self-regulation in the metaverse could be improving transparency, accountability, credibility and best practices. Moreover, users should be made aware of the consequences of the absence of certain safeguards. Regulations Might Shape the Metaverse At the recent Osborne Clarke’s Metaverse Week event, a case study of a live concert in the metaverse spotlighted the new regulations and legislations bound to affect creators and users in the metaverse. These included Media and IP, Data and AI, Content and interaction and action against toxic behavior. Despite the best intentions and positive outlooks of Web2.0, social media has significantly contributed to social and political issues globally. We now stand at the cusp of another breakthrough moving from flat internet to an immersive, 3D internet. Legal shifts and actions have the potential to shape Web3’s development in the years to come. However, a balance is required in ensuring the privacy, safety and security of users in the metaverse and keeping the virtual world open and decentralized as it is supposed to be. Necessary regulations must be rolled out promptly in the metaverse before the problems become an ingrained part of the metaverse infrastructure. We need to make sure business models don’t come around before regulations so that they are rendered impossible to unwind. If you’re a startup on a lookout for a trusted Web3 service provider, get in touch with our experts today.
How DeFi and Web 3 Could Shape the Future of Finance Posted on August 5, 2022August 5, 2022 by Admin Web 2.0 is based on centralized data and organizations that use it without users’ meaningful consent for profit. Web 3.0 aims to disintegrate data centralization and bring about democratization of information. As people at large grow tired of privacy breaches and the abuse of their data at the hands of a few technological giants, Web 3.0’s underlying promise is lucrative. Data is stored across distributed systems, so no individual or institution can enjoy full control. Consumers own their data and bypass any middlemen. Data is immutable and permanently recorded, eliminating the risks of data tampering, hacks and fraud. Web 3.0 forms at the convergence of technologies such as blockchain, artificial intelligence, augmented reality and machine learning. It aims to create a secure, transparent, immersive reality with three-dimensional design and machine cognitive intelligence. Since its inception, the new version of the internet has been nudging the finance industry in a different direction, compelling traditional institutions to step into uncharted territory. This need for change is not a push by institutions to maximize profit but a pull by their customers who want and expect more out of the services and products in the finance sector. Related Reading: How the Metaverse Will Transform the Way We Work The Picture of Financial Services on Web3.0 Assume you need a car loan in the real world from a traditional bank today. You provide banking documents, educational qualifications, salary slips and declarations of assets. Even after all that, your loan application will consider your credit score, which decides how much loan you can avail and on what conditions. You go through all that despite harboring collateral for the loan. After you obtain the loan, you pay a fixed commission to the middleman who helped you get it. With DeFi, none of that happens. Everyone who wants to borrow and lend has the right to do so digitally and with control over their assets in a secure environment. Blockchain forms the secure and robust foundation of decentralized finance. In 2022, the Total Value Locked in DeFi staking protocols, which represents assets deposited by liquidity providers, reached $2 billion globally, up from $400 million in the past two years. Cross-border payments The primary objective of banking institutions is to facilitate transactions, which happen smoothly within the confines of a country. But, when users try to send remittances abroad, they hit several walls of red tape and intermediaries who need to be paid. That is just one of the ways centralization compromises user sovereignty, control and rights. Financial services The role of centralized authorities will be affected by P2P (peer-to-peer) communication as Web 3.0 offers more control and options to users. Web 3.0 is integrating the internet and digital payments through modern technology stacks. In the financial services industry, distributed ledgers can aid micropayments, which failed in Web 2.0 due to poor integration of the web and high transaction costs. Open banking Open banking lets customers share financial information with third-party service providers through APIs. The movement has taken shape due to mandated regulatory frameworks and a market-led attempt. Web 3.0 will birth new open banking opportunities as innovative APIs boost connectivity between Web 2.0 and its successor. Payments in the metaverse Investment banks are stepping into the metaverse, focused on customer experience, ease of access and DeFi collaboration. Banks are also providing an Integrated Payment Hub (IPH) to their customers planning to enter the metaverse. Users will be able to lend, borrow and invest cryptocurrencies and issue debit and credit cards to use in the emerging virtual world and the real one as we know it. Related Reading: Web 3.0 and Metaverse: Key Challenges What Makes Web3.0 Lucrative for Consumers Data transparency Customers want control over who gets