Voices: the CMB Blog

The day that we all become as tech-savvy and suave as Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible is fast approaching.  How do I know?  A few years after a Cruise movie is on the big screen, his cool gadgets are for sale in a store near you.  Don’t believe me?  Just watch any 24-hour cable news show and you will see that they are all using the same multi-touch wall display that Tom Cruise first popularized in the movie, Minority Report.

Now, Google is saying that we can be just like Tom Cruise in Mission Impossible with the release of his iconic sunglasses that project information onto the lens.  Can you imagine it? You could be walking around New York City with turn by turn navigation, getting information on local restaurants, activities, even places your friends have recently checked in on Foursquare or Facebook, all while strolling along, looking up instead of down at a phone (or a map… remember those?!).

The fervor and excitement this device is creating has endless potential. I think a product like this will influence how retailers reach out to shoppers.  For example, in the future, the customer won’t be sitting at home, miles away from a store location…they will be right outside your door searching for products on their sleek Mission-Impossible-sunglasses.  As a result of this change, more focused local or location-based advertising will begin to replace the need for expansive mass media campaigns.

The shift to more personalized advertising is already taking place with the rapid popularization of the smartphone.  According to our Consumer Pulse report: How Smartphones are Changing the Retail Shopping Experience, released last year, over half of all smartphone owners use their device when shopping in a retail store. Currently, retailers are wary of these customers as “show roomers” who will go in store to browse, but who make their purchases online to find a better price. 

Instead of worrying, retailers need to take action and realize that these tech advancements in shopping can be used to their advantage to create a personalized shopping experience.  Leveraging data already collected from loyalty programs or Point of Sale can provide shoppers with a compelling reason to make their purchases in a retail store, creating and providing a seamless and elevated experience for the buyer.  The resources to make this experience a reality are available; retailers have the data, it is just a matter of learning how to use it effectively.

Someday, when we are all like Tom Cruise and wearing spy-like glasses, advertising will need to be personalized and relevant to the individual.  Such a marketing technique will draw people in, breaking through the mass noise and bombardment of content available all around you.  No longer will accurate advertising and recommendation-engine results be relegated to online sites alone—it will be a part of your everyday life, maybe even programmed into your sunglasses.

What do you think?  Will mobile technology transform the retail shopping experience?

Posted by Kirsten Rasmuson, Kirsten is a Senior Project Manager on CMB’s Retail practice. She’s looking forward to welcoming our new robot overlords.

Seems like everywhere I turn I see a QR code. From product packaging to billboards in the airport, those funny little black and white designs are popping up all over—even on T shirts.  So we set out to ask consumers what they think about the 2D bar codes known as Quick Response or QR codes in our latest Consumer Pulse: Scan Me-9 Things To Know about Consumer Behavior and QR codes.

There is no doubt it’s a very cool tool brands and companies can use to engage and share information with consumers, but even the coolest  tools and applications need to provide meaningful information to be successful.  Just like Twitter, Facebook and other social media marketing tools it always comes back to insightful content that consumers will value. The success of QR codes will depend on the content behind the scan.

What do consumers think?  CMB partnered with iModerate Research Technologies to see why consumers scan QR codes and what they expect from the little black and white squares.

As a marketer here are a few facts that stood out to me. Watch This:

Nearly 1 in 5 who scanned a QR code made a purchase after scanning (Tweet this)

81% say they’ve seen a QR code, but only 21% knew what they were called (Tweet this)

Half of smartphone users have scanned a QR code (Tweet this)

70% of those who scanned QR codes, said it was very easy (Tweet this)

Results are mixed on QR codes' usefulness, 41% say the information they got was useful (Tweet this)

Magazines and newspapers are the most common QR source for those who’ve scanned a code (Tweet this)

46% of those who’ve scanned a QR code did so because they were curious (Tweet this)

We found smartphone owners and non-smartphone owners alike are curious about QR codes for information and for discounts, free gifts and exclusive deals, and they find the process of scanning to be really easy. But as more and more consumers get smartphones and the ability to scan, marketers must go beyond the novelty of the application if they expect customers to scan again and make it a regular part of the purchase process.

I’d love to know, are QR codes part of your 2012 marketing plan? Will QR codes gain steam in 2012 or fizzle out?

Download the full report here.

 

 

Posted by Kristen Garvey. Kristen is CMB's VP of Marketing, a mom of two, and thinks QR codes  can be as useful as the content behind them, and that they will have their place in the marketing toolbox for 2012.

 

 

Despite some debate over the value of Enterprise Social Software tools, their use has taken off.  In 2010, Gartner, Inc. went as far as predicting the near term replacement of email by social networking services.  The lure of a tool that is low cost, simple to use, and that taps into the explosion of mobile devices promises to be collaboration on steroids.   

In our recent Tech Pulse survey of over 200 IT professionals, nearly one-third are currently using some type of enterprise social networking tools already, and an additional one-fifth plan to start soon.   Not surprisingly, usage is highest at larger companies, where the actual need is greatest.   

IT Departments, which are starting to catch up to this employee-led train and take ownership of it, typically  prefer social networking features integrated into core software applications already in use at the organization, as opposed to horizontal, purpose-built enterprise social networking platforms (three-quarters of IT departments prefer this). IT departments are dealing with application sprawl already.  Any time a trusted incumbent vendor gives them a way to meet their employee needs without adding an entirely different application (and vendor) to their environment that may not have well-developed APIs with their existing applications: they’ll take it.    

