Highly Competitive - software industry insights

Intelligent Transportation Systems for Midsized Cities

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When intelligent transportation systems are discussed, the focus is usually on mega-cities (populations of 10 million or more). But midsized cities (anywhere from 250,000 to 1 million people) face many of the same issues as larger cities, especially regarding forward-thinking planning for transportation systems. In fact, midsized cities are still a significant untapped market for intelligent transportation systems.

Right now transportation system technologies are evolving faster than overall management strategies. Adding to the management 'chaos': the proliferation of massive amounts of data related to transportation systems, including machine-generated big data. For midsized cities, data is a key asset for the planning, control and advancement of intelligent transportation systems.

When intelligent transportation systems take advantage of advanced data analytics, the value that results includes optimized infrastructure management and operations, as well as improved transportation services in terms of variety of modes, safety, reliability, and efficiency. Transportation data analytics also contribute greatly to real-time improvements to traveler / user experiences.

Categories of transportation data include:

• User or traveler behavioral data – survey data, social media sources, video, monitoring
• Travel demand and system use – monitoring data, machine-generated sources
• Socio‐Economic data – land use, demographics, income
• Transportation services – frequently as machine-generated data from sensors and meters
• Traffic management data – primarily machine-generated sources
• Infrastructure – roadways, facilities, vehicle fleets
• Environmental impact – emissions/air quality, local health concerns, other pollution/contaminants

Urban transportation networks frequently exist in an ecosystem of transportation modes and other urban governance entities in order to consolidate overall vision, resources and functions, which can lead to better outcomes for all. Intelligent transportation systems should support data sharing across modes, functions and stakeholders to show the value of collecting all relevant data, as well as being able to deliver data to different data management and analytics structures. And "stakeholders" aren't just humans – machines and automated systems are often around-the-clock consumers of transportation data.

 

Managed Services for Midsized Transportation Systems

I've written before about the differentiation that managed services providers can create by concentrating on specific industries and developing the distinct services that will make a difference to that industry. To provide niche or industry-specific services means developing in-depth expertise for the service offering, both in terms of the industry or niche and the problems that need to be solved.

Managed services can be developed to help midsized cities improve intelligent transportation systems through the use of advanced data analytics. The focus should be on new ways to deliver cost-effective services and solutions through cloud platforms, lower priced data analytics tools, and mobile applications.

Beyond services for the continuous data analytics needed to govern and improve urban transportation, managed services providers can help midsized cities understand how to apply analytics results to achieve significant improvements to transportation systems in multiple areas:

• Personalized interactions with citizens using transportation systems
• New services created more quickly
• Real-time operational responsiveness
• Measuring the effectiveness of current decisions and actions

Such services and solutions should be tailored for midsized cities to keep costs down and provide exactly what these cities need for faster, more effective transportation systems to better serve their citizens. A one-size-fits-all approach rarely works. Managed services providers need to craft core services and implementation templates that can be easily customized for different cities and their transportation systems.

 

Image source: swarco.com

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM's PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitive and on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting

Developing Mobile Business Apps – Navigating Data and APIs

 

Most organizations are well aware that mobile devices and applications are changing how they do business with customers and partners, and how their employees accomplish their work. Mobile business apps are developed to provide useful services that are designed specifically for mobile devices, focusing only on the most relevant streamlined capabilities. Well-designed apps also reflect an in-depth understanding of how different people use mobile devices.

The effectiveness of business mobile apps is ultimately about connecting users to the information and data that they need anywhere, anytime. Business data is frequently stored on multiple platforms, inside and outside the firewall, with varying levels of security and portability. End-to-end task workflows may even take place on multiple platforms. Savvy organizations are catching on that the mobile revolution cannot be stopped. It's best to proactively work out how to govern the mobile tools of the workforce.