access to their data, for how long and what they do with the access. Traditional banks and financial institutions are already required to provide annual notices describing how they use data in everyday transactions and marketing. Customers are wary of apps listening in on conversations and bombarding them with ads thereafter. One of the most lucrative aspects of Web3.0 for consumers is the transparency and authenticity of data collection and usage practices. Customers want to share information but need to know how it helps them. FIs can allow customers insight into how they use customer data to bring newer services, products and improvements to the customer experience. Control over assets and finances When users invest in a centralized system, they also pass over the control of their assets to professional finance managers, who benefit from users’ gains but don’t lose anything when investments go down. This also means that users have little control over their money, as banks use their assets in ways that most don’t know. And, in cases where banks see zero cash balances, such as in cases of recession and emergency, people lose their money. “Smart contracts and cryptocurrencies highlight financial self-empowerment, with users transacting peer-to-peer around the world without the need for centralized authorities”, reads a piece on MakerDAO. What Makes the Metaverse Lucrative for Finance Companies As per a recent S&P Global Market Intelligence report, while cryptocurrencies are built on a digital native system, innovations in the traditional banking industry are based on applying modern technology to enhance old architecture, as in the case of using distributed ledger technology in cross-border transactions. PayPal made such a move when it rolled out the service for its users to buy, sell and hold crypto assets back in 2020. Integrating DeFi at the heart of the emerging fintech leads to an entirely new financial system outside of the control of central authorities. DeFi makes finance all more efficient, transparent and accessible than it traditionally is. With DeFi and Web 3.0, fintech companies can allocate resources judiciously to meet customer needs and demands, automate processes for customer journey mapping, facilitate customer engagement and build trust and loyalty. Web 3.0 also reduces account suspensions and denial of service risks, helping finance businesses lower the cost of managing server failures and other issues. Related Reading: The Current State of DeFi and Potential for Startups Challenges Facing Finance Institutions as Metaverse Arrives DeFi and Web3.0 are still nascent, meaning some glitches still need fixing. Blockchain technology is still evolving, meaning protocols and platforms may develop quickly as finance institutions play catch-up. Global regulators have a lot to focus on as Web3.0 arrives. Especially in the finance sector, policymakers will impact how the market takes shape. Finally, DeFi is a global system that warrants newer regulations separate from the traditional banking and financial systems. Challenges lie ahead for financial institutions and banks as a new era evolves. However, these businesses would be wrong not to prepare and plan for the future now, as it’s not a matter of if but when Web 3.0 becomes mainstream.Reach out to trusted startup advisors at KiwiTech to build on your idea for Web 3.0.
How Startups Should Handle the Impending Recession Posted on August 5, 2022December 27, 2022 by Admin It’s no news that tough times are coming for startups with the looming recession. This will be the third major tech slump following the dot-com bubble and the Great Recession. Early in June, the S&P 500 hit its lowest point in more than a year, tumbling 4%. It fell below the 20% threshold to be considered a bear market. Inflation hit a 40-year high in the U.S. this spring, driving an increase of 0.5% in interest rates. Historically, in the past 75 years, whenever inflation increased by 4% and the unemployment rate dipped below 5%, the U.S. economy experienced a recession within two years. In May, inflation clocked over 8%, double the threshold. Each company faces a unique set of challenges in a recession, defined as two consecutive quarters of negative economic growth caused by economic shocks, changes in economic expectations and a financial panic or any combination of the three. Most startups suffer during a recession as demand plunges, giving rise to an uncertain future. However, research shows during the recessions of 1980,1990 and 2000, 17% of 4,700 studied public companies went under and 9% of the companies didn’t just survive the recession but thrived. The difference between startups that go under and those that rise from recession is how they prepare for it. So, let’s get you prepared. Related Reading: What Does Strategic Resilience Look Like for Startups in 2022 Assess Where You Stand and With What Some startups have more favorable balance sheets to survive an economic downturn than others. Some startups also manage to raise funds in hard times. So, before charting the right course of action for your startup, assess where you stand and how many resources you have available. How much does your business have available in cash? Do you already have the product-market fit? How healthy does your growth strategy look for a recession? Have you assessed and prioritized engineering projects and marketing campaigns? What is your competition up to? Answer these questions to learn more about your status