Basics Don’t Change

For the six industries I have worked in, I was always told that the world and the basics are changing. The reality is that basics do not change. Basics are basics. That is why they are called basics and don’t change with time. My book reminds people that the basics remain constant, the environment changes, and we must adapt to them. Also, a changing environment or disruption is not a threat.

A good businessperson starts looking around at opportunities in a disruption. One should always ask if a disruption is happening around them, how do they catapult their business using that disruption as an opportunity?

Survive and Thrive
The quality of human life is changing and improving with every passing year. Humans have learned to survive and thrive in a changing environment akin to a chameleon. Businesses in India and anywhere in the world have learned to thrive. 

Look at businesses in India. Name any service that has remained the same compared to the previous year. New features are being added, and the pace of adding new features has increased. Telecom, media, airlines, mobility, retail – compare what these sectors offered a year ago and what they have today. This can’t be true for every operator in every industry, but one or two operators in every industry are changing much more rapidly than they were in the past.

Customer Segmentation
Over the years, I have observed many products or technologies searching for customers. The ideal way is to figure out what the pain points of the customers are and then go on to create a product or service for that segment. Every business’ purpose is to make money. If a product is in search of customers scattered all over the place, it will take a lot of money to communicate and deliver the product; in the end, one may not even make money. It is always better to figure out the benefit of the product being sold and ask whether these customers will pay the money being asked of them.

Reviews Should Not Punish
The purpose of business reviews should be to identify opportunities for the future. Do not use the reviews to punish those who failed in the past. One cannot rewrite history. We cannot control the past. Most of the time, reviews are trying to figure out who made a mistake and where one went wrong. It is essential, but what is more important is finding the opportunity. If we bring about this change, reviews will be much more productive.

Look Out For OTT Aggregators
When a new technology or platform emerges, the older ones don’t die. They coexist. Every platform continues to grow. As many OTT apps come up in the media space, they will need an aggregator, just like TV channels got cable and DTH operators. So, there will be OTT aggregators because, in the end, the customer has to find it easy to discover the content they want to watch, which is where this industry is headed.

Excerpted from chat with Dr Annurag Batra