Delivering A Stand-Out Experience With Your Tech Product Begins With A Commitment To Your Customer Technology is shaping trends, driving change, revolutionizing every corner of business– and being able to leverage this shift is, in our own experience, the key to taking any startup global in the digital era.
By Amine Housni
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
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Whatever you have to do today, chances are you can do at least part of it through your smartphone. Need to order groceries? There's an app for that. Car broken down, and you need a quick replacement while it's getting fixed? Use an app for by-the-minute rentals. Want to book a holiday? You'll find plenty of apps for that too. Technology startups are not only disrupting, but improving, the way we interact with the world.
Mobile-first is one of the most bankable means of achieving growth in today's innovation-fueled world. Across every aspect of their lives, people today expect products and services to be available as, when, and even how they want them. The growth of this sector is driven by apps promoting car-sharing, such as Udrive, or couture rental such as Rent-the-Runway, and many more, which focus on delivering experiences, rather than ownership.
Real estate tech companies are jumping aboard the experience-driven, innovation-led consumer trend to grow business on a global scale. Tech-enabled startups have the capacity to tackle industry pain points, such as filling out paperwork, meeting the landlord and signing the contract in person. They are revolutionizing the real estate sector by leveraging technology to develop large, readily accessible platforms and enhance renters' experiences.
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New wave brokerages are modernizing renters' experience with the help of technology. Short-term rental marketplaces are continuously improving their own corner of the industry. Virtual property tours, as adopted by several real estate companies both in the region and further afield, make things even more open and accessible as prospective renters and buyers alike are able to experience a property that they may not otherwise be able to access. Around the world, co-living and roommate matching apps are contributing to the rental experience.
My company, Blueground, for example, provides furnished, move-in ready apartments for 30 days and longer stays; its online property listing services provide greater transparency in terms of availabilities, while being able to see the property makes decision-making easier. The company aims to create a tech-enabled living experience, and offers live availability and prices across its portfolio of more than 1,700 apartments in three continents and nine cities around the world. An optimized website, through which all information is available online alongside the ability to instantly book a desired property, gives all guests, regardless of where they might be, the opportunity to book the ideal apartment, pay the due rent, and sign a contract through a zero-hassle process. Once the online reservation is made, guests have access to on-ground support and information through the Blueground app, and they can get on-demand services such as housekeeping, maintenance, or even modify their stay by moving to another apartment in a new neighborhood or city under the same service agreement. The overall experience makes it easy for renters to turn up and simply start living, without having to worry about the little things.
This is the level of experience expected in today's convenience-keen society. Technology is shaping trends, driving change, revolutionizing every corner of business– and being able to leverage this shift is, in our own experience, the key to taking any startup global in the digital era. At Blueground, we've found that delivering a stand-out, seamless, mobile-first experience requires adhering to a combination of values across our business. Here are a few of them:
1. Time is everything. We focus on creating a product and working environment that treats everyone's time with the utmost respect, which means acting with urgency. Being fast and decisive in your actions to get things done gives people their time back, and means less –or no– time wasted finding a solution.
2. Excellence as a way of life. We believe excellence is our epic journey, a guiding light for where we want to take our product, relationships, and the quality of our work. You're never done with being better, and accepting this perception is essential to continued growth and development. Consider the Blueground approach towards achieving excellence: experiment, fail, learn, succeed, refine, execute. Where we are is important, but where we're headed matters even more.
3. Be caring. We care deeply about our clients, because without them, our guests and property owners/managers wouldn't be here. Invest your time in creating a product that people love by learning what they want, and exceeding their expectations. This is what we strive to do, and we work hard every day to earn our clients' trust and respect.
4. Transparency makes everything easier. Being transparent can be hard at first, but it is extremely rewarding to people and organizations in the long-run. It fosters a culture in which everyone is a lifelong learner willing to take risks, to openly learn from successes and failures, and to share their accumulated knowledge and wisdom. Transparency means creating a fair, honest, rewarding, and time-saving approach to communication, cultivating meaningful relationships, and building trust.
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