i for Technology

i For Technology Social Media, Mobile & Cloud

Technology, Other Issues

Ameet PatelJanuary 2014

RRC, Mahableshwar

Social Media – what do you know about it?

Time to reach 50 mn users

38 years

13 years

4 years

3 years

1 year

Can Social Media help in Selling

? ? ?

It helped….

$$$$

Car purchase decided, not by the size of Xylo ads, but by the 22 recommendations here!!

It helped one of these car companies

It helps sell T-shirts...rather, it RUNS a large T-shirt business!

And it helped this plumber

Same could happen with a doctor, a lawyer, a CA ....

There will be positive recommendations, as

also negative….“Don’t go to that

guy.. He’s a cheat..” etc.

“I will tell my Facebook friends about your brand. Not because I like your brand, but

because I like my friends!”

Social Media For Professionals

Social Media is all about building “Relationships”

• Network with existing relationships• Leverage existing... to build new ones• Find new relationship opportunities• Convert “contacts” into “contracts”

For professionals like CAs, Social Media can be very useful

Power of LinkedIn..at a click

Create Thought Leadership• A tool for creating a brand (without

advertising)• Platforms

• Blogs• You Tube

• Content• Talk about issues and your opinion on those

issues• Similar to writing articles in the Institute’s or

BCA journals• Except now you are trying to address your

potential customers and not just fellow CAs

Generate Leads

• Build relationships• Platforms

– LinkedIn– Yahoo Answers– Google Groups

• Build your network…bigger the better• Participate in conversations

– Groups– Q and A

Reputation Monitoring

• For large firms• For “well known” individuals• ORM – Online reputation management– What are people talking about – Responding to issues right away

General Tips

• Social Media is not about shouting out loud. It is about quiet conversations

• You have to learn to listen, before you start talking

• It is about creating “shareable” content. Your users (consumers) are also your content distributors

• It is about lighting up a forest with a match stick

Using LinkedIn for sourcing staff

How to use social media – see how Big 4 do

it

How to use social media – see how Big 4 do

it

Power of Twitter – No. of followers

(as on 28th December, 2013)Barack Obama 4,07,20,611

Amitabh Bachchan 75,90,081

Sachin Tendulkar 39,93,031

Narendra Modi 30,59,117

Shashi Tharoor 20,08,516

Kiran Bedi 13,10,299

Barkha Dutt 11,33,199

PMO 9,81,001

Arvind Kejriwal 9,38,376

Power of Facebook Pages – No. of Likes (as on 28th December, 2013)

Name of Page No. of Likes

Narendra Modi 75,04,848

Madhuri Dixit Nene 49,72,415

ICAI 1,02,683

ICFAI 8,256

ICAEW 21,338

MTV 4,84,25,783

Vodafone Zoozoos 1,65,83,162

Kotak Mahindra Bank Ltd 1,53,914

Power of Twitter – And where are

CAs?Name of Person No. of followers

Mukesh Butani 1,232

Arun Giri 1,112

Richard Rekhy 862

Chirag Chauhan 402

Ameet Patel 274

Lubna Kably 253

Ketan Dalal 245

Shailesh Haribhakti 103

Nitin Shingala 57

Social Media – What’s new?

• Foursquare is becoming popular• “Listening” is the in thing. Companies are

spending lot of time, money and efforts in analysing what others are writing, sharing on SM

• CAs will also need to “listen” on SM

Mobile Technology

• Exciting• Ever changing• Gives massive power to the user• Can easily replace laptops and computers• Younger generation is always stuck to their

mobile phones

Mobile Technology – Growing importance

Future Mobile Technology

• Bendable Technology– Flexible screens– Malleable phones– Bendable phones that can be rolled up the

sleeves or wrapped around our wrists– Phones that can be moulded into any shape

that we want

Future Technology

• Wearable technology– Google Glass

• Activated by looking up• Can be controlled through voice and touch• GPS enabled and Wifi enabled• Projects a screen into our filed of vision allowing us to

view information while engaging with apps

– iWatch

Wearable Mobile Phones

Bendable mobile phones

360◦ Screen

Future phones - security

• Facial recognition• Retina recognition• DNA identification

Smart Phones and Doctors

• Smart phones enable doctors to go mobile thereby allowing them to diagnose and treat illnesses from anywhere in the world