Data management and governance, as well as flexible data integration processes, are key components of acquiring and integrating cloud and mobile data with on-premises data repositories. Data in the cloud has been a significant challenge for a while, with each cloud service providing proprietary APIs as the main means for connecting to data. But data residing on mobile devices introduces a whole new world of challenges, including serious security concerns.

As the use of mobile devices and apps for business activities continues to proliferate and fragment data, the standing of data integration as a mission critical technology escalates. What has changed for data integration solutions is the demand for more ways to create and use integration processes. To meet such demand, data integration platforms not only need to be high performance, they must continue to innovate ways to connect to data where it lives and then perform any number of actions to take data where it is needed.

 

Speeding Mobile App Development: API Management Platforms

Agility, flexibility and rapid development are key attributes for the mobile app creation process. Developers of mobile apps have an increasing number of cloud services and platforms that provide reusable components, including numerous JSON and REST APIs that enable data access, as well as the means for navigating security and authentication policies.

Mobile apps both generate and use APIs. On the generation side, APIs that are not well designed or properly built come with a high cost over long-term usage. On the API usage side, in the past, mobile app developers had to embed numerous SDKs directly into the app, which would require constant care and management. API management and integration platforms have been created specifically for mobile app development to orchestrate and enable data integration needs, so that mobile developers don't have to keep re-inventing the wheel when it comes to API creation and usage. These cloud-based integration management platforms cover many of the services that are needed for well-performing mobile apps. Indeed agile API management has become essential for smoothly-running mobile apps.

 

Governance and Security

As with any data-related functions, working with mobile / cloud data integration and APIs requires comprehensive governance and management, to ensure streamlined usability in mobile apps (or cloud services) while adhering to the overall data governance practices for the organization. If an organization doesn't address API management as a critical component of managing mobile app development and usage, many problems can and will result. Security guidelines are also critical for mobile practices.

Ultimately all data usage must in some way align to centralized management to ensure integrated policies, practices and processes across the organization. While the mobile device may be the activity point, the data used and created is still part of a bigger picture. On the other hand, data management practices and policies have to be balanced with enabling the workforce to make good use of cloud and mobile technologies, to more effectively perform work on behalf of the organization.

 

Image source: thisismoney.co.uk

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM's PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitive and on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting

Designing for the ‘Anywhere’ Mobile Workplace

 

For most organizations, business today has a fast pace, is global in nature and relies more and more on virtual networks of employees, partners, supply chains, and outside consultants. Mobile has a critical role here. Mobile is no longer just about devices, it's a catalyst for changing corporate culture that must evolve to ensure the competitive survival of the organization. Mobile is becoming a critical path for providing the workforce with streamlined and secure access to the right data, tools, and applications to do their jobs effectively - anytime anywhere.

Managed services providers have long had expertise for optimizing technology infrastructure, mostly focusing on the technologies and the operations that use them. Mobile is different. MSPs should not only handle the tech services but must understand the big picture culture of a mobile workforce. The underlying services must match all the different ways that a workforce utilizes mobility. End-to-end design services for this new world of work would be an invaluable offering for many organizations.

An outside-in approach to designing the entire mobile experience, including infrastructure, will ensure highest returns to clients in terms of productivity, security and the benefits for desired business outcomes. MSPs can be expert advisers for helping organizations understand the change in "culture" that comes with the 'anywhere' mobile workplace.

 

Who are Mobile Workers? Everyone

Mobility is rapidly becoming a critical element of business technology for many workers around the world. Mobile work activities happen just about anywhere. The classic example has been the "untethered" employee hunkered down in a Starbucks, working away. But today all kinds of employees are actually accomplishing mobile work everywhere: at home, commuting, at client sites or in the field, in libraries or parks. Some are rarely in the office and may not even be working from home. Even traditional corporate office-based employees are shifting more work to mobile devices, and carrying on work "anywhere".

