Tag Archives: Business Tech

News

2024 A Breakthrough Year for Immersive Experiences, Predicts HYPERVSN

LONDON, 15 January 2024 – As the landscape for consumer attention becomes increasingly competitive, HYPERVSN, a global leader in 3D holographic technology, shares its predictions for 2024, offering a vision for how emerging trends will shape customer engagement in the coming year.

1: Selective engagement set to grow in a content-saturated world

Customers are drowning in content – and the inundation of advertisements is leading to widespread desensitisation, prompting a change in consumer behaviour. Instead of passive content consumption, there’s a growing appetite for immersive, engaging experiences that offer more than just visual stimulation. Consumers no longer want to observe – they crave to be captivated.

This trend indicates a need for a more strategic approach to content creation. In 2024, brands will need to pivot towards offering personalised, interactive experiences that not only capture attention but also provide deeper emotional and intellectual engagement. The focus is shifting towards content that can truly resonate with the audience, turning every interaction into an opportunity for meaningful engagement.

2: The rise of holographic 3D content in brand communication

One reason which consumers are increasingly becoming desensitised to the daily bombardment of content is the format in which it is presented. 2D digitally presented content becomes overfamiliar to consumers, to a point where they are becoming actively unengaged.

The disengagement will drive the move among organisations towards distinctive and memorable experiences to stand out amongst the crowd. Holographic 3D content will reveal itself as the answer to 2D fatigue. It’s already shown to increase viewing and engagement time by approximately 40% when compared against 2D content. It will no longer be a desirable extra, but a necessity.

3: The fusion of digital and physical elements in retail stores

Holographic visuals will increasingly be a critical mechanism in “phygital” consumer experiences. In sectors such as the retail industry, digital and physical worlds are colliding more often to enhance interactivity with customers.

We will only see this blend being used more often on the shop floor in 2024. Retail outlets can find that incorporating holographic innovation can boost sales of promoted products by as much as 40%. The focus will be on recapturing the attention of visitors and turning them into engaged brand advocates.

4: Digital appearances merging seamlessly with the physical retail experience

The line between digital and physical consumer identity is increasingly blurred, especially among Generation Z. Online, users meticulously curate their digital avatars, reflecting their fashion and style preferences. This trend is more than a digital pastime, it’s a part of their identity, influencing their real-world fashion choices. Retailers are catching on, utilising holographic technology to bring these digital experiences into their physical stores. One example is using holographic displays in its stores to allow customers to interact with and preview digital-only collections. This innovative approach is transforming the shopping experience, merging online identities with offline retail environments and will flourish in 2024.

By blending the comfort and familiarity of physical stores with the excitement of digital innovation, retailers are creating immersive, memorable shopping experiences. Customers can now see their online preferences come to life in the store, bridging their digital and physical worlds. This convergence is a powerful tool for leaving a lasting impression that extends beyond the store visit.

5: Spatial storytelling will be the future of retail

Among fashion and beauty brands in particular, more will leverage 3D technology to create immersive, story-telling environments. Spatial storytelling – consisting of brands creating ‘story-based layouts’ inside their stores – will offer unparalleled opportunities to captivate the attention of audiences and turn them into regular shoppers.

This evolution in retail storytelling isn’t just about aesthetics, it’s about creating a deep, emotional connection with the consumer. By immersing customers in these vivid, 3D narratives, brands are not only showcasing their products but are also forging a powerful, lasting bond that resonates with the values and aspirations of their audience.

Kiryl Chykeyuk, CEO and Co-Founder, from HYPERVSN adds: “The modern customer craves more than mere transactions; they seek emotional engagements that resonate on a deeper level. It’s our inherent neural wiring for sensory stimulation that transforms engaging experiences into lasting, positive memories. We are, fundamentally, wired for immersion. The emergence of immersive experiences, driven by holographic technology, will push this immersion to the next level.”

Midlands News, News, South West

Local experience company, Yuup, generates £3 million in income for local businesses

Yuup, the local experiences company, has delivered £3m income for local independent businesses in less than 3 years on its mission to help local communities thrive.

Since its launch in Bristol in April 2021 and expansion into the West Midlands in 2022, Yuup has grown into a vibrant community of over 500 experience hosts. At the heart of Yuup’s mission is the dedication to championing indie businesses and empower local communities.

What sets Yuup apart is not just the diversity of experiences on offer but also the social impact it creates. From bread-making workshops to foraging adventures, Yuup provides an opportunity for individuals to experience the best their city has to offer while supporting the local community. It’s not merely about creating memorable experiences; it’s about building connections and fostering a sense of community. This November, the total income earned by hosts on the Yuup platform since its launch in 2021, surpassed £3m.

For some hosts, Yuup experiences serve as their primary source of income, while for others, it provides an extra stream of revenue. Yuup encourages creativity and diversity, ensuring that the community thrives while fostering connections with the offerings available.

The success of Yuup is leading to much larger events, which are all organised with social impact at their core. Yuup collaborated with Bristol Cathedral on spectacular light shows in 2022 and 2023. Now, the experience company is gearing up to host their most significant experience yet – Evolution, an epic drone-light show. In partnership with Celestial, the creators of various mesmerising drone light shows, Yuup is set to bring a brand-new type of entertainment to the UK. The event, scheduled for this December, is expected to captivate over 50,000 people.

Evolution embodies the essence of Yuup’s original goal. The event not only introduces a groundbreaking entertainment experience to the UK, but as the Yuup community surpasses 100,000 people across the West Country and West Midlands, the wider Yuup host community will directly benefit.

