Agency blog – December 2008
NEW UK RESEARCH PROJECT EXPLORES USE OF PLAYSTATION 3 AS A BUSINESS TOOL
23 December 2008
British academics are about to embark on a novel research project that will see business leaders from some of the world’s leading companies use PlayStation 3 as a business tool.
The research project will explore how PlayStation 3′s new virtual world – ‘Home’ – can be used as a business environment where senior managers can discuss ideas and collaborate on projects.
The project aims to explore, among other things, how large companies using virtual worlds as a business tool can reduce office space and travel costs as well as diminish the carbon footprint of corporate executives.
Dr Nipan Maniar, the University of Portsmouth academic famous for developing principles of ‘in-game’ learning in computer game environments, will lead the project with University of Portsmouth senior lecturer Manish Malik who is an expert in collaborative technologies.
Leading workplace transition consultants Advanced Workplace Associates have commissioned the research.
The firm’s clients include Microsoft, Merrill Lynch, Ernst and Young and numerous companies in the Financial Services sector with large white-collar worker populations – executives from which will take part in the research project starting late February 2009.
Andrew Mawson, Managing Director of Advanced Workplace Associates, said:
“We advise some of the world’s biggest companies on how to tap into the idea of workforce mobility. The idea of one-person, one-desk and fixed office space is constantly being challenged by innovations in communications technologies and, more recently, the fallout from the global financial collapse.”
He said: “Increasingly we are living in a world without borders where workers need to collaborate on a global scale. There are human resources and economic tensions in trying to get so many people in the one place at the one time. Yes, audio and video-conferencing solutions have emerged but the use of virtual worlds may offer the next evolution in overcoming the tyranny of distance – a more realistic and learning-enhanced environment where managers can brainstorm, give presentations, express behaviour and network at a more human level while being continents apart. The concept of personalised avatars and immersed realities takes us a lot further than the common conference call.”
He added: “Working with Dr Maniar and Mr Malik, AWA’s psychologists will record and analyse the behaviours exhibited by participants and their avatars during the trial and its conclusion we will establish participants’ perceptions of the experience, their views on the usefulness of the virtual environments and their ideas on applications where the technology could be used within their organisations.”
Dr Nipan Maniar, the creator of the Culture Shock mobile phone game phenomenon, said:
“There is no doubt that business life of the future will include a greater use of virtual world technologies. There is a global trend towards mobile workforces. In India, for example, 43 per cent of small and medium businesses now have “mobile workforces”. Wireless communications is driving this transformation but the collaborative power of a mobile workforce will be fully realised in virtual world environments. In the current economic climate where renting office space is often the second biggest overhead, it makes good business sense for companies to explore the opportunities and benefits of workforce mobility and using virtual worlds as places to get business done more effectively and at a lesser cost than in the physical world.”
He said:
“The PS3 console being used to access a virtual world is interesting as there are strong pointers that gaming environments will increasingly be used for other purposes such as education. I think a strong current example of where we are going is Jamie Oliver’s cookbook instruction being delivered via the Nintendo DS Lite. Who’s to say games publishers won’t offer titles related to business and other subject matter where a user could easily cross from a business game learning environment to a real ‘doing’ collaborative environment in a virtual world accessed by the same console? There is also the added advantage of a younger generation who are at ease with these technologies and where learning and doing things in these environments may seem more natural than, say, the classroom or the boardroom.”
Dr Maniar added:
“The concept can even be applied to corporate training and in-house development sessions for senior executives. Why should the execs in New York be the only ones to attend a workshop on improving best practice? Let’s go virtual and include management from Mumbai, Brazil and Beijing. The benefits, including cost, will be substantial by any measure. Over time and on a bigger scale, there are also environmental factors that are compelling with the paring back of the corporate carbon footprint.”
Manish Malik, an expert in Web 2.0 collaborative technologies, said:
“The idea of doing business in virtual world environments is likely to gain ascendancy in coming years driven as much by economic forces as well as the fact that it might offer significant advantages over the status quo of regular business travel and office space costs.”
