Although it is impossible to list all popular trends in the area of marketing especially social media marketing but the trend of ‘gamification’ needs special attention. Gamification can be defined as a concept wherein designs used in gaming are applied to other areas. In context to marketing, by gamification we refer to the use of gaming designs in marketing campaigns so that they appear interesting and interactive too. Top notch organizations such as Apple, TCS, Sapient India, and Nike are using gamification for long and now even small enterprises are also adopting this concept.

An interesting fact regarding gamification is it is not only used for marketing products & services but in other domains as well.  For instance, this concept can be used for internal communication in companies so that employees listen to it carefully without losing their focus. Researchers have estimated that gamification has a great future ahead and more than 50 percent of organizations are going to gamify their processes by the end of 2015.

Today, digital media is much more than advertising on television and radio. Leading organizations such as Coke, Sapient, Intel, Google, and HCL are employing Internet extensively for engaging potential customers from every nook and corner of the world. Along with it, media such as email, SMS, mobile applications, and tablets are also used by organizations for spreading a word about their products and services amongst patrons.

Apart from categorizing digital marketing campaigns on the basis of media used, one can also divide them into – pull digital marketing and push digital marketing. In the former, it is the client only who pulls information and details about the organization using digital media. The customer using sources such as website, blogs, and forums fetches information about a particular service provider by making efforts on his own. On the contrary, when the advertiser pushes content to the customers through Email, SMS, and newsletters then it is called push digital marketing. Here the service provider is sending information to the customer and the customer is responding by receiving and even acknowledging the same.

The choice of the marketing method depends on various factors and it should be decided after a thorough analysis of pros and cons of each one of them. Sapient India is one such firm who always comes up with innovative strategies to utilize digital marketing to the fullest.

Under rural marketing, all the strategies and activities are designed to target people living in the rural area. The products and services marketed under this form of marketing are released keeping in mind the needs and requirements of people living in such areas only. Along with manufacturing products for rural population, the manufacturers must adopt suitable marketing strategies to carve a niche in the rural market.

Adequacy of the product for the people is the first point to be considered while planning activities for rural marketing. The rural population is generally not aware of the developments taking place in the urbanized places and thus has a very constricted mindset. To ensure that the new product is welcomed by masses, companies have to customize the product accordingly.

Money is a constraint for almost every person living in rural areas and companies must keep the factor of affordability in mind while producing customized products. To keep the retail price of the product/service minimum, organizations bank upon low price strategies extensively. Now, once the product and price is ready, it is time to spread awareness about the product. Choosing the right media for making people aware of your product is another milestone and it should be done thoughtfully. Some of the media useful in spreading a word about the products in rural market include radio, street plays, TV and last but not the least – word of mouth.

Cloud computing during its stage of infancy was launched in the form of a public cloud, where computing was delivered as a service (rather than a product) through Internet. However, today, IT professionals have structured different types of cloud computing models – public cloud, community cloud, hybrid cloud, private cloud and intercloud. The availability of all these types of cloud computing models ensures that enterprises do not have to compromise with their needs and requirements.

Out of all these cloud computing models, enterprises have a preference for private clouds. Unlike public clouds, private clouds are owned by a single enterprise and contain the data for that organization only. Leading IT enterprises such as IBM, HP, and Sapient have already deployed public clouds for their operations and many more would toe the line soon. Though speckled benefits are associated with the use of private clouds but protection against security breaches always remain at the top. Private cloud is owned by a single organization only and thus the information is not shared with others in anyway. By setting up private clouds, organizations can cut down on expenses on infrastructure and put it in use for other tasks.

It is true that the debate over the superiority of public and private clouds is on but enterprises can easily choose the model type best suitable to the requirements. Cloud computing is an emerging technology and it is expected to grow exponentially in the coming years.

In almost every organization, employees are engaged in a variety of activities that break the monotony of daily routine and freshen up their minds. Some of the activities like excursions, celebrating festivals, get-togethers and a few others are common to each organization and can be found anywhere easily. However, a few activities and trends are unique to each organization so that the employees feel out of the ordinary. Definitely, I have seen speckled trends in IT organizations but one that took away all my attention is “white-boarding” at Sapient.

If you get a chance to visit the premises of Sapient anywhere in the world, you can find whiteboards here and there. Definitely, whiteboards are found commonly in other organizations as well but their number in Sapient India is quite astonishing. The reason behind including so many whiteboards is people use these boards to express their feelings along with tracing details of their projects and daily schedules. The employees are actually seen drawing faces on the board reflecting their mood for the day. It helps the members of a team to find out how everyone is doing. With such a trend, it is easier for team-mates to get along well with each other.

Individuals who become a part of Sapient India are trained in varied areas that so that it is easier for them to adapt to the culture of the organization. And during the training you would be told how to use a whiteboard (unlike any other organization). I really found the culture at Sapient interesting and unconventional. All efforts are made to ensure that everyone gets time to enjoy life along with working relentlessly to achieve set goals. The work culture at this organization is nonpareil but I see them working harder to find the best for their employees (just the way they work for their clients).

Neha Jain
Senior Associate Hiring at Sapient
Gurgaon, India
Human Resources
Current
• Senior Associate Hiring at Sapient
Past
• Associate Hiring at Sapient
• Senior Associate at Longhouse Consulting
• Research Associate at Executive Access India
Education
• Amity Business School
• Guru Gobind Singh Indraprastha University
• Manav Sthali School

Vishwa Sharan
Web Analytics at Sapient Corporation
Greater New York City Area
Information Technology and Services
Current
• Web Analytics at Sapient Corporation
Past
• Project Manager at Sapient Corporation
• Consultant at Oracle Financial Services Software Limited
• Project Manager at TCS
Education
• The University of British Columbia
• National Institute of Technology, Jamshedpur
• Delhi Public School, Bokaro
Recommendations
• 4 people have recommended Vishwa
Connections
• 405 connections

The reason why these firms has headed towards social networking sites is not one but many. It has been seen that world’s leading organizations such as IBM, Sapient, TCS and a few more find it easier to communicate through social media in contrast to mails. For instance, a message to be circulated to the entire workforce can be posted once easily rather than sending individual mails to every employee

Social networking sites not only help in improving the communication between employees within the company but it acts as a great platform for finding new employees. Most of the companies, nowadays, post job openings on their profiles on sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter that fetches early responses saving great amount of time.

Keeping in mind the growing popularity of social media among companies, LinkedIn recently launched a new service called Company Groups. Basically, these groups can act as forums for individual companies where employees can discuss on varied issues amongst themselves without any intervention from outside world.

Apart from availing these benefits, companies are endlessly exploring newer avenues for using social networking sites optimally.