India is a land of games. It gave the world games like chess, polo, snakes and ladders and many other global games. So it should come as no surprise that the country is again taking the lead in Asia when it comes to business gamification. India is also one of the up and coming countries in business gamification. While some countries struggling to understand what gamification means and how to apply it, India has already connected gamification and the drivers of productivity in the business world.
Many of the hindrances of a company’s productivity, like employee and consumer engagement, employee training, and customer relationship management, can all be gamified to benefit the business. And indeed, they are being gamified in India. Companies in India have understood that just like games, business is about the individuals, be it the employees or customers. Getting the right motivation and engagement is based on how much you appeal to the Octalysis Core Drives of human behavior, regardless of whether it is a game or a business.
Let’s explore the different ways that business gamification is being applied around the world and investigate what it is about India that makes it so primed for Gamification services by The Octalysis Group.
What is gamification in business?
Gamification in business refers to using game mechanics (human-focused design) to achieve business goals. Games are designed to be highly engaging and intrinsically rewarding. They appeal to many of our Core Drives. In the same vein, gamification uses that motivational push to achieve business objectives.
Two main applications of gamification in business are;
· Employee Gamification
· Customer Gamification
Because gamification refers to favoring human motivation over function in the design process, it makes sense that the two applications of gamification in business focus on two of the business’s significant drivers or revenue: employees and customers. Increasing employee and consumer engagement with a business go a long way towards achieving business goals like increasing productivity, employee efficiency, customer retention, satisfaction and ultimately, business profitability. Let us explore some examples of how businesses apply employee and customer gamification in their day-to-day processes.
Employee Gamification
Employee gamification has taken off around the world. As a result, companies work day and night to improve employee engagement, retention and job satisfaction. With gamification, you can make employee training more engaging and reinvigorate business activities like sales, Human Resource Management, and marketing. All of these are crucial for business success.
Here are some examples of how employee gamification has been applied:
1. Gamification in Sales
One cannot talk about gamification in business sales without talking about Navo Orbico. Navo Orbico approached the Octalysis Group to help gamify the company’s sales process to make it more productive. The company wanted an innovative way to drive up its sales team’s engagement and work satisfaction.
The Octalysis Group was able to design a gamification solution for Navo Orbico, which seamlessly integrated with the company’s CRM to improve the workflow. As a result, management at Navo Orbico experienced an immediate improvement in several sales processes like getting real-time feedback on task execution, enhanced sharing of ideas and best practices which all resulted in improved sales.
As a result of the gamification solution designed by The Octalysis Group, Navo Orbico recorded a 28.6% increase in sales and the activity KPIs were up by 60%. In addition, the participation rate of sales team members in the new solution was a record 99.5% which was only because one of the employees was on maternity leave.
It is safe to say that the gamification project at Navo Orbico was a resounding success as it helped Navo Orbico exceed all the expectations of its sales team. This highly successful project won a major Gamification Award for its lasting and deep Return on Investment.
2. Gamification in safety training
A lot has been said about gamification’s ability to improve employee training in the workplace. With gamification, workplace training has become more engaging and meaningful for employees, especially when developing skills for their jobs. However, one company has recently shown that gamification is not just effective in job training but also in employee safety training.
A
peram, a subsidiary of Arcelor Mittal, reached out to us in 2017 to help them solve the problem of making safety training programs effective and engaging for their employees. The main issues that the industry faced included;
- Sessions were time-consuming and cost-ineffective;
- The engagement with the content was low;
- There was no integration with workflow;
- There was no cross-department interaction on workplace safety.
Our solution to the problem was a gamification app called SAFE app. It leveraged some of the 8 Core Drives like Development and Accomplishment (Core Drive 2), Empowerment of Creativity and Feedback (Core Drive 3) and Social Influence and Relatedness (Core Drive 5) to increase employee engagement with safety materials and retention. The target was to increase engagement with safety materials and to bring accidents dramatically down.
The SAFE app was launched in 2019, and it received a glowing reception from employees who couldn’t wait to download it and play with their coworkers.
Customer Gamification
Another major application of gamification in business is customer gamification. Gamification can improve customers’ journey to purchasing your products which can increase customer retention and brand loyalty. Some of the applications of customer gamification include;
1. Loyalty Programs
As mentioned above, customer gamification can be used to increase brand loyalty. However, no brand has executed this quite as elegantly as the VW Group.