NEW AUSTRALIAN RESEARCH HIGHLIGHTS CLOSE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONLINE SEARCH AND OFFLINE BEHAVIOUR
09 December 2008
Marketers who ignore the role of online research in the various stages of consumer purchase behaviour do so at their own peril, with new Australian research showing 80% of consumers use online research to inform their purchase decision.
The research, which covers 40 categories and was commissioned by Outrider, a GroupM search marketing company, highlights the necessity for online and offline marketing campaigns to be aligned in order to achieve maximum benefit for their investment.
“Without an integrated approach to online and offline media, advertisers can significantly reduce the effectiveness of their marketing. It’s vital to understand that consumers are taking their online experience and incorporating it into offline purchase behaviour,” said Head of GroupM Search Marcelo Silva.
The study, conducted by Research International, showed that a third of consumers start their online research at a search engine.
In addition, the majority of those using a search engine first conducted a generic (or unbranded) keyword search.
“Without a search marketing campaign that caters for this – and for the keyword terms used across offline marketing for a product or service – marketers will be behind the eight ball,” said Silva.
Of those looking to buy a laptop, for example, 64% used a search engine and 40% of them began with a generic keyword search – only 23% start with a branded keyword search.
Additionally, search engines are used throughout the consumer research process: 27% conduct keyword searches midway through, and 9% search just prior to purchase.
“It is all about how consumers behave and marketers must embrace the new purchase decision cycle from the earliest stages of their media planning. What is fascinating is the lack of barriers between online and offline now – one does not exist in a vacuum from the other and consumers are more and more adept at operating in both worlds,” said Research International Strategy Director Jonathan Sinton.
The study also highlighted the increase in consumers going online to research Fast Moving Consumer Goods (FMCG), traditionally a category not heavily associated with online research.
The research showed there is a great deal of variation between categories ranging from 24% to 79% for people researching online before their purchase.
Recent Purchasers Who Researched Online:
Travel: 79%
Electronics: 47%
Auto: 46%
Insurance: 45%
Telecommunications: 44%
Finance: 44%
FMCG: 30%
Furniture/White goods: 24%
SPEECHSTORM IS FIRST TO MARKET WITH VIDEO SELF-SERVICE ON A 3G MOBILE
08 December 2008
Transactions with service providers now quick and intuitive with
SpeechStorm’s visual video applications available on 3G mobiles-
Speechstorm (www.speechstorm.com), the specialist provider of phone self-service solutions for contact centres, has today extended its IVVO™ phone self-service suite with the launch of a new range of Visual IVR applications, that will transform the way in which consumers interact with their service providers and open a new revenue stream and customer service enhancement channel for businesses.
Through a simple video call on a 3G mobile phone callers gain a visual representation of business transactions such as transferring money or checking in for a flight and leisure transactions like booking cinema tickets and checking the football scores. Dramatically reducing the time spent listening to voice-based menu options; IVVO enables the user to complete the transaction much quicker and more intuitively.
“Visual IVR, using video as the delivery channel, offers businesses significant new potential to generate and drive additional revenue and provide innovative customer services improvements,” said Daniel Hong, Lead Analyst, Customer Interaction Technologies at Datamonitor. “The continued growth and adoption of the 3G network in Europe and the Middle East paves the way for this new channel. SpeechStorm is differentiating itself by diversifying its call experience offering with the addition of Visual IVR to complement its existing speech self-service solution.”
