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Featured Futurist: When tech goes shopping, Kaspersky
What happens when your customers are robots? And automated? And autonomous? Let's discuss ...
Cite or link to this article
Griffin, M. (2021) 'Featured Futurist: When tech goes shopping, Kaspersky', 311 Institute, 15 September. Available at: https://www.311institute.com/featured-futurist-when-tech-goes-shopping-kaspersky/ (Accessed: 1 October 2026).
Firstly, thank you to Dan at Kaspersky for asking me to contribute to their thought leadership article on the future of retail, where we covered everything including E-Commerce and voice commerce, or V-Commerce, and the emergence of automated and autonomous bots and robots, as well as smart devices such as fridges, as customers.
Yes, the future is a strange world, and not only are retailers are going to have increasingly adapt their go to market strategies to embrace digital customers that are literally nothing more than binary code, and which can all band together to create massive automated buying consortiums, but they’re also going to have to consider the security implications.
Afterall, what happens when your Smart Fridge, which has access to your digital wallet gets hacked and starts placing orders with a criminal group rather than Amazon? Should all transactions be biometrically approved, and what are the privacy implications? And just what are the best practises when it comes to debugging and securing these digital “black box” systems?
In the article, which you can read below we cover these topics and more, and lift the lid on the important issues that retailers need to be discussing today.
You can read the final article below:
Source: Kaspersky
What this means for your organisation
Customers may be code.
Bots and smart devices will place orders for people. They can even band together into buying groups. Retailers must market to machines as well as humans.
Security becomes a sales issue.
A hacked device with wallet access could buy from criminals. Trust in automated buying depends on security. Build safeguards into every machine-led purchase.
Privacy rules will matter.
Biometric approval could protect transactions but raises privacy questions. Customers will want control. Agree clear policies before rolling out automated buying.
Three questions for your next leadership meeting
- How would we sell to bots and smart devices?
- How would we detect a hacked device placing orders?
- What approval steps should automated purchases need?
The trends and technologies behind this story
From the 311 Starburst, the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit’s map of the technologies and trends shaping the next 50 years.
Analysis by the 311 Strategic Intelligence Unit, from Matthew Griffin’s article and 311 data. First published on Fanatical Futurist.
FAQ
Why does this matter?
What happens when your customers are robots? And automated? And autonomous? Let's discuss ...
About the author
Matthew Griffin Founder, President and Futurist, 311 Institute
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath."
Read full bio
Matthew Griffin is a multi-award winning Futurist and expert in Disruption and Innovation, Geopolitics, Leadership, and Technology, who NASA have described as a "walking encyclopaedia of the future" and a "futurist Polymath." 17-time best selling author of the "Codex of the Future" series, Matthew is the Founder, President and Futurist of the 311 Institute, a global Futures and Deep Futures advisory firm working with royal households, world leaders, G7, G20, and G77 governments, NGOs, and multi-national mid and mega cap firms to help them explore, shape, and lead the next 50 years of business and society.
An award-winning YouTube creator with over a million followers, with an unrivalled global reach and impact, Matthew is a highly sought-after international keynote speaker, lecturer, and mentor who collaborates with global leaders through the United Nations Alliance of Civilizations (UNAOC) and United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) to shape pivotal initiatives such as the UN’s AI for Humanity program, the United Nations Conference of the Parties (UN COP), and the World Economic Forum in Davos.
As the former Global Head of Cloud, National Security, and Enterprise Sales for companies including Atos, Dell-EMC, and IBM, Matthew has a proven track record of building multi-billion dollar business units and turning failing divisions into market leaders. His ability to identify, analyse, and communicate the implications of hundreds of emerging technologies and trends is unparalleled, and his insights are trusted by many of the world’s most respected organisations, including ABB, Accenture, Adidas, AON, ARM, BCG, Centrica, Citi, Coca-Cola, Dentons, Deloitte, Dow Jones, EY, Google, KPMG, Lego, Legal & General, LinkedIn, Microsoft, PepsiCo, Qualcomm, RWE, Samsung, Siemens AG and Siemens Energy, T-Mobile, UBS, VISA, Walmart, Workday, Worldpay and many others.
Regularly featured in the global media including the AP, BBC, Bloomberg, CNBC, Discovery, Forbes, Khaleej Times, Telegraph, TIME, ViacomCBS, WIRED, and the WSJ, Matthews mission is to help organisations create a fair and sustainable future whose benefits are shared by everyone irrespective of their ability, background, or circumstances.
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Sources and further reading
- Kaspersky kaspersky.com
- Internet of things kaspersky.com
Source: first published by the 311 Institute on 15 September 2021. Cite as: Griffin, M. (2021). Featured Futurist: When tech goes shopping, Kaspersky. 311 Institute. https://www.311institute.com/featured-futurist-when-tech-goes-shopping-kaspersky/
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