By Hey Jude
Move over Elon Musk and Amber Heard, we are introducing the 2017 partnership that will turn everyone green. But before we get to the juicy hookup, where did it all start?
Just when you thought Cape Town was all beaches, bars, biltong and breath-taking views, South Africa’s Mother City stakes its claim as Africa’s tech hub too.
The 2nd best City to visit in 2017 as voted by Lonely Planet has also been labelled “Silicon Cape”, so it made sense to conceive, develop and perfect the Hey Jude app here. So what is Hey Jude? Just another app?
There seem to be applications on our smartphones for just about everything nowadays. We have Apple’s virtual assistant Siri, who can add diary appointments, send messages or emails and even an update on the day’s weather.
Uber, where a tap on a smartphone can instantly get users a ride and Airbnb, that makes it easy and seamless to book accommodation at the click of a button.
So where does Hey Jude fit into this already competitive convenience economy?
Combine the pressure to do more during our working hours, the need to get ahead and to perform, to work harder and for longer, with the ever-increasing bucket lists of holidays, theatre shows, celebrities, dining out and comedy shows. Time really is of the essence.
“Hey Jude is a subscription-based service that uses the power of technology and the finesse of human intellect to get your to-do list sorted,” says Marcus Smith, Innovation Architect and Founder.
“Using a familiar message-based interface to link you to one of their trained operators, known as ‘Judes’, you simply text or voice message your request – any request, from food delivery and travel bookings to restaurant reservations, grocery shopping, gift searching, and paying your bills – and they will do the rest: research, vet the suppliers, negotiate the prices and even facilitate payment. If your day’s to-do list is comparing supplier quotations, calling in a plumber or booking a trip to London – the Judes will do it all for you.
“It’s the go-to App for consumers who are time hungry. When you start valuing your rate per hour, the R199 per month is an absolute steal.”
Apart from the B2C service, Hey Jude also caters for the white label market including the likes of Cell C, Standard Bank Blue Sky and Accenture and many more Blue Chip Companies wanting to put their staff and customers first. Commercial alliances and strategic partners are very important to sustain best business practices hence the reason for partnering with the World Wide Fund for Nature South Africa (WWF-SA).
“We all want to figure out how to reduce our environmental footprint. There are dozens of ways to reduce your energy consumption, waste, and to ‘green up’ your lifestyle. On this front, we are honoured to partner with an organisation such as WWF which will help our app users to do just that,” says Leighton Curd, CEO of PLP Group.
“The Hey Jude app also provides WWF a platform to educate consumers to make better decisions that will benefit not only them but the environment too,” he adds.
Hey Jude’s Greener Choices will provide users sustainable options when they request goods or services through the app in everyday living.
Hey Jude will also automatically contribute a percentage of each monthly subscription to WWF.
On our member forecast, this will not only promote green choices but also generate funds towards securing a more sustainable future.
WWF South Africa CEO Dr Morné Du Plessis comments: “WWF’s mission is to stop the degradation of the earth’s natural environment and to build a future in which humans live in harmony with nature. One of the most powerful ways of achieving this is through changing consumer behaviour – and we welcome interventions such as Hey Jude that will encourage people to think twice about their everyday choices.”
So let the lifestyle App, Hey Jude, ‘panda’ to your every need, using the power of technology and finesse of human intellect to get your to-do list sorted in the greenest possible way.