Which applications have the most demand for integration of enterprise social networking tools?

Some of the biggest users of these tools—not surprisingly—will be from Marketing and Sales.  This group of enterprise users will likely benefit from integration of social networking tools for CRM, SFA, and other marketing-related applications. Customer Service departments are also high on this list: large companies striving for greater customer-centricity have a clear need to get all parts of the company dealing with customer touch-points more effectively collaborating with one another.     

Internal IT management and IT help desk functions were also high on the list of departments that would benefit from enterprise social networking.  IT departments are not only catching up to this trend; they’re using it themselves as Gen Y and Millenials increasingly start to populate the profession.    

   

Which enterprise social networking tools are IT Professionals using/considering?

IT departments generally prefer company names from large application providers they already use. The top mentions for social networking tools currently being used include Microsoft’s Office Talk, Cisco’s Pulse/Quad, and IBM’s Connections.   These same tools are top mentions for tools they are planning to use in the near future.     

Things for Enterprise Social Networking Pure-Plays to Consider:

1. Don’t Skimp on APIs: Having tight, well architected integration with major enterprise applications already in use is absolutely essential to getting companies to bring on a new vendor…especially the larger companies that are the earlier adopters of these systems. Jive is already attacking this barrier by increasing the degree of integration its tool has with applications like SharePoint.  If these firms invest in tighter integration with applications that matter to these IT Professionals in a social networking context,   (e.g., Customer Service, IT help desk, and Internal IT), they are likely to gain greater attention.

2. IT Departments Need Some Convincing: Not having the benefit of incumbency and inertia, pure-play enterprise social networking companies must be amply prepared to counter objections they are going to face from IT departments that—while this might not be the place they initially target their sales efforts—they will ultimately need to gain the central IT stamp of approval in order to close the deal.

  Things for Other Enterprise Application Vendors to Consider:

1. Consider developing integrated social networking capabilities into the next release of your software: especially if you sell to larger companies and/or to departments within companies that are most open to using enterprise social networking. IT Departments, for one, will be compelled to pay a little bit more for these extra integrated functionalities and be done with it rather than overlaying a completely separate third-party solution that may bring its own set of integration and IT management headaches.

2. Play nice with other enterprise social networking vendors: especially if you do not have the resources or decide not to develop your own social networking capabilities—the ease with which your product integrates with some of the major enterprise social networking tools may soon become a check-list item in the evaluation process for your category. Helping develop easier integration with other social networking platforms is a defensive move that could prevent some future churn of existing accounts when it comes time to renew agreements.

 

 

Download our TechPulse on Cloud Computing Trends here.

 

 

Posted by Chris Neal. Chris leads CMB’s Tech Practice. He enjoys spending time with his two kids and rock climbing.

Last year we shared some of the key trends in cloud computing conversion with the potential  to make 2011 the year of the cloud. Namely, easy integration of cloud and non-cloud computing apps, system management apps that work across platforms, and support from third party service providers who “get” the cloud and its challenges. So, was 2011 the year of the cloud? Our recent Tech Pulse: Cloud Computing Trends and Needs, surveyed over 200 IT professionals and the results revealed an answer a bit more complicated than yes or no.

As expected, cloud conversion has grown steadily in the past year; more than 80% of companies currently use the cloud to house at least some of their apps or platforms. Beyond the growing ubiquity of cloud computing adoption, our study also looked at the following trends:

Cloud adoption is happening at US companies, but on an ad hoc basis: Companies with no plan to introduce cloud computing are rare, but even fewer have adopted a comprehensive company-wide plan. Instead, conversion to cloud computing is primarily implemented within business groups or for specific applications.

Many IT departments are now proactively promoting cloud technologies at their companies:  In sharp contrast to just a few years ago, a majority of IT departments now see themselves as the champions of cloud computing initiatives at their company, while they view more resistance from non-IT executives and line of business managers. Perceived recent improvements to cloud-based technologies along with economic uncertainty have helped changed IT departments from cloud resistors to cloud promoters.

The ad hoc nature of cloud adoption at US companies is creating cloud-based consulting opportunities.  There is a real opportunity for third party consulting and professional service providers that can help companies address cloud-based integration and security challenges. Application management for most companies now is a hodgepodge of non-cloud; private cloud; public cloud and hybrid cloud delivery models with sensitive data moving in and out of company firewalls and across different providers’ public cloud platforms. This is emerging as one of the most serious IT management challenges for the near future.

While this study revealed IT professionals’ lingering reservations about security and integration, it also revealed an opportunity for third party service providers in configuring company infrastructure to work effectively in the new cloud environment.  Clearly 2011 is proving to be a ramp-up period for the cloud.  Now that more IT professionals are primed for cloud adoption, cloud investment by the major players is surging and the enterprise mobility market is trending upwards, the buzz about cloud computing should rapidly come to fruition.

 Download our latest Tech Pulse: Cloud Computing-Trends and Needs here.

 

 

 

Posted by Brian Jones. Brian is a Project Manager with CMB's Tech team.