Digital Market Asia: Cognizant’s Assistant Vice President of Information, Media and Entertainment Analyzes the Content Ecosystem of the New Digital Era

“Today’s increasingly connected world has introduced a slew of new digital media platforms, each jostling for the attention of “digital-native” consumers. This has put immense pressure on content providers to redefine their value chains,” writes Ashish Chawla. “In fact, by 2020, the information, media and entertainment (IME) industry will see even greater shifts as content providers align their business with today’s “digital first” imperative. Yet, many companies are unsure what true transformation requires—in terms of culture, process and technology—and where to begin.” Excerpts:

“The key is to ‘be’ digital, not just ‘do’ digital. Businesses will need to learn how to leverage customers’ digital footprints to draw more insights, improve consumer experiences, and enrich learning.

To keep audiences constantly engaged, news and information services providers must always seek to enhance the content they gather, organize, and publish. This can be best done through big data. For instance, news outlets can leverage analytics to find out which news gets the most clicks and which news sparks the most discussions.

Maintaining customer stickiness is a function of the channel that delivers enhanced end-user experience. Understandably, many players exploring ways to launch their own streaming environments (think HBO GO and Showtime Anytime) and through mergers with service providers.

This trend is expected to continue, even as technology giants such as Apple put more pressure on content creators to allow them use their platforms. That said, entertainment companies will continue to rely on third-party platforms like Netflix, Hulu, YouTube and Facebook to deliver their content.

We expect educational content providers to shift from providing specific output to the learner (educational content, testing, certification, degree) to helping them achieve their desired educational outcome, such as gaining expertise in a particular field, or taking a step into the career of their choice. This means educational providers will need to engage with learners across the learning cycle and intervene at the right time, through the right channel.

There is limitless potential for these institutions to leverage digital technologies. Educational content providers can employ predictive analytics to understand behavior and therefore personalize financial aid and scholarship options; create lessons, labs, assessments and expert interventions throughout college, based on the platform and learning mechanism of choice; offer individually tailored recommendations for additional courses or certifications; and match skillsets required by hiring firms to a candidate’s aptitude and knowledge.

Businesses need to continuously adapt because what was a differentiator for IME companies yesterday could very well be a commodity today. The only way to survive is to continuously re-evaluate organizational strategies and tune content ecosystems accordingly.”

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