Along with the tremendous technological advances the world has undergone, there is an understanding that the basic, physical, characteristics of our lives must not be given up. • The growing digital trend combines the two and offers effective solutions in many areas - for example shopping, medicine and sports.
There are areas that seem difficult to crack for the Pigital trend, because of the conservatism inherent in them
Photography:
Ruth Goyli
"I am an analog guy in a digital world," Alon Olarchik diagnosed his condition in one of his best-known songs, expressing the fear of many of the disappearance of the physical world from our lives.
The first decades of the information revolution established and reinforced this fear.
As technological innovations have progressed, the more operations have been carried out through computers - and later through smartphones - it seems that the world that can be felt, felt and even smelled is in constant decline.
Soon everything will go digital, the futurists announced, some happily and some sadly, and competed among themselves in drawing the next world for us for better or worse, depending on the position of the observer.
The sobriety from the dream came even before philosophers mourned the death of the physical world, and the first to recognize it were U.S. marketers. Along with the massive increase in online sales, they suddenly discovered that consumers continue to visit stores, only these were already other consumers with different requirements. The digital envelope they were accustomed to on the net, they expected to find in the traditional physical store. Stores that were left behind and did not adapt to the new demand suffered losses, went bankrupt and closed. .
"The corona plague, which broke into our lives in the past year and changed quite a few world orders, accelerated the trend," says Mike Kelmacher, a veteran of Israeli high-tech and who served as vice president of innovation at the global SAP company.
"On the one hand, the closures, traffic restrictions and the public's fear of being in crowded places have accelerated the development of new solutions, which can overcome the halting of the normal course of human existence. On the other hand, it has become clear beyond humanity that Absolutely, even if technology can allow it. "
Do not give up the personal
The physical world, which provides the direct interaction with the environment and other people, is as necessary to us as oxygen.
"Man is by nature a social animal," Aristotle put it more than two thousand years ago, and he was right.
According to Kamelmacher, the digital trend does not try to defeat human nature, but rather harnesses it to merge digital technology with traditional physical experiences.
When the merger is smooth and natural, success is guaranteed.
Sometimes so successful that we do not pay attention to the petty aspects, which have long since become part of the routine.
Opening the lock by snapping a finger, operating a device using the voice, virtual fitting of a garment based on actual body measurements - all of these came into widespread use even before users were familiar with the concept of Pigital.
Phigital solutions are effectively offered in many areas, especially those that allow the benefits of both worlds to unite - the accessibility, availability and speed of the computer on the one hand, and the unmediated and multi-sensory physical experience on the other.
Instead of closing stores, fashion brands are learning to incorporate digital arrays into content.
Touch screens scattered throughout the flagship store of Rebecca Minkoff in New York's SoHo neighborhood, and even in the measuring booths, to ensure available communication with the buyer and immediate response to any question or request, without sacrificing the physical elements that encourage the urge to buy, such as music Background, pleasant aromas and generous compliments from the sellers.
Mike Kelmacher
In similar stores in China, and even in fast food outlets such as KFC, facial recognition technology "sews" for a casual customer a personalized shopping menu offer, trying to tailor it to their emotional and physical condition when entering the store.
If the customer had stayed tucked away in the digital frame of his home computer, all this would not have been possible.
Most people enjoy combining the physical world with the digital world and balancing them for convenience.
A study conducted this year in Spain found that no less than 78% of respondents plan to shop both in physical stores and online.
Only a few consumers will limit themselves in the future to one channel: 13% stated that they will only buy in traditional stores, and 9% answered that they will only buy in online channels.
Seemingly, anything can be purchased online, however in many cases without the physical and emotional components the purchase simply does not take place.
It turns out that the emotional communication with the seller in the store, his advice and personal attitude are lacking when buying in front of the cold computer screen.
The findings of the study also revealed another surprising statistic: the age groups most interested in physical and digital integration are actually the young - the Millennials and Generation Z.
These youngsters have become avid followers of the Amazon Go food chain.
In chain stores, which have opened in several dozen cities across the U.S., the consumer scans a personal code at the entrance, then selects the groceries the proven way, as we have been accustomed to for days, and finally simply leaves the store without lingering in a traditional checkout. A mix of sophisticated technology solutions His will be charged automatically, and the detailed receipt for the purchase will reach the personal box in his account on the site.
Amazon Go's digital model frees the buyer from the oppressive physical experience that no one is satisfied with (queuing and the traditional payment), but leaves him with the enjoyable physical experience, which involves wandering through the ordering departments, exposure to colors, flavors and smells, and other store visitors.
Do not worry, the bank will not disappear
There are areas that at first seem difficult to crack for the Pigital trend, because of the conservatism inherent in them, or because of objective reasons.
Tourism is one of them - after all, it is not really possible to move a person to an exotic beach or a magical street at the other end of the world, so that he can taste the trip experience that awaits him.
And if we have already reached a coveted destination that we dreamed of, why would we need additional digital reinforcement over the usual enjoyment?
Still, figurative elements penetrate even there, for example, in the form of augmented reality technology.
A tourist who walks around the Old City of Jerusalem and encounters the remains of a building, will be able to see what the building looked like when it stood on its own and "blend in" with its surroundings and its occupants.
