The beloved Christmas and New Year holidays are just around the corner, and already the online stores do not stop offering us various promotions and interesting products, which of course we cannot pass by indifferently. But how do we know what we need and which is the perfect choice for us? What to order from the online store whose ad we came across on Facebook? Yes, every one of us has thought this… Clothes, makeup, home products, appliances… A bit of everything. But the truth is that during this time of the year, driven by the holiday euphoria in our home, there is always at least one or a few extra purchases we have made. And in order not to “throw our money to the wind”, but to shop rationally and according to our needs and abilities, it is good to have a helper at our side. Be it mom, friend, sister or… Chatbot.

Do Internet users trust artificial intelligence when placing orders online?
According to research by Storyblok, a specialist in content management systems (CMS), there is a serious disconnect between what brands think consumers want and what they really need when shopping online.

Despite the euphoria around ChatGPT, a global survey of 1,000 consumers reveals that 85% of them are not interested in using artificial intelligence to help them make purchasing decisions. Furthermore, if offered an AI recommendation, 60% said it would not make them buy something and 17% said it would actually make them less likely to make a purchase.

In contrast, another global survey of 500 senior marketers reveals that 64% of them report regularly turning to AI to help create digital content, while only 11% say they have never used it.

When asked which is a brand’s most important marketing channel, the majority of consumers (43%) said a brand’s website is more valuable than its mobile app (34%) or social media accounts (16%). 70% of consumers also say they primarily use a smartphone for online shopping, highlighting the need for brands to offer mobile-optimized web experiences.

“It’s easy for brands to fall into the trap of chasing the latest trends instead of giving people what they actually want. As these survey results show, consumers have authentic content and useful websites on their wish list this holiday season”, said Dominik Angerer, CEO and co-founder of Storyblok.

Interestingly, previous Storyblok research has shown that businesses continue to underestimate the importance of their website, with only 28% citing improving website design as a priority and only 36% saying they would add more features. This is despite the fact that 60% of consumers regularly abandon purchases due to poor website user experience, and businesses estimate that this costs an average of US$72,000 in lost sales per year. Significantly, 48% of businesses also admit to being ashamed of their website.

The current survey also reveals that influencers are not as influential as they used to be. 57% of consumers say that the endorsement of a celebrity or influencer would not make them purchase a product, and 24% say it would make them less likely to purchase it.

At the same time, it turns out that creating trending content is one of the most effective ways to build trust. 90% of consumers say content created by brands is important in shaping their perception of brands and their products. Only 5% say they are more likely to buy new brands instead of brands they trust.

The startup owns the ‘Little Laureates’ brand, under which it runs pre-schools across Eastern India. Tamal Mukherjee, the CEO of Nalanda Learning Systems said:

“We have raised Rs 40 crore from Aavishkaar Capital to fund our drive to expand nationally using digital content. The pandemic has reshaped the education market. While it has accelerated the adoption of education technologies, the benefits have been limited to a small section of the society.”

According to Mukherjee, Nalanda intends to not only ensure sustained learning and development outcomes for children, but also enable the pre-schooling industry to revive and upskill, and provide comprehensive, contemporary and early learning programmes. Ajay Maniar, partner at Aavishkaar Capital added:

“We are extremely excited to continue partnering with Nalanda as it expands its high-quality pedagogy across India through its digital platform. The Nalanda team has shown great dexterity in reimagining the pre-schooling business and have been able to translate their high-quality pedagogy into a highly impactful business proposition for pre-school owners, teachers and parents.”

Digital tools as learning goes remote.

Brad Freitag, CEO at Claris states:

Schools across the U.S. constantly face challenges around getting the most meaningful information out of the volumes of data gathered and processed each day—- which we are solving with Claris Connect for Apple School Manager.

Claris Connect includes support for SIS systems from Aeries, Follet Aspen, and Skyward.

The system uses the OneRoster specification from the IMS Global Learning Consortium, a spec designed as a secure standard to use when sharing confidential school information such as rosters, courses, enrollments and grades between SIS systems and supporting solutions for learning.

Enabling unique digital workflows

The idea is that SIS data can feed directly into other learning tools, applications, and digital content, which extends to building unique workflows that use popular platforms, including Excel, Twtiter, Box, MailChimp, Trello, Asana, Stripe and many more.

For teachers, it should reduce the time spent ensuring pupils have the right information for the current lesson, as well as being able to check attendance and attainment at a glance.

How exactly it works: A student signs in with their Apple ID and digital assets (such as courses, tasks, messages, attainment records, and so on) are downloaded to the device from iCloud. Data is also cached so if a single iPad is shared across a small number of people, all documents, apps, and other content will already be on the device at  sign-in.

What happens in schools

Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the school had to enable virtual learning for students almost overnight, which it claims was made easier by its decision to use Claris and Apple School Manager.

“We are honoured to welcome AWS as the lead sponsor of the premier awards program honouring the best of education and business technology. For more than 35 years, the CODiE Awards have placed a spotlight on the most innovative, high-impact products in the marketplace. This collaboration underscores the importance of the CODiE Awards in recognizing the future of innovation in these industries.”

This sponsorship highlights AWS’s commitment to excellence in innovation, particularly in the area of education technology. The organization will provide AWS Promotional Credit to finalists and winners in each of the following categories:

• Best Emerging Education Technology Solution for Administrators
• Best Emerging Instructional Technology Solution
• Best Use of Artificial Intelligence in EdTech
• Best Use of Emerging Technology for Learning

Kim Majerus, Leader, U.S. Education, State and Local Government at AWS also added:

“AWS is on a mission to accelerate the digital transformation of education through our connections in the education community, including technology providers. As a company built on innovation and thinking big, we are thrilled to be working with SIIA on the CODiE Awards to recognize bold solutions that are helping make education always available, personal, and lifelong for everyone.”

The SIIA CODiE Awards are the industry’s only peer-recognized awards program. During the first-round review, educators and administrators are invited to evaluate the Education Technology CODiE Award categories, and business technology leaders including senior executives, analysts, media, consultants, and investors evaluate products in the business technology categories. Scores from the first round determine the finalists. SIIA members then vote on the finalist products and the scores from both rounds are tabulated to select the winners.

The 2021 CODiE Award winners will be announced on June 22nd and 23rd. This year, 18 new categories have been added, including five in response to COVID-19.