What kind of work flourishes when the mobile office is anywhere? An obvious area is all kinds of services work performed at customer or client sites. Mobility has revolutionized the productivity of such workers in the field. Another category: employees heavily involved in creative work often seek out unconventional sites where mobility connects these employees to the tools they need and to their collaboration partners. Innovative work requires interactions with the world, new ideas, people who are not part of the corporate mindset or even the employee's corporate world. At the other end of the spectrum, effective mobile workers can be those whose jobs focus primarily on well-defined tasks or results-oriented work that fit a fixed set of metrics to show completion and value.

For all of these mobile employees, the work itself will probably become more project-focused. Ever-changing teams of employees, partners, contractors, and consultants will come together as needed, contributing to the needs of such projects.

 

The New Mobile Workplace Still Needs the Human Touch

With the advent of mobility the corporate office environment has started to change. At corporate sites, traditional offices and cubicles are giving way to an increase in casual meeting spaces to support the need for face-to-face meetings and collaborations when truly mobile workers come into the corporate office. Relationships and the focus on corporate goals are strengthened with regular in-person contact. Management and others need to personally interact extensively with mobile workers to understand the value they bring to work communities and business outcomes. While virtual collaboration is on the rise, it's still essential for mobile workers to physically re-connect with fellow workers and partners to take advantage of in-person sessions that tap into the group dynamic.

With this need for in-person contact, the office experience must undergo change. Management must support, encourage and allot more time for interactions between office-bound regulars and mobile workers. Such activity should be considered part of the job. Some of the space that was allocated to offices and cubicles will give way to a variety of meeting areas. But 'untethered' mobile workers also need private work areas at corporate sites. These areas need to have a human touch, again to reconnect these workers with the company that employs them.

 

 

Image source: itbusinessedge.com

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM's PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

 

Riding the Mobile Data Highway

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Image source:  cisco.com

 

Vendors and services providers for mobility management solutions can overly fixate on the vast array of software platforms and services for "corralling" mobile devices and ensuring secure computing. While these are vital areas, ultimately to enable successful organizations it can be far more important to provide services to amplify the value of what employees are doing with mobile devices. Particularly as businesses have become more mobile, the never-ending ebb and flow of data has made comprehensive data management a mission critical element both for business agility and for guaranteeing trustworthy, useable data.

Mobility adds a distinct flavor to real-time data management, particularly since mobile is a top source of big data. But data by itself – no matter the source – carries no value. Even worse, poorly managed data can cause real harm to organizations. Real value accrues when data sources are streamlined and cleaned up, when the processes that consume and create data are more responsive to business needs, and when business users trust the data they are using for decisions and work requirements.

Obviously business data is everywhere these days, as cloud services and mobile software offerings keep pace with worker preferences for tools. End-to-end task workflows may even take place on multiple platforms, off and on premises. The future of applications for mobile devices is ultimately about providing the workforce with the data they need, when they need it and where they need it. With a growing "mobile first" mindset for workers, organizations must enable as much functionality for their employees as possible while also ensuring data - and corporate - security.

One of the important changes for data management solutions is the demand for many different ways that integration processes can be created and used. Not only do data integration platforms need to be high performance, they must continue to innovate ways to connect to data where it lives, and then perform any number of actions to take data where it is needed. Added to integration and management imperatives is the ongoing battle to eliminate more data silos, to speed up access to the right data from mobile devices.

With 'speed to solution' as a crucial aspect of mobile data management, managed services can play an important role to provide what many organizations need, by applying expertise in mobility and cloud services to 'old school' data management processes and mindsets. True data mobility gives rise to data flows consistently and "effortlessly" (from the user perspective) between any points whether cloud or on premises.

Managed services have a natural fit with the management of the entire life cycle of mobile data and information. The objective is to keep up with changes regarding where data is created and stored, and where it needs to flow, to reach everyone in the organization who can benefit from such data. So mobile data management is as much about continuously creating and maintaining the right business processes as it is about data access and security.

