So who are the over 1 billion people who will move out of subsistence poverty by the year 2020? How do companies establish a dialogue with them, and how do they serve these consumers? Marketers have a heck of a challenge in front of them. The good news is that with increasing access to mobile phones and the Internet, this new group is generating data that were previously overlooked or simply not available. And by working to unlock the insights that these data bring, smart organizations will uncover new ways to reach the next generation of consumers.
What is making this possible? Several factors. Greater access to the Internet, cloud computing, social technologies and access to mobile phones have brought about new levels of economic opportunity for the next billion. Mobility is enabling entrepreneurs and students from India to China and Mexico to Ghana to become both consumers and creators. Through their preferences and tastes, the next billion will shape how companies and organizations, in turn, serve them as consumers.
Companies, startups, and even governments are realizing that diversity is crucial to staying competitive. Unorthodox thinking is prevailing in partnerships between people who create value by working more effectively with others than they do alone. And it's that ability to work across teams and with people who are different from you that is so essential: diversity is the key!
If only more organizations tapped into the collective intelligence and experience of tomorrow's diverse worker: women, people of color, the LGBT community, and people with various socioeconomic, national, and linguistic backgrounds. Those who are doing this are gaining an early start on innovation trends – their diverse workforce, armed with diverse viewpoints and experiences, as well as with the right technology, can make sense of the data generated by the next billion in more nuanced ways. The organization, then, begins to look, feel, and speak the language of the very market segments it is trying to serve: the next billion.
This post was co-written by Pablo Quintanilla, Senior Policy Analyst, & Adjetey Clarence Lassey, Business Development Representative at salesforce.com.