Marketing Realities in the New Environment: Challenges and Opportunities

2. Technological Developments And Changes In Marketplace

The present age is marked with technological developments. The developments are happening fast. The speed of change and the level of technological innovation are incredible (Suvarna, 2020). Technological developments in almost all countries are incredible. The number of mobile phone users in a country like India exceeded 1.18 billion by early 2020 (Narayanan, 2020). Individuals are accessing the internet on their smartphones. The number of smartphones exceeds the number of individuals using them. Internet users are embracing the social media. Individuals come online on social media to connect with others, share their views and opinions, and understand the views and opinions of others. Individuals access social media websites like Facebook, Myspace, LinkedIn, Twitter, and Instagram for various purposes. The number of monthly users accessing Facebook has surpassed 2.4 billion (Verseillié, Laconi, & Chabrol, 2020). The internet is penetrating at a fast rate even in developing countries like Africa. In Africa, more than half of the population access the internet monthly (Nganje, 2020).

Web penetration is taking place rapidly in emerging markets. Individuals are accessing e-commerce websites through their smartphones in such markets. The Boston Consulting Group believes that brand marketers must enhance their ‘digital balance sheets’ (Kiron, Prentice, & Ferguson, 2012). Individuals and marketers have access to all types of information at their fingertips. Massive amounts of data and information are available at a minimum cost. Technology research specialists from Gartner predict that chief marketing officers (CMOs) will spend more time on information technology (IT) than chief information officers (CIOs) (Kiron et al., 2012). Proper understanding and collaboration between CMOs and CIOs are essential to launch new products and services. For example, CMO and CIO of Aetna collaborated successfully to launch iTriage, a popular health app for the iPhone (Hempel, 2012). The app allows users to research aliments, find nearby physicians, and get knowledge about prescribed medicines (Hempel, 2012).