quo. To Prioritize Or to Go Full-throttle? The natural impulse in a recession is to postpone innovation, reduce spending on marketing, research and development, and employee training, freeze hiring and lay off employees. However, a recession offers a unique opportunity for startups to invest in their future judiciously. If a company has a decent runway to do so and believes in its vision, experts advise going full-throttle on promising ideas. This HBR article points out that the dot-com bust separated the wheat from the chaff, leading to numerous delistings and bankruptcies while bringing out winners in the form of Facebook, Apple, Netflix, Amazon, Google, Microsoft and Nvidia. This article is a promising report on how Samsung managed to grow its share by 4 percent during the economic meltdown of 2009 and how people were still buying technology back then. Therefore, instead of cutting costs, startups must be deliberate and strategic by paying attention to how customers are behaving in this slump. Even if customer behavior or expectations change, startups are uniquely positioned to course-correct faster than an established organization that’s too set in its ways. If your competitors are playing defensive, should you be attacking consistently on a few priorities and standing out from the crowd? Do You Need to Cut Costs? Companies with short-term access to resources face the biggest risk in an economic downturn. For such startups, it’s a good idea to cut costs across R&D, sales and products. It’s critical to focus on efficiency and to communicate that with employees. Companies deep in debt face the most pronounced vulnerabilities during a recession. A 2017 study found that declining housing prices led to low customer demand, driving businesses to close and higher unemployment. The research found that the effect was reflected highly in companies with high debt. Companies in deep debt face a cash strap during a recession, forcing them to cut costs aggressively, jeopardize growth and hamper any chance of survival. A report by McKinsey shows that resilient companies during the 2009 recession had cleaned up their balance sheets in time to be acquisitive moving forward. They reduced debt by over $1 for every dollar of total capital on their balance sheets, while non-resilient companies added over $3 in debt. Layoffs, however, may not be feasible to cut down costs, as they render hiring and training expenses a waste. A better strategy involves cutting costs by improving operational productivity and efficiency so that your best talent stays. However, if a startup has a runway to function for a couple of years, it’s best to acquire resources during a downturn when other companies are cutting back. The most important resource- human talent- is more readily available during a recession than in a time of expansion. This could also be an opportunity to acquire companies and buy assets. For instance, from 2008 to 2010, tech giants rode the recession in a fascinating manner. Intel’s CEO at the time, Paul Otellini, confessed that during a recession, Intel invests in R&D, looks for talent to fill future needs and accelerates plans for expansion. As you read, Microsoft has doubled its employees’ bonus pool and is planning for expansion. Google is forging ahead with the Google Village expansion in downtown San Jose to employ 25,000 engineers. While startups are nowhere near the big tech, it makes sense to look at and learn from how the big players are being sharp and smart about riding the recession to emerge as winners on the other side. Related Reading: Is Your Technology Stack Resilient? What About Digital Transformation? A steep decline in digital stocks doesn’t mean bad news for digital strategy. Every company is a digital company today and in the future. The pandemic forced every company lagging in rolling out digital transformation projects to hurry up. A well-crafted digital strategy offers several benefits: Improved visibility of resources Enhanced resource management Better organizational flexibility Higher organizational agility Cost reduction Hiccup-free supply chain management Exceptional customer experience Improved internal productivity and employee engagement Faster product development and go-to-market Superior human resource planning In a nutshell, a digital strategy serves an organization from all angles. This 360-degree advantage is not to be lost during a recession. Instead, this might be the right time to double down on digital transformation and handle the challenges of the market and opportunities presented effectively. Research shows that the U.S. cities hardest hit between 2007-2015 saw greater demand for high-order skills, including digital skills. One reason is that employers could be choosy in a market where organizations were laying off employees. Economists believe that organizations also invested in technology during the economic turmoil because of the lower opportunity cost. When an economy is healthy, every company wants to produce what it produces as demand is high. However, when an economy is low and demand goes down, companies can revert resources toward innovative projects, of course, if they can. Therefore, adopting new technologies costs less in a downturn. Furthermore, technologies that aid in understanding your own business- inefficiencies, gaps in analysis, cost leakages- or your customer and the market can be helpful during a downturn. Can you self-fund digital transformation projects that can