Importance of Digital Presence

In this Readers’ Platform, your author shares his views on the growing digital presence in the elevator industry, highlighting its significance in the financial growth of the company.

Significance of Digital Presence

Increasingly, businesses are opting to advertise on digital platforms instead of print media and television. Nowadays, almost all companies, industries, products and services, irrespective of government or private sector, are available on digital platforms. The pandemic has also encouraged all industries to adopt digital platforms.

Digitalization is no longer a technical concept; it has become part of our day-to-day life. The elevator industry has also geared up to meet this business trend and has created a good presence on digital platforms. Every elevator company, small or big, domestic or multinational, has created its digital space. This includes website design, online presentation, product display and customer interaction. One can now view elevator breakdown, call-back status and browse various elevators and their features at the touch of a button. The latest systems for checking elevator health, predictive maintenance, predictive electrical and mechanical failures are the new tools for elevator services. A company’s digital presence depends upon how effectively and efficiently the company presents itself before its target audience, users and customers.

The customer is now eager to know more technical/commercial details about a company’s products, services, organizational strength and, hence, this data should be available on digital platforms for comparison with other manufacturers in the market.

As an elevator consultant and auditor, networking and staying active on digital channels has been crucial. This has enabled my business to grow since people are aware of my experience and audit my services beforehand. I will share a recent interaction with a potential client: During my visit to one of the audit sites in Mumbai, I introduced myself, and to my surprise, the client recognized me and was aware of my credentials. The potential client was satisfied with my work and discussed their problems at our first meeting. This is the wonder of a digital presence and, hence, it is crucial in helping businesses reach their target audience.

Capturing the Digital Space

A company’s growth is directly related to its effective presence in the digital world. The financial growth of digital platforms in the last few years gives an idea of how companies have used digital platforms to grow. Digital business is growing rapidly in India. In 2020, the Indian digital business was around US$46.2 billion, which is expected to touch US$111.40 billion by 2025. As a result, India ranked third after France and Canada in digital business.

The future success mantra is, “The effective presence of your business/product/services on a digital platform is the best path for your company’s growth.”

If the elevator industry wants to be more customer-friendly and transparent, companies should consider providing the following information on digital platforms:

• The complaint status of the elevator breakdown
• The history of the breakdown elevator
• Material consumption in the last few years
• Major breakdown/shutdown and downtime in previous years

This will help customers understand your service standard and compare it with standard norms.

Until now, we were confined to the service setup only, but now the elevator is making its space in the digital world. The customer is now eager to know more technical/commercial details about a company’s products, services, organizational strength and, hence, this data should be available on digital platforms for comparison with other manufacturers in the market.

This also creates a demand for information on digital platforms, such as:

• Technical data
• Safety features
• Performance on various aspects, such as travel comfort, energy consumption and predictive fault detection
• Price comparison
• Life-cycle comparison
• Maintenance cost comparison
• Organization strength

The latest digital launch of Gen2 Prime by Otis and KONE DX Class are some of the upcoming digital business modules introduced by top elevator brands.

The industry needs to provide buyers with required information in digital form so they can check, evaluate and choose what is best for them. In today’s digital world, the fittest and smartest will thrive.