Among other things, there are growing signs that the future of banking also belongs to Pigital.
The physical presence of banks in our lives has significance beyond the operational aspect and reduced cash use, so the number of bank branches will decrease, but they are not expected to disappear completely.
The remaining branches will be more similar to cafes or iPhone stores.
The heads of the British Barclays Bank did not wait for the inevitable and brought medicine to Mecca ahead of time: several dozen losing branches across the kingdom were converted into co-working spaces and even workshops.
In parallel with the new designation, the bank continued to provide regular banking services, with an emphasis on everything needed for small and medium-sized businesses.
AMAZON GO Store // Photo: Reuters
In July 2020, the first Pigital Bank branch was opened in Russia as well, with three unique parameters: biometric identification of an existing customer or identification by phone number of a casual customer, lack of standard service counters and complete lack of paper.
The customer chooses the comfortable seating environment for him (at the coffee table, on the couch or on the windowsill), and the banker approaches him equipped with wireless computing devices.
There is no doubt that this is not a superficial change, but a profound return from which the new relationship between the consumer and the bank and the demands from the bank employees will be derived.
Decentralization instead of concentration
"If you add to Pigital's basic idea the mix of dedicated hardware, artificial intelligence and cloud technologies, you can offer solutions that will make life better, and not just ensure profits for the entrepreneur," adds Kamelmacher, who recently focused his efforts on a new venture in innovative medical diagnostics.
"The current trend is leading to the minimization of diagnostic medical equipment. If we want to make its use simple and common - and the medical system wants it, because it saves lives, and ultimately saves national expenditure on health - it must adapt to the limitations of the physical world.
"What are those limitations? Imagine an average neighborhood clinic in Israel or in fact anywhere in the world. This is first and foremost a relatively small space, and it is clear that it cannot accommodate all the bombastic diagnostic equipment that requires space. There are at least two other limitations that are difficult to ignore: neighborhood clinic staff "They do not know how to operate it, and the budget of that clinic will probably not be enough to equip them with expensive diagnostic equipment. Therefore, the way out is to develop small and cheap equipment, adapted to the physical constraints."
How does the corona plague affect this trend?
"Dramatic impact. In the pre-Corona world, centralization prevailed: we dragged ourselves to one of the great research institutes, these were places where thousands of people stayed at the same time, and sometimes they excelled in extreme load and density. Because most of the necessary things for tests will be done near the house using small, simple and inexpensive equipment that meets the physical limitations.The achievements of the Israeli company Nanox, which develops cheap and smart X-ray devices for clinics and has recently been successfully issued, are a clear direction. recognition".
To ride at home, to be in Rome
You are talking about a huge change in medical infrastructure, which will require huge budgets.
"It's an investment that will justify itself economically and medically. The overarching goal of any effort is to make medicine proactive and based on early detection, rather than relying on reactivity to a disease that has already developed. This will of course lower long - term costs to the health system. First, consider a flow chain, where the equipment connected to the cloud will immediately transfer the data to a specialist, who can sit away from the clinic and examine it. Second, thanks to artificial intelligence the equipment will be so smart that it will be able to guide and train the user. The neighborhood nurse.
"The consequences will be astonishing: tests that have hitherto been considered complex and cumbersome are becoming easy to perform, fast and accurate. But that does not end the digital innovations. In the next decade the equipment will be so convenient that people will make all the necessary diagnoses at home. The next hospital is the private home of each of us.The medical sensors in the house will replace the need to stay in a hospital for postoperative recovery, because that requires mostly good and available monitoring equipment.By the way, these trends have been talked about for a long time, and unfortunately because of the conservatism of "In the field of medicine, they got stuck, until the virus came and preyed on the cards for everyone. In my view, the Corona will do to the field of medicine what the 9/11 attacks did to cyber security: there will be a leap forward based on digital and physical merging."
Will digital penetrate areas that were completely physical?
"Undoubtedly, and this is already happening before our eyes. The field of fitness and training, which has been identified as completely physical, is a great example of this process. The epidemic has led to the closure of gyms around the world, both by health authorities and for fear of rubbing shoulders with other trainees. Training facilities have become smart.This combination is amazing, and thanks to it the gym moves into the house.How to overcome the fact that in the gym there is a trainer, and in the house not? In the spirit of the digital trend there are at least two applicable solutions for user selection.
"In the first solution the fitness device itself will train you through the connection to the cloud and artificial intelligence. It will build the training plan, monitor the performance and provide feedback. In the second solution the physical trainer can continue to monitor your progress remotely. Using existing systems today during training you can even see The trainees and the coach, if it is socially important to you, and communicate with them in real time.
"In fact, the digital tools give much more than that. The treadmill can provide you with a real trip experience in Paris or London, as can your home bike. I, for example, rode in Rome yesterday without leaving home - the training simulation I performed matches the physical route one by one. Passing between Italian capital sites, including simulating particularly difficult ascents, to 'slopes' at a 25-degree angle, where only senior athletes can leap in. I can compare my riding on this route with other trainees, and compete with them. This year we even organized a Tour de Tour. Such a franchise, which fully resembled the traditional race, if you will - the first Pigital Championship. "