Process-centric initiatives are often optimal approaches for the things that companies want to accomplish. Business processes make it possible to directly connect work to business outcomes that lend themselves to various metrics that provide clarity for business performance. It is through business processes that data can be mapped to business value.

Some of the difficulty for transitioning how enterprises derive value from business processes (and the data running through them) is the fact that most data-related initiatives have been driven by IT instead of by business-oriented roles. To enable better business outcomes, mobile data management initiatives need to bring business and IT teams together as symbiotic partners. Managed services providers can be the game-changing bridge to promote strong relationships between business and IT teams in order to best support a growing mobile workforce.

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM's PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

 

The Best Mobile Solutions Aren’t ‘One Size Fits All’

 

Managed services providers are finding extensive opportunities in newer technologies that hold great promise for improving business competitiveness and employee productivity. And managed services providers have many of the same challenges as vendors to find success with these new technologies:

• They must reframe the business approach to focus strongly on customers
• They must prove real value to their customers' businesses
• They have to present differentiated advantage to customers
• They have to understand that One Size does not Fit All

 

An exciting yet perplexing area for both organizations and technology solution providers is mobility. The opportunities – and the stumbling blocks – for comprehensively taking advantage of the broad, ill-defined and volatile world of mobility continue to be: management / governance, security and cost, while still maintaining "freedom" of mobile usage for workers.

Mobile isn't just one thing: from the multiplicity of devices complicated by BYOD, to the proliferation of innovative apps developed both internal and external to the organization. And adding to the situation: all the pieces need to work together at optimal levels – no small task for organizations of any size.

Managed services providers have a goldmine of possibilities for bundling basic mobile management services with platforms for app development, distribution and governance. Mobility is leading the way for MSPs to move from operational technologies to comprehensive services that include systems integration, consultative advisor, infrastructure re-designs – all to accommodate accelerated implementations of new technologies like mobile.

MSPs should build out 'bundles' of strategies and planning approaches as part of tailored end-to-end solutions for different kinds of organizations and the outcomes that they want from mobile adoption and use. Organizations need managed services to integrate mobile into existing infrastructure, and to enhance business processes and systems to take advantage of mobile capabilities. Managed services providers also have to accommodate accelerated mobile innovation that must constantly be folded into existing services.

The overarching rule for mobile managed services is that they're not the 'end' but an important new 'means' for accessing the processes and software technologies of the business: CRM, analytics, eLearning, knowledge sharing, marketing, customer service, and so on. MSPs must understand that 'one size fits all' won't work here. The focus should be on what works best for each organization and how it wants to work to achieve business goals.

Such new approaches to mobility services reflect the changing landscape of managed services, where the creation and delivery of managed technology services are moving from traditional mindsets and business models to the emergence of managed services providers as agile, customer-responsive, business-oriented partners. Many organizations desperately need the services of expert partners to help drive business and productivity innovation through new technologies.

 

Image source: IBM

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM’s PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

 

Achieving Mobile Advantage

 

 

As mobile technologies grow in importance for all businesses, managed mobility services can fill a critical role to help many of those businesses manage, support – and most importantly – leverage mobility for business advantage. Mobile technologies and services will continue rapid change and variation, making it difficult for many businesses just to keep up – let alone figure out how to use mobile in different aspects of the business. The tight relationship of mobile and cloud has helped the cost-effective deployment of managed services that should be attractive to businesses.

Mobility challenges for organizations include strategically connecting mobile endeavors to the business, ensuring integrated implementations of diverse mobile technologies, keeping pace with employee-driven adoption of new apps and devices, and attacking dynamically growing security issues. The bottom-line challenge is securing the realization of enhanced employee and business productivity that positively impact business outcomes. Mobile platforms offer expanded opportunities for timely and effective workforce collaboration and knowledge sharing but organizations need serious help to make it happen.