lead to short-term gains? Steps for Robustness and Resilience Distribute decision-making A company’s organizational structure affects how decisions are made and perceived by everyone. In centralized hierarchies, the executives have a better picture of the entire organization and personal incentives that align with business goals. However, decentralized startups can weather storms such as a recession better because the value of local information increases as decisions are delegated further down, as per a 2017 study. And, the benefits of a decentralized firm faded as economic conditions improved, the study found. An HBR article highlights how decentralization is always helpful when it’s important to have responsiveness. And, when reliability, efficiency and perennity are critical, it makes sense to centralize the organizational structure. Strengthen trust internally A company with low trust in the leadership and business strategy tanks on a good day. In a recession, a company’s responsiveness and resilience are highly tested. Furthermore, when people get paranoid about their future, they contribute less and make plans to survive individually. Leaders should step up in dire times and strengthen people’s trust in themselves and their policies. A people-first mindset can help employees feel safe enough to continue contributing to a larger good. Invest in diverse talent One of the best ways to stay employed during a period of recession is to arm yourselves with a diverse set of skills. And one of the best ways to keep an organization afloat is to hire multi-faceted individuals who can contribute in more than one way. Strong leaders allow their people to invest in learning a variety of skills, knowing that diverse talent makes all the difference in trying times. Diversify revenue streams A recession exists for your customers, too. Therefore, you want to ensure that no buyer represents over 10% of your business. If they do, you must diversify. Assess if you want to broaden into other markets, onboard more customers or ramp up marketing for the next year. Find ways to forge new income streams that prevent your accounts from drying out. Keep a low inventory If you are into manufacturing or retail, take a walk through the warehouse. The cash shelved in there would be hard to liquidate in a recession. Learn more about how to run a lean inventory. Look at historical data about your business and customer to know how much inventory you need to meet demand. Then maintain accordingly. Learn from the Past to Navigate the Recession This piece is sprinkled with references to the previous recessions and their lessons, but here’s the gist. Not all small businesses may have what it takes to survive an economic downturn. But, for a company with a robust business model, a recession brings opportunities. As bigger organizations lay off employees, reign in the best ones. Let this trying time help you grow and learn a thing or two. Previous economic recessions have bred unicorns, such as Uber, WhatsApp, Groupon, Slack, Airbnb, Instagram, Venmo and many more. Here are the signs your startup is poised to grow during a recession- You build and sell something that stands at the core of your customer’s business. Your company stands on firm ground, and your product/service is well-tested. You bring technology to your customer’s pain points and help relieve critical pain for them. Your business has a provable ROI that customers can see and experience. You believe in your product and idea and have the necessary resources to see it through. You believe in your product and can make the necessary changes to your business to reflect what’s coming. A recession is always followed by a long period of expansion and growth. So, with the right strategy by your side, keep your eyes on growth and buckle up for the ride. To learn more, download our latest white paper- Building a Resilient Company in the New Normal.
How Blockchain Is Disrupting the Healthcare Ecosystem Posted on July 8, 2022July 12, 2022 by Admin Blockchain is a technology that enables electronic data management with transparency and accountability. It is a ledger of transactions that ensures identical copies of each transaction are visible to all nodes on the network. Members validate the data in the ledger, after which it becomes immutable. Originally developed to eliminate the need for intermediaries in cryptocurrencies, blockchain technology is gradually becoming mainstream in several industries. There are places for transparent and immutable record-keeping in the healthcare industry where blockchain will be helpful. This piece looks at the need for blockchain in healthcare, its benefits and use cases. How the Pandemic Highlighted the Healthcare Industry’s Need for Better Tech While the COVID-19 pandemic is ongoing and associated with over 6 million deaths worldwide, the speed and scope of scientific discovery, data dissemination, and technology development are staggering. Technology and data management systems can create flexible environments that enable collaboration, innovation and equitable care, which will determine the scale and severity of the next pandemic. A host of issues surfaced within the healthcare industry during the COVID-19 pandemic: A digital divide appeared with an urgent pivot to telehealth technologies to protect patients’ contact with others and mitigate hospital overload, especially in communities of minority groups and older populations.Access to reliable internet was a