Support and products with 24/7 availability, those that are paid only when used, and delivered through technology, are the evolution of the service. What was an added value, is imposed as a rule in a world in which hours and spaces 100% for the office, study, family or rest are the past.
How to cross an offer with a demand in which it is not known when or where the clients will appear?
With technology, that is the answer. If we have learned anything from the Covid-19 crisis, it is that time and space are relative, and they reinvent themselves from one day to the next.
While the house is the new world where families, children, the boss, work colleagues and leisure come together, and all at the wrong time – outside of traditional schedules – consumer demands go beyond all rules and have a new imperative: real, permanent, immediate, total availability.
An element is added to this trend, economic availability, while a few months ago, at the beginning of the confinement, customers perceived on-demand products and services as an added value for which they were willing to pay more, today the reality at home is another, since you study with modular and virtual programs at any time, you receive food and other products at home in minutes, personalized and scheduled transportation, all at low prices.
The on-demand formula passed the test, although not all sectors or companies that used it did. Uber stopped operating in Colombia and laid off nearly 4,000 employees. Airbnb will decrease its annual income by more than 50% and suspend 2,000 contracts. However, Rappi is the protagonist in the streets, it makes deliveries with robots , it is a great job shelter for people who have lost their jobs, it collapsed due to the great demand on Mother’s Day and categories such as pets, technology, solidarity menus, home, sports, books, virtual education, medical and vaccine services, and even the Wyls service, to rent vehicles for short trips.
Large couriers such as DHL also offer On-demand home package delivery services from mobile applications at no additional cost.
However, the apps that connect supply and demand will not be enough and it is time to join efforts between companies to create their own platforms and distribution centers that allow them to respond with technology-based on-demand service.
From On-line education to On-demand
According to the World Economic Forum, there are 1.2 billion children in the world in 186 countries affected by the closure of schools due to the pandemic . Online education was the salvation but it was an improvised process, without reliable internet access, without teacher preparation and with analogous digital learning methodologies. However, the changes initiated by the coronavirus could be here to stay as online education takes less time, is more democratic, flexible, provides greater reach and allows students to be self-taught. The digital education market is projected to reach $350 billion by 2025 , according to ResearchAndMarkets.
In order to respond adequately to the needs of education, thematic courses are required on demand, accessible outside of a formal education program, at any time, with augmented reality, gamification, chat groups, online meetings and other technologies , tools and methodologies that go beyond replicating a physical class-conference on video. Education should be like everything else in young people’s lives, an on-demand service , concluded the World Economic Forum’s Leaders with Vision, Annual Meeting of the Champions.
The on-demand industry has three components: providers, technology companies, and consumers. Technology acts as an intermediary between consumers and providers, the conditions are ripe to make tailor-made developments at the service of sectors that seem to benefit from the crisis such as food, medical services and telemedicine, messaging, entertainment and education .
2 on-demand services to keep track of them
Volvo On-demand , digital vehicle reservation for short journeys or months with availability of 500 km per day and 24-hour roadside assistance.
On-demand Moovit by Intel, less than 15 days ago, the technology giant Intel bought Moovit for 900 million dollars, a move in times of uncertainty with a clear focus: bet on the autonomous or robotic driving business using the databases Moovit data that provides information on public transport and will now allow booking and access to autonomous transport such as metro feeder routes, trams and interconnected bus systems.