 

A Healthy Market with Growing Pains

Recent reports from market research firms call out strong market outlooks for managed mobility services – although "volatility" in this market should be expected due to the diverse and constant proliferation of new devices, apps and services, and the growing complexity of mobility initiatives. Many businesses are still wrestling with the management of basic mobility, and have yet to take on larger efforts to gain more direct and measurable business value from mobile.

MarketsandMarkets has published that the managed mobility services market "could grow from $2.92 billion in 2014 to a staggering $11.05 billion by 2019, at a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 30.5%". Analysts at TechNavio have shared a forecast that shows growth of the global market at a CAGR of 32.71 percent for the cumulative period of 2014-2019.

 

Advantages of Mobility Services

Managed services providers can deliver and support many aspects of mobile initiatives:

• Consultative third-party assessment of mobility related to the organization's objectives and needs
• Platform-agnostic approach to services, as well as expert support to develop, deploy, and manage mobility initiatives (devices, apps, services, processes,etc.)
• Unified deployment, process creation and management across multiple mobile platforms
• Help desk services and employee training
• Monitoring and analytics to generate intelligence to help manage performance and cost

When businesses partner with providers of managed mobility services, decisions can become less reactionary and more proactive in terms of the many roles mobile can play in an organization -- to work towards the creation of long-term mobile strategies. Managed services providers as mobile experts can continuously contribute updated information on future trends, new services, and additional ways organizations can benefit from mobility. Such support is much needed by many organizations that lack the time and resources to truly take advantage of and control what mobility has to offer. The key for success for managed services providers is to offer highly beneficial and differentiated services that show clear value. Mobile ecosystems of value-added services are on the rise and should be of interest to services providers.

 

Image source: computerbilities.com

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for MSPs and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit IBM's PivotPoint. Dedicated to providing valuable insight from industry thought leaders, PivotPoint offers expertise to help you develop, differentiate and scale your business.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

 

‘Tech Savvy’ for Midsized Companies Means ‘Customer Savvy’

 

Technology is no longer simply back office automation or work productivity tools addressing the day to day of the business. Technology has become a core pillar for company strategies, as well as for change and success. The biggest transformation any midsized company can make to become a business that sustains growth over time is to strategically and proactively use technology to achieve the goals of the business. Such a transformation through technology often takes midsized companies into new markets and new ways of doing business. The strategic positioning of technology leads to strengthening the organization, improving competitive edge and opening new doors for growth and opportunity.

In parallel to technology considerations, the single most important success factor for most companies is The Customer. These days all activities related to the customer must be ramped up and more responsive to customer needs and desires. Companies must change how they function to better serve customers. Proactive use of technology in many areas is essential to ensure top notch customer experiences and interactions at any time and place.

Midsized companies that make the customer a core focus will achieve better outcomes. When deciding on how to best leverage technology, companies should use customer strategies to drive and define technology strategies. When companies combine technologies with effective practices and processes around meeting customer needs on every level, competitive edge and revenue growth usually follow as natural outcomes.

The Boston Consulting Group (BCG) completed a global study focused on midsized and smaller companies to assess the impact of technology on business performance and growth:

Adopting technology in an intelligent way is critical to the future business success of many SMEs. More than 90 percent of leaders said that IT is important to their business's future, and almost two-thirds said that new technologies will lead to higher revenues and profits or more jobs at their company.

The study presents clear evidence that midsized and smaller businesses with higher rates of technology adoption grow faster and create more jobs than their counterparts that maintain low levels of technology adoption. Looking at U.S. SMB companies, BCG projected that if 15 percent of technology 'laggards' and 30 percent of technology 'followers' evolved into high technology adoption companies, the result would be the addition of more than two million jobs and an additional $360 billion flowing into the U.S. economy.

