As technology continues to advance at a rapid rate, consumers seem to be driven by efficiency, convenience and an easy shopping experience. Hemanth Kumar, an accomplished Associate Vice President at InfoVision, works within the realm of retail and consumer goods, product engineering driven by innovation and architecture consulting. Kumar works closely with several founders and investors, helping to define their product roadmaps while offering product strategy to go-to-market, leading successful innovation product launches, and setting product architecture and technology direction. Now, Kumar aims to share his insight and experience with fellow technologists and those interested in innovative retail transformations.
Kumar’s role surrounds his relationship with industry CxOs in retail who hope to increase innovation, digital strategy and digital architecture. He helps client organizations transform their businesses to optimize their unique business models and goals. His responsibilities involve innovation strategy, digital transformation planning, governance and change management, digital blue-printing, target state architecture and on-boarding. With a passion for solving real-world customer problems in retail, Kumar utilizes emerging technologies to help businesses find the best digital strategies and innovative techniques to boost customer experiences, and in turn, company revenue.
In today’s society, customers look for a shopping experience free of obstacles, with convenience as a top priority. Kumar helps founders streamline their purchasing techniques from the point of product discovery to checkout to customer support. The hope is that customers can complete these processes with ease.
“Personally, I believe in progressing as a better leader year after year, with a steep learning curve and enabling my teams to achieve their aspirations,” says Kumar. “Innovation-driven thought leadership in solving real world customer problems is my main goal.”
The current technological revolution we live in has led to an increase in customer demand, instant gratification offered through the purchasing process, efficiency and seamless transaction processes. Businesses turn to professionals like Kumar when they feel the need to improve their customer experiences and product purchasing.
“As a leading global IT services and solutions company, InfoVision offers enterprise digital transformation and modernization solutions across a multitude of business verticals,” says Kumar. “We partner with our clients in driving innovation, rethinking workflows, and transforming experiences so businesses can stay ahead of the curve in a rapidly changing world. We help shape a bold new area or era of technology-led-disruption, accelerating digitization with quality, agility and integrity. We have helped more than 35 global leaders across Telecom, retail, banking, healthcare and technology industries to deliver the utmost excellence for their customers.”
Amidst the incredibly competitive retail environment, businesses that fail to offer a seamless experience risk losing out to companies that promise efficiency. A recent report by the Harvard Business Review revealed that customers who had the best past experiences with a company spent 140% more compared to those who had poorer experiences.
Customers also increasingly use multiple channels to research, compare, and purchase products. Whether physical stores, mobile apps, online websites, or even social media links, customers look to navigate these different approaches and complete the purchasing process with ease. Businesses are encouraged to improve their customer experiences by looking to professionals like Hemanth Kumar, who works to increase innovation-driven product engineering as a form of business optimization.
“Beyond the ease at which products are purchased, with a rapid increase in advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence, machine learning, computer vision and IoT, it’s also important for companies to prioritize data security and privacy,” says Kumar. “It’s important to transparently communicate with customers about security protocols and standards to help create assurance between the buyer and seller.”
Kumar, who hopes to continue working to transform the retail landscape, uses a three-part strategy of modernization, mobilization and revolution. His focus on the use of innovative technologies helps him offer a way for retailers to improve the retail experience for customers. “Emerging technologies can solve some of the critical customer and business problems that we still see everyday. Retailers can utilize AI, for example, to improve the overall customer experience–Artificial Intelligence can solve many existing problems that retailers face when attempting to increase customer loyalty, and I hope to teach others how and where AI plays the most pivotal role in addressing the key retail concerns.”
By using IOT, Computer Vision and AI/ML, Hemanth uses his years of experience within the realm of IT to aid businesses in solving problems and cultivating the best customer experiences. The evolving technologies that surround us seem to coincide with the increased customer demands for convenience and satisfaction, and Hemanth will continue to lead his teams down a road of optimized efficiency through innovation driven product engineering.
