Would See You Soon Phygitally!
O2O World and Platforms
I am back after a short break in Garhwal Himalayas. Seven days of Himalayan Alpine Meadows, Sun, Snow and complete technology detox can definitely do wonders. I was glad to be back in PanchKedar region after a long wait of 15 months since my last scheduled trek or 27 months since my last visit in May 2019. This time the wonderful week was spent with friends and family in the Mandani Valley culminating in wonderful abode of Lord Shiva at Kedarnath.
This 7 days-75 km trek of Ransi- Mandani-Yumbuk Col- Mahapanth Col- Kedarnath- Gaurikund is wonderful and covers camp-sites from 1800 to 4800 metres elevation. Our team of Atul Negi, Anul Shiggaon and Deepika Rathee was accompanied by Anuj Namboodri from Aagaas Federation. Our trek support staff included Vijay Panwar , Vijendra Bisht and Rajesh Bhatt from Ransi in Ukhinath. As usual , all the local logistics support and planning was done by Jagdamba Prasad Maithani bhai saheb.
I would be shortly posting a travel blog.
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DTW
During the Week, Sundar Pichai spoke about three/two model to balance between virtual and office while speaking to Murray Matt The Wall Street Journal's editor-in-chief. The emphasis for three days in office would be on collaboration and community whereas working virtually for two days would give flexibility to employees.
Following the world wide trend of going back to physical space, we also started Hybrid Mode of instruction for the MBA students at IBS Hyderabad. This Online 2 Offline Model has huge potential not only during the early recovery from covid19 but also in future ask e adjust to the new normal.
This O2O trend could be better understood through three layers of leveraging technology, avoiding channel conflict and managing customer experience.
Leveraging technology in hybrid or O2O world would involve hardware, software and service innovations. Companies like HP have already taken lead in providing collaboration tools to their clients through HP Presence portfolio.
In the e-commerce/retail space start-ups like Reliance owned Fynd has enabled small and medium sized businesses to go digital/online by helping them list their inventory on various e-commerce platforms including Amazon, Nykaa etc. The startup also helps these small businesses with last mile logistics delivery thus completing the cycle.
Avoiding channel conflict would involve executing promotions, discounts, allowances etc to ensure pricing integrity across channels.
Managing customer experience may be ensured through uniformity in brand, people and processes and ensuring that the offering is ‘one brand’. This would involve crafting an approach seeking experiences that allow people to thrive at the intersection of people and technology.
We are witnessing a great dispersion of opportunity in health, education and commerce. Companies would have to create an ecosystem to capitalise on the customers’ and employees’ new found traction with technology and hybrid world.
OTW
Over the Weekend, I started reading works of Ryan Holiday and renewed my interest in the works of Marcus Aurelius especially Meditations. One of the important insights of Stoicism is about voluntary hardships. It is one of the ways through which we can build our resilience. The great Stoics in Ancient Greece and Rome including Marcus Aurelius, Seneca and Epictetus practiced Voluntary Hardship as a way to harden themselves to life in general. Many of them practiced it through simply missing a meal or sleeping rough. For me it is being exposed to out-of-comfort zone experiences and seeking out ways to test the limits of mental, emotional and physical endurance.
Taking about voluntary hardships, AHM 2021 is on 19 December 2021. So, after a break of three weeks, I restarted my Sunday Long Run and hope to participate in Full Marathon at AHM2021 after a gap of three years. Here is an opportunity for those who are already in Hyderabad and those who need a “reason” to come to Hyderabad, register for AHM 2021. This is one of best organised marathon event in the country and you could even do a 10k to make a good start.
You can find more information and registration link at https://www.airtelhyderabadmarathon.com/register/
Do let me know if you need a training plan to complete your desired distance at AHM2021.
I Love You
Shailendra
OTM
Opportunities through MountainSpeak are available at Traya Health led by IBS Hyd alumni Saloni Anand.
Chief of Staff https://lnkd.in/gkNBJNbX
Talent Acquisition Manager - https://lnkd.in/gjYQHmyi
Marketing Analytics and Automation Head(CRM) (Email/sms marketing) https://lnkd.in/g9DgGeEn
We have had amazing insights about D2C Health Brands over multiple sessions of MountainSpeak. If you had missed the sessions with Saurav Panda and Saloni Anand, you could watch the recorded conversation about Mars by GHC and Traya in the respective links.