• Future phones could:– Monitor hearbeat– Check blood sugar levels– Measure blood pressure– Send out auto alerts to doctors in case of

problems

MOBILE TECHNOLOGY• Fast changing • Extremely exciting• Almost every week, we see a new model of a

phone being launched either by Apple or by Samsung or by Nokia or any of the other manufacturers

• Most people are now buying smart phones and phablets.

• As people spend more and more time on their phones and phablets, what is it that we CAs can do in terms of using this technology?

Smart phones & CAs

• Smart phones can easily replace your personal secretary– Who will remind you about whom to call and

when– Who will remind you where you are supposed to

be at what time– Who will learn your routine and suggest ways to

improve your day

• Smart phones will be able to project interactive touch screens onto any surface

Mobile Technology & CAs

• Instead of sending out emails, send out SMS or Whatsapp or BBM messages to clients / staff by way of reminders for various due dates

• Creating apps for routine matters and encouraging clients to use the same. For example, bank summary or capital gains details. If a simple to use app is created and clients are encouraged to put in their data into the same and submit to the CA's office by way of an email, it would reduce the burden on the CA, do away with routine and monotonous work for the CA's staff and improve profitability

• Instead of sending out tax alerts and newsletters, one could update the firm's app and the app could send out auto alerts to users that something new has come up on the app.

Mobile Technology & CAs

• With wearable and bendable phones and many such innovative technologies available, we don’t need to tie ourselves to our offices or desks

• We can work on anything in any place• We can access anything anywhere• In ITAT / Court / Arbitration / Meetings / Seminars /

Hearings – everywhere, we can access contents stored either in the cloud or on the internet or in a server

Contactless payments

• Google Wallet allows users to store all their credit cards in one place and use the phone as a wireless wallet

• Send money to any one in the US with an email address. It's easy, fast and free to send from your bank account or Google Wallet Balance.

• If this facility is available in India too, what does it mean for CAs?

Contactless payments

• Will you accept fees from a client via this facility?

• Will your website / app permit such a payment to be made by a client?

• If your client accepts payments from its customers, how would that affect the audit trail and how will you verify such transactions?

Cloud Technology

• SaaS ≠ Mother in Law• PaaS ≠ Hindi translation of “near”• IaaS ≠ admission of the fact that I am an

ass• NaaS ≠ Hindi translation of steam

inhalation

Imagine all these in the cloud

Cloud Technology

• Challenges exist• Advantages exist• Choice is yours

Other Issues

• Customer Relations Management• Version Management• DSC Management• XML Management

Customer Relations Management• In a firm, various members have hundreds

of contacts• In a year, large number of mailers go out

to different sets of people• Maintaining a single database of clients /

contacts etc is the need of the hour

Other Issues

• Version Management• DSC Management• XML Management

They have all migrated

from their traditional

places. And settled in a

new land and the land is

called…….

Yes..!! They are now with me…

Convergence of technology

What lessons can we CAs draw from this?1. More and more people desire to get wide

range of services under one roof2. Younger generation insists on

convergence3. Are you part of a one stop shop?4. Are you an old Nokia phone or a smart

Samsung phone?

Technology is telling us that its time for us to pause and think

Ball is in our court

I for Technologyinformation Technology

I for Technologyinnovative Technology

I for TechnologyBut most important is

IAm I ready for Technology?

Am I keen on using Technology?Am I eager to move with the times?

Do I have an eye for technology?

i For Technology

THANK YOU

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