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10/05/2017 15:03
BULLETIN : RESELLERS
Panasonic demonstrates the
future of logistics
In April, Panasonic Business
showcased its future technology at the
Manufacturing Technology Centre (MTC)
in Coventry, inviting over 100 guests from
some of Europe’s largest companies to
experience almost 50 solutions it has
developed for the logistics, utilities and
transportation sectors.
These included:
n
The intelligent warehouse solution
,
which utilises barcode scanning and
security camera technology to track
packages within a logistics hub;
n
Vital sensing technology
, which uses
camera technology to scan the faces of van
and HGV drivers to check their health and
whether the right person is driving;
n
A fleet management system
that
enables dynamic logistics planning based
on parcel number and traffic information;
n
An intelligent security system
based
on age and gender video analytics and
wireless video distribution; and
n
The future of ‘one person train
operation’
, which combines imaging,
transmission and display sub-systems to
provide digital information for driver-only
train operations.
Tony O’Brien, managing director of the
European solutions team at Panasonic
Business, said: “The fact that we had to
close the registrations for the event early
demonstrates the desire within large
organisations to find new, innovative and
efficient working practices.”
Insider...
I’m not a football fan, but out of curiosity I clicked to see how many Instagram
followers he has. The answer is just shy of 100 million. Staggering!
Years ago – other than a major television event – it would have been near impossible to
reach that many people in one moment. The real sensation is the ability for that moment
to happen spontaneously via a mobile device, in real time. It got me thinking about
influence and the massive role social media now plays in our lives.
Clearly, Ronaldo has huge influence and brands will be falling over themselves to get
him to endorse their products or services. He is a global brand, whose massive reach
causes hundreds of millions of mobile devices to buzz each time he posts a status update
on Facebook, Twitter or Instagram. He has the ability to change people’s behaviour or
habits, to make or break an upcoming brand, restaurant or bar.
In the IT sector, we have to accept that people are less inclined to follow us in such
numbers; we’re more functional than emotional, which can mean low relevancy when
engaging with generic audiences.
This is not true, however, for specific customer groups.
With a little focus and investment of time, anyone can use social media to influence
others in their locality, sector or industry. Carving out a niche for yourself as an expert and
raising your profile with people who are interested in your goods or services will ultimately
enhance your reputation and your ability to influence their world.
And remember, it’s not necessarily all about the numbers.
Driving follower numbers is one thing, driving influence is quite another. It’s the
difference between having your key message delivered by a billboard at the side of road,
with potentially huge wastage, or via a vertical magazine with an engaged audience
subscribing specifically to keep their knowledge high. Two platforms doing different things
for different audiences.
Building your follower base is something you need to develop over time, by focusing
on common areas of interest. I’ve seen so many businesses get it wrong by setting a KPI
called ‘number of followers’ rather than ‘follower reach’. An easy mistake to make.
If you can build a community of engaged followers, they will do a lot of your work
for you by talking about you with others and increasing your reach organically. We had
an example recently where a LinkedIn post on our apprentice programmes was seen by
60,000 people in 48 hours, many of them our existing customers and prospects, and all
in the B2B sector.
If you do decide to go social, think quality to build your business reputation, then
quantity to build your brand equity. Quality of content first, then quality of follower. From
there, you’ll build a great audience engaged in what you’re doing and a firm foundation for
growth in the mid-term.
See you out there.
Phil Jones MBE
,
Managing Director,
Brother UK •
The other day, I got
a recommendation
on Instagram to
follow Madrid striker
Cristiano Ronaldo.