Dominic Mills, Founder, and CEO of Yuup, shared his excitement, stating, “Evolution marks a significant milestone in our journey. With a growing community of over 500 hosts, this event serves as a catalyst to bring a fresh, unparalleled experience to the UK. We hope to not only introduce a novel form of entertainment but also encourage more customers and hosts to join our community. Yuup is all about connecting people and making a positive change, and the more people in our community, the greater impact we can achieve.”

The event

For those eager to be part of this extraordinary winter entertainment experience, tickets for Evolution can be purchased at https://www.yuup.co/evolution. Don’t miss the chance to be part of a spectacular experience, celebrating and bringing local communities together.

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About Evolution

The drone light show Evolution, brings the very latest in creative entertainment for all ages in this spellbinding celebration of the living world.  Those who attend will be immersed in an epic-scale event that fuses cutting-edge technology and creativity to spark the imagination and stir the soul.

About Yuup

Yuup, the local experiences company, helps people find and book exciting things to do in their community. Yuup has earned a reputation for curating unique experiences for everyone to enjoy, building a place where people follow their passions, create memories, and discover things that make life awesome.

The collaboration that Yuup has conceived with Celestial is the latest strategic partnership that will support Yuup’s scale-up across the UK. At the heart of Yuup is an ambition to create positive social impact both through connecting people with their communities and providing experience hosts with additional ways to reach new audiences.

Technology

Zoho expands applications suite, Zoho One, to improve value for Business Clients

Business platform Zoho has announced it is expanding it’s all-in-one suite of applications, Zoho One, to offer more value to customers with new process automation, telephony, single sign-on and blockchain capabilities.

Zoho now introduces the next generation of Zoho One, the operating system for businesses that is designed to run an entire organization—from sales and marketing, finance and HR, operations and business intelligence, and more—all on a unified technology platform.

Zoho One now boasts a new business workflow management application, Orchestly, that lets customers effortlessly create, manage, and optimize their business processes through an intuitive drag-and-drop interface. In the two years since its launch, Zoho One has seen considerable growth and now serves more than 20,000 customers who make Zoho One the operating system for their business.

Around a quarter of Zoho One customers use more than 25 applications on the platform and more than 50 percent utilize beyond 16 applications showing that businesses are embracing an easy-to-use, all-in-one solution to run their businesses.

In the past two years since launch, Zoho One has evolved into a powerful operating system for businesses with over 45 applications, along with several built-in services including AI, Business Intelligence, Messaging, Search, and more. Zoho One is today a customizable, extendable, and integratable platform all at the same cost to customers.

“Technology is supposed to help businesses. Instead, it has evolved into a complex beast customers have to tame—from juggling apps from multiple vendors to trying to solve the multi-app integration puzzle to dealing with vendors forcing customers into expensive, lengthy contracts. The technology industry has gone too far down this path and this has to change,” said Raju Vegesna, Zoho’s Chief Evangelist. “With Zoho One, we want to change all of that. It’s a technology platform to run your entire business with a vendor that is easy to do business with and you can trust. With Zoho One, you are not just licensing technology. You are licensing peace of mind.”

Zoho is introducing bold new operating-system services:

Communications:

– PhoneBridge, Zoho’s telephony platform, which integrates over 50 telephony vendors on one side and several Zoho applications on the other side, is now available within Zoho One. PhoneBridge integration enables telephony in Zoho apps like CRM and Recruit. It allows customers to make calls from Zoho apps, and provides contextual information on incoming calls. Enabling PhoneBridge will give users context for all incoming calls from Zoho CRM, Zoho Recruit, Zoho Mail, and 20+ other apps.

– Single Sign-on: This allows customers to integrate any third-party applications onto their Zoho account and currently supports around 50 third-party applications. Single Sign-On works with third-party systems like active directory, which makes it scalable for mid-to-large sized businesses.

– Zoho One admins can now enforce YubiKey authentication as an added factor for increased security, on top of existing multi-factor authentications already supported.

App Management and Provisioning:

– Zoho One currently enables provisioning for all 45+ Zoho apps. This is now being extended to custom apps created through Zoho Creator as well as external apps available through Zoho Marketplace. Zoho, third-party, custom, and SSO apps can be provisioned either individually to users or as groups conditionally provisioned with custom criteria. Zoho One’s new Admin Panel with dashboards and reports allows admins to monitor user activity and app usage, enabling them to find and manage underutilized resources. Admins also get extensive reports on user management, sign-in activity, app usage, and account security.

Business Workflow Management:

– Orchestly has a drag-and-drop interface to enable managers with no coding skills to define processes with little effort. Managers and administrators can automate and run their regular workflows, including cross-departmental workflows such as purchase approvals, content publishing, asset management, and onboarding. In the case of onboarding a new employee, the recruitment, interview, offer submission, and onboarding is handled across the recruiting department, HR department, legal department, and whatever team the applicant is joining. Because so many departments and applications are involved in this process, Orchestly is able to cut across these various teams and applications to create comprehensive workflows and automate complex processes.

Products and Services Innovations:

– The enhanced Zoho Sign now provides an additional level of verification for customers by adopting blockchain-based timestamping through Ethereum, the globally accepted, open-source platform.

All Levels of Support:

– Zoho One offers free Concierge service, where potential customers can consult with the Zoho team to better understand how Zoho One can help their business.
– Zoho is introducing Jumpstart for Zoho One, helping customers through their initial implementation. All Zoho One customers are provided support, out-of-the-box, but now enterprise customers can request premium support.

Pricing for Zoho One, including all the new enhancements is £30 per employee or £70 per user.

In a world where vendors are frittering away customer budgets, every new feature, service, and product mentioned here is included in Zoho One for free.