IVVO Visual IVR Benefits:
For the Caller:
•Visual, intuitive interface
•Fast, Responsive Service – Not subject to IP/HTTP latency problems between device and server
•No downloads – Delivered as part of a transient video call so no data is downloaded to the phone, which in turn improves security as no footprint is left behind when call ends
For the Business/Content Provider/Call Centre:
•New Revenue Generation Channel
•Fast time to market for content delivery – Development and testing time is reduced allowing the content provider to get their services to market faster
•Enhanced agent effectiveness for complex sales – Video is an effective tool for agents to use to better assist customers and speed up purchasing decisions. It is also a very effective, visual way to re-enforce and increase brand awareness
Oliver Lennon, CEO of SpeechStorm comments, “Now more than ever businesses need to take a close look at new revenue generation channels and smarter, faster ways to serve and retain customers. Visual IVR is gaining increasing acceptance in Europe and the Middle East with the growth and proliferation of the 3G network and we are delighted to leverage that channel to pioneer the launch of video self-service applications. In doing so we uniquely offer businesses in financial services, travel, telecommunications and mobile operators with new and innovative ways to communicate with their customers and to offer an improved, differentiated caller experience.”
PROOFPOINT HIGHLIGHTS TOP 10 TIPS FOR BUSINESSES AND THEIR STAFF TO AVOID EMAIL DISASTERS
04 December 2008
2008 has been a year of high profile and embarrassing email data loss blunders from Government ministers, utilities companies and even the Student Union. Just last month, Alistair Campbell found himself at the centre of a row after an obscene email outburst aimed at BBC journalists (1).
According to Proofpoint, an email security specialist, email is already the primary outlet of data leakage and we are only just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Identification of data leakage, either deliberate or unintentional, will continue to grow.
A recent Forrester Research study(2) revealed that 66 per cent of UK companies are “concerned” or “very concerned” about ensuring that email cannot be used to disseminate company trade secrets or valuable intellectual property.
And 63 per cent of UK companies are “concerned” or “very concerned” about protecting the confidentiality of personal identity and financial information in outbound email.
To help companies protect both themselves and their staff from data loss mishaps, Proofpoint has come up with following “Safer Email” top tips for businesses and employees:
Email tips for businesses
1. Select your filtering solution wisely. Insist on a gateway-based solution that’s easy to use, highly accurate, quick to deploy and scalable.
2. Act fast to minimise loss. Implement effective processes will help identify, track and resolve any rogue emails through a variety of options including quarantine, deletion, and re-routing back to the original sender for clarification.
3. Focus on your data. Know the value as there are clear differences between a customer’s private information (National Insurance numbers; bank account numbers etc) and company sensitive content (financial accounts; sensitive memos and press releases; blueprints etc)
4. Encrypt. Businesses should ensure that they have an enforcement mechanism in place to prevent sensitive information falling into the wrong hands.
5. Review & Audit. Continually review the information leaving your organisation and make sure it adheres to your outbound security policies. Educate users and continually assessing effectiveness of the policies, updating where necessary.
Email tips for employees
1. Expect to be unlucky! Don’t rely on luck, take care to follow the company guidelines and do your best to be practical. If you are not sure about the value of information, ask. It is always better safe than sorry.
2. Manage your email accounts. A good rule of thumb for the average email user is to keep a minimum of three email accounts. Your work account should be used exclusively for work-related conversations. Your second email account should be used for personal conversations and contacts, and your third email account should be used as a general catch-all for less secure interactions e.g. signing up for newsletters, entering online competitions
etc.
3. Avoid fraudulent email. Never respond to an email stating that you’ve won the lottery. If it looks too good to be true, it probably is.
4. Insure your financial information via email. Banks and online stores provide, almost without exception, a secured section on their website where you can input your personal and financial information. They do this precisely because email, no matter how well protected, is more easily hacked than well-secured sites. Using your credit card wisely insures you against theft and fraud.
5. Look at your policy. There’s an old saying that it’s better to seek forgiveness than permission. Not in the case of your employer’s sensitive information. If in doubt, don’t send it. Make sure you are up to date on your employer’s email policy, especially when it comes to sensitive or confidential documents.
E-PUBLISHING PROVEN TO CUT COSTS BY 82%
04 December 2008
Digital e-publishing solutions provider Zmags today announced that putting publications online can cut costs by an average of 82%.