 

Midsized companies that want to be top competitors should evaluate all functional and operational areas that help the company shine as a customer-responsive organization to see how improvements can be made with the right technologies:

• Marketing and business interactions through mobile devices and digital channels
• Customer service and support
• eCommerce and payment services
• Gaining insight from data analytics for everything Customer
• CRM and Marketing Automation platforms
• Customer onboarding and education channels
• Deployment of Cloud / SaaS solutions for enterprise capabilities that keep up with customer and market trends

 

The goal should always be to wow customers. There are many robust technologies that can help midsized companies do that every day, in every interaction and channel. Companies that are "tech savvy" quickly show how they are "customer savvy".

 

Image Source: Sabre Travel Network

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit  IBM's Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

Smart Cities Technology -- Opportunities for Midsized Vendors

 

The term 'smart city' is becoming familiar around the world as urban areas realize that a great deal of benefit can come from connecting physical and digital worlds to better serve the needs of citizens and the administration of the city. A smart city doesn't just result from changes in infrastructure and technologies – it must embody new ways of thinking and planning.

And smart cities aren't just limited to large metropolitan areas. Many midsized cities need smart city technologies to better manage growth and provide quality of life and work for their citizens. Just like large metros, many midsized cities want to ensure the sustainability of resources and services, by using technologies and digital systems to improve operations and efficiencies, and to innovate how cities and citizens interact.

At the core of smart cities is the Internet of Things (IoT) – where many systems and networks interact with each other and often run without human intervention. The Internet of Things for the smart city can include not only municipal systems, but machine-generated data created by citizen-owned items such as home environment management devices, smart appliances and vehicle sensors.

With midsized cities pursuing smart city strategies, opportunities are quite promising for midsized technology companies to help these cities realize their plans. Cutting edge and forward-looking initiatives – using the latest technologies – are often thought to be the domain of large vendors working with large cities. But many midsized and smaller cities need and want to take advantage of similar technologies and capabilities to operate more effectively. Often smaller technology vendors are the better choice as a strategic partner for midsized smart city projects that are frequently implemented incrementally and at lesser scale.

The market for smart city technology solutions is still very young and in formative stages, which means there's plenty of room for midsized companies to enter this solution space. Midsized technology vendors who fully understand the needs, desires and challenges that midsized cities have for smart city initiatives will find success in this market. Part of meeting midsized needs includes in-depth understanding of what will work for the people in these cities. So the right solutions aren't just about technologies but must have a strong focus on the sociology of living in a smart city today and into the future.

 

Midsized Smart Cities Need Big Data Analytics

One important technology solution area for midsized smart cities: big data analytics for the volumes of data created every day by city systems. This data increases exponentially as more smart city technologies are implemented. Technologies for transportation, utilities, communications, and many other aspects of urban life are evolving faster than overall management strategies. All cities lag on fully gaining advantage and innovative benefit from this information.

Big data analytics technologies are continuously evolving to better collect, integrate, process, and analyze this highly disparate information to both improve the systems of the smart city and to apply results to other needs and opportunities. Midsized technology companies have new ways to deliver cost-effective services and solutions through cloud platforms, lower priced data analytics tools, and mobile applications.

As a solution example, midsized technology vendors could provide services for midsized cities for the continuous data analytics needed to govern and improve urban transportation:

• Real-time operational responsiveness
• Personalized interactions with citizens using transportation systems
• Creating new services and changes to policy more quickly and accurately
• Measuring the effectiveness of current decisions and actions

Such services and solutions should be tailored for midsized cities to keep costs down and provide exactly what these cities need for faster, more effective implementations. Understanding future direction will help midsized technology vendors build in the right scalability, usability and interoperability capabilities to keep smart cities continuously smart in real time.

 

 

Image source: archivenue.com

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit  IBM's Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

One on One Engagement: Mobile Content Marketing

 

Mobile-first is a phrase often heard when discussing web and content design, as well as marketing strategies. The mobile-first focus propels companies into strategies that reflect the amazing growth of mobile usage for business purposes, both on smartphones and tablets. And we are likely to see more vendors move towards mobile-only strategies, as mobile becomes the core customer communications platform for their businesses.

