The Art of Comprehending

“Most readers come away from their reading not with a clear, precise, detailed registration of its contents on their minds, but rather with a vague, misty idea which was formed as much by the pace, the proportions, the music of the writings as by the literal words themselves.” - Bill Bernbach

The Rearview Mirror

Trying not to glance at the Rearview mirror. While the snow flakes makes love to the windscreen, the wiper swipes it clean. Snowdust covered roads welcomes me to tomorrow. I smile at the comfortable cruising sounds of a well fed motor. It is humming a quiet tune and serenades the new peace that I found. Happy that the journey is a joy once more and I don’t need to look at the Rearview mirror again. Rejoicing the here and now, and killing my fear of past deeds done. Ready to Welcome tomorrow.

Moving on

Try as I might to erase, it’s an exercise in futility. Run as I might from the chaos, it echoes within. Its never easy as they might seem to suggest. It’s not all gone with a wink and a wave. It resides in your entrails and squeezes the life out of your blue black lungs. I tried so much in vain, to sail smoothly in the sea of forgiveness. Gently flapping my wings of goodwill in the skies of violet bygones. Again it’s not easy as it seems. I might tune in to a higher frequency of a cosmic transmitter. And take baby steps on learning to forget and forgive. But I have been told that these higher and noble principles take time. It takes time for them to grow and take root in your soul. Perhaps not in this lifetime. Perhaps never. But as it is said, try to do a noble deed and see how quickly it forms a habit. As I continue in the search of this higher call, I am forced to cogitate on the folly of my ways.

The Fashionistas

Screaming posters announce the arrival of the new collection, Of the oncoming spring, of the exaggerated exuberance and frivolity. Itchy fingers with packed wallets, dazzled eyes with greedy faces, Drop their tattered Cards at the counter. The season of being talk-of-the-town has arrived. Who else is ready for fawning attention and looks of envious admiration? Do you know that innocent lambs are slaughtered for the shawls and scarves? Do you think I care? I am busy with planning my calendar of cocktail parties for the spring season. Discounts and rebates are for the fringes of the society, for the untutored. The trends of Paris will storm the town and guess who will be toast of the Effiel? The collections are sublime, I hear. The cut and fit exquisite. The prices, well talk to my assistant about the bills. The World where Fantasy and Fashion are soul sisters. Is too much to expect a reality check here? Seasons come and Seasons go…Spring gives way to the Summer collection. By the way the Winter collection was a complete let down. But the cocktail parties and the shoot sessions among the snow was the highlight of the season. We believe in the form and not the content. The sizzle and not the steak. Wait for the opening night of the Spring season. I will sizzle in all my splendor and form.

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I was screaming into the canyon At the moment of my death The echo I created Outlasted my last breath My voice it made an avalanche And buried a man I never knew And when he died his widowed bride Met your daddy and they made you I have only one thing to do and that's Be the wave that I am and then Sink back into the ocean I have only one thing to do and that's Be the wave that I am and then Sink back into the ocean I have only one thing to do and that's Be the wave that I am and then Sink back into the ocean

Are you being served?

What customers want and what businesses think they want are often two different things. Here’s what customers are looking for. Anyone who has gotten an unsolicited and irrelevant offer related to something they’ve done online knows that creepy feeling that someone is watching me. This kind of reaction is the third rail of today’s drive to personalize interactions with customers. To better understand what customers really value, we asked 60 shoppers to create mobile diaries of their personalized interactions with various brands over two weeks. With over 2,000 entries in total, we were able to see what kind of personalized communication works for customers and what doesn’t. 1. Give me relevant recommendations I wouldn’t have thought of myself. 2. Talk to me when I’m in shopping mode. 3. Remind me of things I want to know but might not be keeping track of. 4. Know me no matter where I interact with you. 5. Share the value in a way that’s meaningful to me.

Picture This

Welcome to the future of insurance, as seen through the eyes of Srikanth, a customer in the year 2030. His digital personal assistant orders him an autonomous vehicle for a meeting across town. Upon hopping into the arriving car, Srikanth decides he wants to drive today and moves the car into “active” mode. Srikanth’s personal assistant maps out a potential route and shares it with his mobility insurer, which immediately responds with an alternate route that has a much lower likelihood of accidents and auto damage as well as the calculated adjustment to his monthly premium. Srikanth’s assistant notifies him that his mobility insurance premium will increase by 4 to 8 percent based on the route he selects and the volume and distribution of other cars on the road. It also alerts him that his life insurance policy, which is now priced on a “pay-as-you-live” basis, will increase by 2 percent for this quarter. The additional amounts are automatically debited from his bank account. When Srikanth pulls into his destination’s parking lot, his car bumps into one of several parking signs. As soon as the car stops moving, its internal diagnostics determine the extent of the damage. His personal assistant instructs him to take three pictures of the front right bumper area and two of the surroundings. By the time Srikanth gets back to the driver’s seat, the screen on the dash informs him of the damage, confirms the claim has been approved, and that a mobile response drone has been dispatched to the lot for inspection. If the vehicle is drivable, it may be directed to the nearest in-network garage for repair after a replacement vehicle arrives. While this scenario may seem beyond the horizon, such integrated user stories will emerge across all lines of insurance with increasing frequency over the next decade. In fact, all the technologies required above already exist, and many are available to consumers. With the new wave of deep learning techniques, such as convolutional neural networks,1artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to live up to its promise of mimicking the perception, reasoning, learning, and problem solving of the human mind. In this evolution, insurance will shift from its current state of “detect and repair” to “predict and prevent,” transforming every aspect of the industry in the process. The pace of change will also accelerate as brokers, consumers, financial intermediaries, insurers, and suppliers become more adept at using advanced technologies to enhance decision making and productivity, lower costs, and optimize the customer experience.