More and more technology seems to be coming out that supports the idea that in the future – and possibly not so distant future, we will move from smart phones to smart glasses or ‘wearables’ as they can be referred to. The BBC reported yesterday about the ability to use glasses to look at a menu in a foreign language, for it to do character recognition and then translate it into your own language!
Already this is in development and there are other things that are do-able at the current time, as per an article in mashable this month. “A couple runs through an airport, anxiously looking at real-time flight updates via a head-mounted display. A man asks his smart glasses how to say “delicious” in Thai while using both hands to eat. Another man sees factoids about various landmarks appear in front of him while touring California’s wine country with friends.”
Even the concept of an airline attendant knowing what different people’s dietary needs are and what illnesses they have, can all be stored in the glass and fed to the attendant as they serve. If you take that concept, this is truly on-the-spot personalised service for customers.
Could it be in future that you will be at a business meeting with a customer and all the information about the client that has been stored in the CRM, is available to you then and there in front of your eyes? No ignorance, just full knowledge and the ability to deal with the customer’s requirements then and there. Will it be that software currently running on laptops or as apps on phones, will need to also be available through these devices, as people start to want to look and work?
Will marketing become that much more personalised and targeted that as you look at someone, you will be able to tailor what they want, based on what you see and know in the background? Marketers are constantly looking at collaborative marketing and how to better engage with customers. Apparently facial recognition technology will not yet be in this technology, but other devices do support this – so you can gauge the mood of the recipient – a skill that some people can do better than others.
Of course all of these again raise privacy issues and apparently rules in different countries vary about wearing these. But it is an interesting development for technology businesses, start-ups and small businesses in general to be aware of on the horizon, as well as how it might impact marketing strategy.