Many reports show that B2C vendors are quickly taking rewarding advantage of marketing and selling through mobile channels. But B2B vendors greatly lag their B2C counterparts, continuing to miss out on a significant opportunity that brings distinct competitive advantage. B2B customers bring with them the positive experiences that B2C vendors give them on mobile – B2B vendors must engage well on mobile if they want to continue to gain and retain these customers.

The average person spends two hours per day looking at a mobile screen. Think about that. Two hours out of every twenty-four – 8% of an entire day – on a mobile device. That's more time than users spend watching TV or using a personal computer. Whether it's at home, at work, or in between, users seem to be inseparable from their mobile devices.   (Source: High Impact Prospecting )

For midsized vendors the message is clear: mobile is wide open right now for smart vendors to reach more customers in very direct and compelling ways – every day. It's time to jump in to create effective mobile marketing strategies and a creative approach to mobile content marketing.

 

Mobile Content Design

Mobile devices offer new ways to create and deliver content which opens up many new possibilities for content marketing teams. Content marketing strategies and content creation have to recognize how different mobile content is from content that is delivered on traditional computing devices. For instance, Google search algorithms are constantly updated to reflect the rising creation of mobile content of all kinds, so it's important for content marketers to develop the right mobile content that aligns with successful semantic search results.

                        

        

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Mobile marketers also have to understand the mobile behavior of target customers: how do they use their mobile devices for different activities? Tablet usage is different from smartphone usage, so marketers need to segment user behavior by device. The available space on a smartphone is obviously premium real estate, while tablets offer a larger canvas for content. The wealth of information that comes from tracking and analyzing how people use mobile devices adds significant intelligence to correctly engaging customers one on one, in ways that they will accept.

Beyond the knowledge about how people use their mobile devices, marketers need to consider what these people are doing when they are consuming mobile content. They could be commuting on a train, plane or bus; in the office; or at home. In different settings, mobile content has to compete with all kinds of distractions. To grab and hold the usually brief attention of the mobile user, content should follow a mobile-smart model:

• Bite-sized content that quickly gets to the point
• High impact "wow" content
• Easy-to-spot actions to take
• Streamlined layouts
• Visual elements instead of text, whenever possible
• Easy-to-read fonts
• Vibrant colors for overall content

There are vendors experimenting with longer form content for mobile engagement. Instead of longer content as the initial view, it may be more effective to offer links to that longer content or to videos. This approach gives control to the mobile user who can then decide when to view additional content that can be time and resource consuming. Vendors can then track click through and conversion metrics to determine the success of longer form content approaches to learn more about customer desires and attention span, and to fine tune marketing efforts.

 

Mobile Content Marketing Strategies

Mobile content marketing is a component of overall content marketing strategies. It should fit well into a unified and consistent experience for customers, no matter what device / channel is used for engagement. And for some companies, mobile is becoming the dominant component, so content marketing strategies must reflect the growing significance of mobile for marketing and selling.

81% of mobile leaders say that mobile fundamentally changed their businesses    (Source: IBM )

Many midsized businesses lack any sort of mobile strategy, let alone planning for effective mobile content marketing. These businesses are missing tremendous opportunities to reach more customers and are likely giving away competitive advantage to other vendors.

  

Image source: Content Marketing Institute

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit  IBM's Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

  

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective

 

Timely, Relevant and Wanted: How to Succeed with Mobile Push Marketing

 

 

Not only are people spending more time on mobile devices, much of it is dedicated to using apps. Because of the intimate nature of mobile, marketers have to take on new ways to effectively target consumers both for in-app and mobile website engagement.

