The digital revolution around website development and app-based media consumption was at its nascent beginning when Bankim Chandra established Dotsquares. Nearly, two decades later Bankim talks about SEO-driven marketing merchandise, a flourishing video-game industry and the next big thing on the internet.
“After working for TCS and American Express I saw a niche market in the IT industry where clients were being charged extortionately for open-ended projects. Through Dotsquares I aimed at providing cost-effective software solutions to all such organisations, regardless of size,” says Bankim Chandra, CEO & MD, Dotquares.
Thus, Dotsquares was born, a company which had originally started with HTML and Classic ASP development to build simple systems for small businesses. Over the next two decades, the company has expanded both in its geographical presence and the bespoke services it provides to its corporate clients. It has offered online payment solutions for Shieldpay including their innovative escrow functionality and apps, including all processing and associated Customer Relationship Management (CRM) and support systems. A CRM system helps organizations build customer relationships and streamline processes so they can increase sales, improve customer service, and increase profitability.
Now, in recent years, the company has mastered the craft of the Internet of Things (IoT), designed a secure key drop solution for Keynest and a gamification solution for an auto manufacturer.
SEO and voice-activated searches
But how has clickbait driven social media marketing changed the modus operandi of businesses? And what assistance does Dotsquares offer to them at a time when Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) experts can easily get a website running through domains on WordPress which can generate enough traffic on their portals? Bankim replies,
“In the last five years, SEO practices have changed dramatically due to market competition and advanced technology. These days it’s far easier for bots to pick up keywords placed.
“People are using voice-activated searches to get the results they are looking for. So, SEO practices need to be efficiently tightened for correct responses to appear for the right terms. Previously content would be generated on specific topics to create valuable backlinks. However, businesses are now exploring new ways of promoting their services indirectly with effective SEO terms without the need for creating SEO specific articles. For example, social media marketing is becoming extremely favourable with business accounts now appearing more frequently in search listings, due to their activity and hashtags.”
Dotsquares offers its wide-ranging cost-effective and offshore technical services across the world. With offices across four continents, its 700 colleagues work with different clients in industries as diverse as financial services to travel and Manufacturing. As part of their operations in the USA, they have worked within the media industry, providing development support for the New York Daily News. Additionally, Dotsquares have also designed & developed systems, including CRM & Support, for Ocean Holidays, a £54M Travel Specialist.
Artificial Intelligence and creative trends
Besides digital marketing today Bankim stresses that it is important to not overlook offline marketing and tap into networking sessions especially with the leap Artificial Intelligence (AI) has made into the creative industry. He explains,
“AI has long been applied to shopping analysis in the shape of analytics, but as capacity improves it will be used across more areas and will eventually revolutionise the complete web development approach taking over analytics tasks and leading to refined systems and practices that benefit users and providers.”
£5.7bn gaming industry and screentime addiction
Today, in this digital revolution Bankim identifies the rising gaming industry. The dawn of the broadband internet era has gradually allowed developers to distribute their games digitally as opposed to the tradition of hiring studios and creating games.
The UK gaming market is now worth a record £5.7bn and gaming directly contributes more than £1.35bn to the UK economy, according to Ukie, the trade body for UK gaming which compiles the figures. However, some experts have also raised their concerns around video-game addiction, screentime regulations for children and mental health effects. Now a recent report by investment bank Liberum has found that the impending launch of new consoles like Microsoft’s Xbox One X and Sony’s Playstation 5 can help boost the value of the UK gaming sector to more than £10bn.
“Games have been subject to calls of “addiction” for many decades, and the risk is much broader now with social media and general smartphone addiction.
“This means that clever game developers are now combining addictive gameplay with real-world activities to create immersive experiences using Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality. Pokemon go is a good example of this. I don’t believe regulations will be necessary because real life and technology are quickly combining, technology will soon be at a point that it enhances real life as opposed to replacing it,” Bankim concludes.