The Octalysis Group teamed up with the VW Group to create Boneo, the world’s first gamified rewards program. The challenge was fairly straightforward. Build a non-linear rewards program that encourages engagement and loyalty through gamification with inbuilt activities, challenges and rewards.
Users of Boneo can have fun while driving their cars. In addition, they can carry out quests on the app, conquer territory and team up with other users to extend their reach and community.
In addition to the above, users of Boneo also earn points for simply driving their cars. Points can be redeemed for meaningful services like a free service at a VW service bay, free car cleaning and even tickets to see your favorite band live in concert. The rewards are endless.
With Boneo, owning a VW car can be a fun and engaging experience, like playing your favorite video game. Furthermore, cars are transitioning to marketplaces for daily sales rather than single contact items that don’t generate revenues over time.
Due to the financial impacts of COVID on the car industry, the Boneo program had to be paused but we are looking forward to it being rolled out across the globe.
2. User Journeys
Many businesses lose customers due to their complicated and tedious user journeys. With business gamification, your customer journey can increase engagement with your brand and loyalty. Take Microsoft Edge as an example.
The Microsoft Edge Browser has been purposely built to drive up learning, retention and engagement for learners directly on the browser. This has been done by curating a user journey for learners that makes them want to accomplish the next task and reach the next level.
Edge will impact the educational journeys of approximately 800 million learners around the world.
Why is the Octalysis Framework popular in India?
After a careful investigation of the gamification industry in India, we have found several reasons that could explain why India is more inclined to follow the Octalysis Framework and deliver effective gamification in business. Here are some of the main reasons we found for the popularity of the Octalysis Framework and, indeed, gamification in India.
1. Growing middle class
India’s middle class is on the rise. If the trend continues, India will have over 400 million people in the middle class by 2025, approximately 41% of the expected population. Such a sizable middle class means more disposable income and time for leisure and consumption.
This means that the consumers’ tastes and preferences are expected to move to focus on individual needs, opportunities for engagement and enjoyment instead of function. This makes India well situated for the era of gamification.
2. Young Populations
India has a young population, with an average age of 28 years. Over 93% of the country is below the age of 65, with a quarter of the population between 0 and 14.
Such a low average age favors gamification since most young people like to play video games and have a firm grasp of game mechanics and motivators. This population is already primed for gamification. As many of them take over the workplace in India, we can expect their proclivity towards gaming to follow them since that is the best way to motivate and engage them.
3. High Interest in Cryptocurrencies and Metaverses
Unlike some countries that have elected to ban metaverse technologies and blockchain, the Indian government has chosen a more sensible path. India opted to understand the industry to regulate and tax it rather than ban it. This has created a keen interest in these technologies, unmatched by any other emerging economy.
This interest in these Web 3 technologies has given India the upper hand in integrating with gamification in other sectors. Indian businesses have experienced first-hand the benefits of gamification and incorporated them into their day-to-day business processes.
4. Tech and Innovation Friendly Government Policies
Over the past two decades, the Indian government has formulated its policies to enhance the development of technology and innovation in the country. This was done to keep up with the global tech economy and create employment to lift the masses out of poverty.
These policy reforms were applied specifically to education and employment, with an emphasis on developing local technological solutions to bridge the gap between the wealthy and the poor. These policies have mostly been effective as Indian tech, and indeed Indian developers are in high demand around the world.
One of the consequences of this is a population ready for integration with technology on all levels as long as it has proven utility. This is why Indians have found it easier to adopt technology like gamification, AI, blockchain and many more.
5. Inherent Gaming Cultures
Games and sports occupy a sacred place in Indian culture. India spends far more on its sports like Cricket and Kabadi than other emerging economies. Games in India are as old as civilization itself, with many popular games in the world having been invented there.
Games like chess, badminton, polo, kabaddi, snakes and ladders and many others can all trace their origins back to India. Even card games are believed to have originated in India.
With such a perspective of games and sports as one of the building blocks of Indian society and culture, it is no surprise that they have taken to gamification faster than most other cultures. It is how they are socialized to look at the world, assess each other’s abilities and create communities.
Are you interested in integrating business gamification tools with your company’s day-to-day operations? Contact us today for a complimentary consultation.