Push notifications or messages only happen if mobile users opt in to activate them. These notifications focus on very specific purposes: relevant / requested vendor offers, customer service alerts, new content availability, social updates, various reminders, or notifications tied to current consumer location. Push messages require an immediate action, which has compelling value to vendors:

• In-the-moment marketing that is simple but with lots of room for creativity
• A new way for delivering memorable customer experiences
• An inexpensive way to keep in touch with already interested customers
• A highly detailed targeting and metrics tool

But marketing through push notifications comes with a serious warning. Marketers must be very respectful of the trust mobile users are extending by giving vendors access to their mobile devices – and their attention. Similar to marketing automation and content marketing, mobile users expect highly personalized relevant content. The difference is that push notifications are extremely targeted to very specific interests and actions of individual consumers, often related to the exact moment or current location. If marketers fail to deliver what consumers want in push messages, the messages are ignored and deleted – and the consumer is likely opt out of future push notifications as a waste of their time.

 

A recent JiWire study found that 75 percent of shoppers act after receiving a location-based message.

 

Consumers who are heavy app users are also the most interested in push notifications:

According to a report from Maz, consumers spend 40 percent more time reading content in apps than on Web sites, but marketers are still hesitant to ramp up in-app ad spend. At the same time, Juniper Research just put out a report that predicts that in-app advertising spend will grow to almost $17 billion by 2018, so that reality may be changing in the near future.

    

While in-app marketing is growing in importance, not all customers want to interact with a vendor through apps. Mobile websites continue to draw customers. Consumer actions on mobile websites can dynamically set off the display of personalized content, as a "push" response. And push notifications can be used to drive consumers to specific web pages.

 

Push Notification Relevance Depends on Continuous Analytics

As with marketing automation, a robotic one-size-fits-all won't cut it for consumer-personalized push messages. And as with content marketing, marketers must avoid anything that smacks of blatant sales propaganda. The focus has to be on the consumer perspective, what they need and want.

This is an interesting new direction for effective marketing. Push notifications require personalization on steroids to generate the right timely targeted offerings. This calls for continuous advanced analytics, detailed segmentation, and location-based services. Vendors should already be constructing well-informed segmentation and profiles of customers for marketing automation, content marketing and product development. Push notifications now take it deeper and add new dimensions to customer behavioral data.

Push notification processes introduce the opportunity for very detailed metrics to determine the engagement quality of the communications: what specific actions were taken, which messages were opened immediately, how many app opens occurred, the amount of time spent in the app. The preferences set by mobile users also generate useful data, particularly if the options are quite granular.Marketers have immediate intelligence about what works and what doesn't, and can make quick changes to approaches.

Beyond the specific needs of continuous improvement of push messages, this new customer intelligence should be shared with all other customer-related functions in the company. Push notifications should never exist in a vacuum, but must be part of an integrated cross-channel strategy for customer engagement.

 

The Omnichannel Customer Experience

While mobile is a unique world, mobile marketing still needs tight integration with all multichannel strategies such as a direct marketing. Push marketing must exist as a consistent component of the omnichannel experience for each customer. It should complement messaging tactics on all digital devices for orchestrated actions and engagement across channels.

The consumer intelligence gained from understanding how mobile users react to push notifications should strive to relate the impact of such messages to subsequent cross-channel behavior. As the sophistication of push notification analytics grows, many possibilities should emerge for highly engaging and creative push interactions anywhere anytime.

 

Image source: 99mobileapps.com

 

 

This post was brought to you by IBM for Midsize Business and opinions are my own. To read more on this topic, visit  IBM's Midsize Insider. Dedicated to providing businesses with expertise, solutions and tools that are specific to small and midsized companies, the Midsize Business program provides businesses with the materials and knowledge they need to become engines of a smarter planet.

 

About the author: Julie Hunt understands the overlap and convergence of many business processes and software solutions that once were thought of as "separate" – and how this impacts software Vendors and Buyers, as well as the strategies that enterprises implement for how technology supports the business and its customers. Julie shares her takes on the software industry via her blog Highly Competitiveand on Twitter: @juliebhunt For more information: Julie Hunt Consulting – Strategies for B2B Software Solutions: Working from the Customer Perspective