By scrutinising the cost-base of publications across a wide range of industries within Europe, Zmags found that commodity cost inflation and subsequent deflation has severely destabilised the publishing industry, making it increasingly difficult for publishers to control their costs.
The company cites a variety of destabilising factors such as raw pulp inflation (up 24% in two years), coated magazine paper inflation (8% in 2008), ink prices rises (up to 40% inflation depending on the ink mix) and increased transport costs due to oil price fluctuations. For mail order companies and subscription titles, these cost rises have been made worse by Royal Mail’s price increases in April 2008.
Zmags estimates that putting a publication online (using page turning software) offers a stable price solution whilst simultaneously cutting costs by up to 82% due to the elimination of paper, ink, postage and transport as well as additional extras such as metal staples.
The company says that the business model for many publishers could be dramatically enhanced by putting a single publication online at a cost of £400 per publication (unlimited usage numbers). Furthermore, Zmags calculates that by emailing the publication to customers, the price savings are even greater.
“Why print a magazine and post it for £1.50 per item when it can be put online and emailed for 20 pence?” said Jens Karstoft, CEO of Zmags. “Publishers are being hit on all sides by severe inflationary forces on the one hand and deflationary instability on the other. Add a Europe-wide recession into the mix and it’s clear that many publishers will go to the wall. E-publishing can be the industry’s saviour.”
AMPLIFY DELIVERS HUMAN UNDERSTANDING OF CONTENT AS A WEB SERVICE; ONLINE ADVERTISING TO BENEFIT FROM ENHANCED TARGETING AND BRAND SAFETY
03 December 2008
Amplify has today launched a web service to bring a human understanding of content to online advertising. In addition to improving the performance and accountability of display advertising and increasing the value of content for online publishers, Amplify enables social media to effectively monetise their traffic without impacting the user experience.
Amplify’s unique computational linguistic technology mimics the process of human understanding to automatically extract the meaning of text in digital content such as web pages and blogs. By surfacing the significant topics, attitudes and pending decisions within any text, it removes the guesswork from brand safety and targeting decisions. Unlike existing tools that rely on categorising content according to keywords or assessing brand safety based on samples of content, Amplify is able to automatically scan all content to provide the online advertising community with a full appreciation of the meaning of the text.
“This is the missing part of the jigsaw – until now, online advertising has relied on making assumptions based on very limited data,” comments Mark Redgrave, CEO at Amplify. “Existing classification techniques such as keyword or statistical analysis provide only half the story as they’re unable to capture the actual meaning. Amplify can now do this – not just accurately but also on a massive scale.”
While the industry is under increasing pressure to improve the value and accountability of online advertising, the rapid growth in social media has made it extremely difficult to accurately assess and target content. Publishers now have much less control over their content while ad networks and ad servers are finding it more and more difficult to provide complete transparency around where an advertiser’s brand is placed. In addition, social networking and user generated content (UGC) sites are struggling to effectively monetise their sites without impacting the user experience and deterring traffic.
“The lack of brand-safety is one of the biggest challenges social networking and video sharing web sites face in attracting brand advertisers,” comments Caroline Dangson, research analyst for IDC’s Digital Marketplace programme. “Amplify’s technology promises to change all this – offering a solution to ensure brand-safety of web content for advertisers in a way that has not been available previously. This changes the outlook for the social media advertising market.”
“While these sites are highly attractive destinations for advertisers, as they provide an opportunity to connect with users like never before, effective targeting requires a far greater understanding of the content in order to improve relevance,” continues Redgrave. “Ultimately, Amplify can improve targeting to such as extent that advertising doesn’t feel like advertising any more, it feels like a service.”
Using Amplify’s web service, online publishers, ad networks and social networks can build bespoke solutions to suit their particular marketing, sales or content management requirements. Amplify is currently undergoing trials with leading ad networks and publishers.