challenge worldwide. The digital disenfranchisement is highest in rural residents, Black and Hispanic communities, and those with low incomes in the USA. Telemedicine and telehealth systems fall through the cracks without access to reliable internet.During COVID-19, there was an immediate need for medical equipment and supplies to cater to high demand. When supply chains break down with known vendors due to nationwide lockdowns, there are challenges with new vendors around trust issues, ensuring compliance with standards, timeliness of delivery, fraud management and customs certification.Similar trust issues exist in pharmaceutical supply chains with concerns about intellectual property, quality control, counterfeiting, illicit drug sales, etc. Ensuring an adequate supply of drugs was another challenge area, as was ensuring tracking and timely delivery.Limited information sharing capabilities disrupted the healthcare system with a lack of collaboration among healthcare institutions around the availability of staff, hospital beds, ICU beds and life-saving medical equipment. The pandemic proved that the healthcare industry needs access to reliable technology to plug grave loopholes. Patient Health Records & Health Information Exchange – Blockchain Use Case Even though many healthcare establishments today work with a patient health record system to manage patient healthcare details, the systems continue to be siloed and lack integration capabilities with other systems. Vendors of these systems roll out protocols that make interoperability impossible. Healthcare providers use multiple healthcare systems to manage patient records, leading to integration, connectivity and transparency challenges. These gaps disable patient record sharing, inflate health costs, reduce healthcare outcomes and are operationally inefficient systems. Blockchain technology can be transformative in helping achieve three essential goals here- SecurityPrivacyIntegration Blockchain offers the possibility of a new technological model called Health Information Exchange that makes electronic medical records efficient and safe while eliminating the cost and friction of operational intermediaries. HIE data can include- Electronic health recordsPatient health informationMedical insurance claimsData from IoT or monitoring systemsE-prescriptionsSecure messages HIE can implement a permissioned distributed ledger with smart contracts where all participating stakeholders- patients, providers, pharmacies, pathological labs, NGOs, and governments- can participate in the seamless and secure exchange of data. How Blockchain Empowers Patients with Data Privacy and Security With blockchain, owners of the information, the patients, stay in charge of data sharing and manage the granularity of the access, determining which data can be accessed by whom, for how long and when access is revoked. With HIE, even if the information is agreed for sharing with third parties, users have control over it. Cybersecurity is a looming challenge for healthcare organizations. Risk Based Security identified 1,767 publicly reported data breaches between January and June 2021, where 18.8 billion records were compromised. The report confirms that the healthcare industry continues to be a target for cyberattacks, including ransomware attacks. Blockchain offers a solution by decentralization of domain name system entries. Blockchain eliminates any vulnerable singular targets often exploited by malicious actors through decentralized solutions. Related Reading: How has the COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated Blockchain Benefits of Blockchain in Healthcare Collaboration Blockchain-powered tools are helping combat the pandemic. For instance, an identity management system for contact tracing was implemented in South Korea. Systems to support data sharing and software code collaboration for research purposes are also coming around. Blockchain has also met challenges in supply chain management for medical supplies, medications and future vaccines. For instance, IBM announced a blockchain-enabled network called IBM Rapid Supplier Connect to bridge healthcare organizations and non-traditional suppliers of equipment, supplies, and devices to fight COVID-19. Accuracy & Traceability In areas where information sharing is vital, but trust issues are a hindrance, blockchain can help. Blockchain technology improves data availability at each stage and ensures it is accurate through its inherent immutability feature. Another benefit is the traceability of supplies within an ecosystem. For instance, manufacturers can track products from dispatch through delivery using blockchain. Such applications can have a prolific impact on health outcomes, especially during a critical time of a global pandemic. Cost Saving Recent findings suggest that healthcare blockchain can help the industry save up to $100 billion in operational, personnel, support, security breaches and IT costs by 2025. The acceleration of development in healthcare rests on the underlying technology. At KiwiTech, we help startups and enterprises transform their healthcare technology ideas into reality. The healthcare industry is nuanced by laws and regulations. Speak to one of our Blockchain consultants today.
How Extended Reality is Driving Tourism Posted on July 5, 2022December 26, 2022 by Admin Millions of people travel to different countries or cities to learn about new cultures, see historic sites, embark on exciting adventures, or simply relax. Tourists used to travel to their destinations by plane, train, boat, or car. They could reserve a room in a vacation rental, check into a hotel, camp under the stars, or with friends or family. However, thanks to extended reality technologies, tourists’ perceptions of other parts of the world are changing. Let’s dive deeper into extended reality (XR) and its importance in the real world. We’re going to discuss: What is extended reality (XR) The rise of extended reality tourism 5 ways XR can enhance Travel & Tourism Extended reality tourism in real-world Opportunities for XR Travel & Tourism Startups in 2022 and Beyond How can KiwiTech help in leveraging XR What is extended reality (XR)? XR is an emerging umbrella term for all immersive technologies. The ones we already have today – augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and mixed reality (MR) plus are still to be created. All immersive technologies either blend the virtual and “real” worlds or create a fully-immersive experience. Recent research revealed that more than 60% of respondents believed XR will be mainstream in the next five years. Let’s dive into each of the existing technologies to better understand XR. The rise of extended reality tourism Pre-pandemic, travel, and tourism were among the most crucial sectors in the world economy, contributing 320 million jobs and accounting for 10 percent of the global GDP. As per the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development, the global economy for 2020 and 2021 could lose over $4 trillion due to COVID-19 impact on travel and tourism. The industry and its related industries and economies are still struggling to make up for their losses during the pandemic. As the industry looks onward and upward, one of the businesses’ concerns would be reducing customer pain points and introducing newer ways to experience travel. 5 ways XR can enhance Travel & Tourism Let’s look at a few innovative use cases of XR in travel and tourism. 1. Virtual travel and sightseeing VR allows exploring locations without visiting in person. Many doubt that virtual travel and tourism will replace the experience of taking in a new place’s sights, sounds, smells, and sensations. However, virtual travel and sightseeing can be the answer in the following cases: Mental health awareness is a top priority for organizations today. Employees can refresh themselves through virtual travel when they can’t feasibly visit a new place every weekend. Often, it’s financially difficult for people to plan travel to far-off places. This is when virtual travel and sightseeing provide an immersive alternative. For instance, the Patagonia lake VR experience on Oculus Rift is rich and offers users access to a glacial lake that is hard to reach and explore in real life. When nations try to preserve certain areas, humans aren’t allowed to visit them. In such cases, virtual travel can satiate our curiosities. Must read: Rapid Prototyping to Validate your Startup Idea 2. Virtual, immersive hotel tours Analogous to “try before you buy,” holidaymakers can use virtual hotel tours to gain more understanding of each potential hotel before booking one that works best for them. Hotel businesses have a newer touchpoint and a fresh experience to offer their potential customers. If a picture is worth a thousand words, an immersive VR experience is worth a million. Several resorts and locations worldwide are now embracing virtual tours to boast their stunning amenities and attract tourists. These virtual tours can be quickly delivered to smartphones, tablets, or PCs without additional equipment. The VR tours can be interactive so that the viewer can control where they go or be for viewing purposes only as a 360-degree panoramic VR video. 3. Test drive excursions Besides checking out their hotel experience beforehand, travelers can even test-drive different elements of their trip to optimize how they spend their time after arriving. Virtual excursions may include helicopter tours, park tours, and boat rides. When the British travel agent Thomas Cook experimented with VR experiences, they reported a 190 percent surge in bookings for New York vacations after their customers tested the five-minute NY virtual experience in-store. Similarly, in Western Japan, a local hot spring resort used VR to survive after their government closed down over 90% of bathhouses in the area. The bathhouse Arima Sanso Gosho Bessho started offering simulated “onsen” experiences that allow customers to enjoy all the sensory luxury of bathing in hot springs from the comfort of their homes. Virtual excursions are a key prospect for travel companies wanting to make up for the time and money lost in the pandemic. 4. Navigate interactively AR-infused navigation helps you reach your destination when you’ve finally arrived at your location. As the most widely preferred navigation app globally, Google Maps incorporates AR for those navigating on foot. It leverages the rear camera, identifies the user’s location, and superimposes directional and other details over the screen. The AR route-searching feature is available on ARCore and ARKit-enabled mobile devices. The idea may be simple, but it makes the life of an international traveler much smoother. Extended reality applications can help travel companies and hotels offer dedicated apps for users to reach and navigate within premises. 5. Health & safety training Like any other industry, following government guidelines and regulations around COVID-19 precautions is a must for each business. There are several ways the travel and tourism industry can leverage XR to ensure the health and safety of their workers and guests alike. For training purposes, immersive experiences offer a more prosperous environment for workers and employees to learn several safety practices. XR developers are dedicated to working on applications that allow travel businesses to impart such training in immersive environments. Related Reading: How to Design User Experience for Diversity and Inclusion Extended reality tourism in the real world 1. Atlantis, The Palm Hotel Tour Some companies use extended reality to help tourists and help them decide where to stay once they start traveling after Covid. The Atlantis, The Palm hotel in Dubai, is one example of this. This hotel allows visitors to take an online virtual tour of the property. They can walk through the lobby, see the hotel’s most extensive suite, and learn about on-site activities and amenities like the aquarium, gardens, and pool. 2. Virtual Aurora Tours Many tourists wish to witness the northern lights in person. They can now make their dream come true by taking a virtual tour of the lights. The Virtual Aurora Tour is a brief virtual reality video that transports visitors to Sweden to witness the northern lights above Abisko National Park. They intended to release additional virtual reality videos transporting tourists to the Aurora Sky Station. 3. Faroe Islands’ Remote Tourism Because tourism is so important to the Faroe Islands’ economy, officials decided to launch an extended reality tourism experience during the COVID-19 pandemic. The Remote Tourism Tool allows tourists to use a smartphone, tablet, or computer to explore the Faroe Islands’ mountains, waterfalls, and other areas. 4. Petra Xplore App Petra is a UNESCO World Heritage Site in Jordan. In June 2020, city officials launched the Petra Xplore App, which uses virtual reality technology to transport users to the historical city. Users can see the city and its most famous landmarks at scale. They can walk through and explore numerous points of interest, including the theater, great temple, monastery, and tombs. Opportunities for XR Travel & Tourism Startups in 2022 and Beyond The VR market is expected to hit USD 20.9 billion by 2025. The augmented reality market is projected to reach USD 65.22 billion by 2027 at a CAGR of 48.3%. The opportunity is vast for startups wanting to participate in the travel industry’s stimulated technological innovation. After three years of suffering during the pandemic, travel businesses are looking to invest in technology solutions to help them deliver a fresh experience and stay relevant and competitive. “The pillars of innovation in the travel and tourism industry will be digital- for the business transformation to deliver an exceptional experience; sustainable- to address climate change, creative and transparent; safe- to provide contactless experiences; and people-centric to empower, be inclusive and renewable.” –Caroline Bremner, head of travel research and senior industry manager at Euromonitor International. How can KiwiTech help in leveraging XR Hope you understand why Extended Reality is driving the travel industry and how is AR, MR, and VR reality used in tourism app or software development. As a leading extended reality software development company, we suggest integrating XR in your travel solutions. It can take your business to drive forward. Besides knowing the XR technology inside out, we have a rich domain expertise in the travel industry and can build custom web and mobile app solutions for your business. Are you looking for expertise on your XR for tourism software or mobile app idea? Speak to a KiwiTech consultant today.
How Blockchain Benefits Supply Chains and Startups Posted on July 5, 2022July 4, 2022 by Admin The COVID-19 pandemic highlighted gaps in supply chains worldwide, spurring organizational efforts to make supply chains more resilient and transparent. Every industry was hit, and every business witnessed its supply chain fall short in meeting market needs in a time of crisis. Globally, supply chains are fragmented, and businesses operate in silos. Blockchain is one technology that can introduce standardization, transparency and alignment for accelerated global trade. The World Economic Forum has recognized the potential of blockchain technology to improve global supply chains and kickstarted an effort with 100+ experts and organizations to “co-design an open-source toolkit which will streamline the deployment of blockchain throughout a broad and diverse sector.” The project will involve WEF’s multistakeholder community of large shippers, supply chain providers and governments to design governance frameworks to build on key uses of blockchain in port systems in a strategic, forward-thinking and globally interoperable manner. WEF calls the project Redesigning Trust: Blockchain for Supply Chains, and it’s the work of the Centre for the Fourth Industrial Revolution. This confirms something- blockchain has possibilities for supply chains worldwide. Related Reading: Are Metaverses Happening? The Potential for Startups The Opportunity for Startups in a Moment of Chaos According to Crunchbase numbers, 2021 saw $11.3 billion in funding and was a banner year for venture-backed supply chain management companies. This represented a twofold increase from the previous year and a significant increase from the previous all-time high of $9.1 billion in 2019. According to Crunchbase, the trend will continue in 2022 and beyond as it reflects the effects of the pandemic that disrupted every aspect of the supply chain and a building acceptance of technology in an industry primarily run on paper, pen and spreadsheets. In a moment of chaos, startups take the lead and introduce risky and potential new paradigms and technologies. Every innovation requires some disruption, and startups are fast to disrupt and introduce innovation. The supply chain problems are not only noticeable now but urgent. They are being experienced by organizations and noticed by investors, which means this is an opportunity for startups to introduce technology that solves this glaring problem. The funding opportunities are very much present for startups that can help organizations make strides in the supply chain, most prominently with blockchain. Related Reading: The Current State of DeFi and Potential for Startups How the Best Supply Chains Worldwide are Figuring out Blockchain An HBR research studied seven major U.S. corporations and leaders in supply chain management that are figuring out how blockchain can solve their challenges. The companies – Emerson, Hayward, IBM, Mastercard, Corning and two others that wish to stay anonymous operate in disparate industries- retail, manufacturing, financial services and technology. Some of them are considering blockchain, a few are conducting pilots and others have moved even further, working with supply chain partners to develop applications. The research leads us to understand the benefits of blockchain and its main function in the supply chain vs. its function in cryptocurrencies. For crypto networks designed to replace fiat money, the primary function of blockchain is to allow an unlimited number of anonymous users to transact privately and securely within themselves without a central entity. However, the primary objective for supply chains is to “allow a limited number of known parties to protect their business operations against malicious actors while supporting better performance.” HBR reports that “successful blockchain applications for supply chains will require new permissioned blockchains, new standards for representing transactions on a block, and new rules to govern the system- which are all in various stages of being developed.” Here are the applications of blockchain studied companies are applying: Enhancing traceability – A large pharmaceutical company in the study is collaborating with its supply chain partners to use blockchain to identify and trace prescription drugs to protect consumers from stolen, counterfeit and harmful products and comply with the U.S. Drug Supply Chain Security Act of 2013. The benefits of blockchain in enhancing traceability include efficiently recalling a faulty product by tracing the partners, product, suppliers and shipment batches associated, monitoring the quality of perishable items, ensuring the authenticity of a product and more. Increasing speed and efficiency and minimizing disruptions – Emerson has a complex supply chain with limited visibility and multiple components across customers, suppliers and locations. Such supply chains contend with long, unpredictable lead times and a lack of visibility. A tiny delay or disruption in a part of the chain can lead to excess inventory or stock-outs in other parts. With blockchain, participants can share inventory flows and allow each company to make decisions using commonly available complete information. Walmart Canada already uses blockchain technology with the trucking companies that transport its inventory to synchronize logistics data, track shipments and automate payments. Improved financing, contracting and international transactions – When blockchain allows sharing of inventory, information and financial flows among firms, significant gains are possible in financing, contracting and conducting international business. Blockchain can reduce information asymmetry for banks around borrower firms, their assets and liabilities. It can also improve accounts payable management, which still has gaps even though ERP systems have automated many steps. Finally, cross-border trade requires manual processes, physical documents and intermediaries, and many checks and verifications, which can better be handled with a blockchain. Related Reading: How Has the COVID-19 Pandemic Accelerated Blockchain Potential Advantages of Blockchain in Supply Chain Transformation Blockchain can offer higher supply chain transparency and reduced cost and risk across the supply chain. Here are the clear benefits of blockchain in supply chain management: Ensure that corporate standards are met by improving the traceability of materials in a supply chainReduce losses from counterfeit products and prevent gray market tradingIncrease visibility and compliance over outsourced contract manufacturing by bridging communication gaps and eliminating transfer data errorsReduce paperwork, manual intervention and administrative costsSolidify corporate reputation by providing transparency of materials used in productsIncrease credibility and public trust of data sharedReduce potential PR risk from supply chain malpracticesEngage stakeholders with higher visibility across the supply chain Blockchain makes important promises for the supply chain management industry. Reach out to us at KiwiTech to speak to our Blockchain consultants about your next big project.