Direct to the customer

Steve Illingworth

The new wave of instant digital marketing will give companies new opportunities to increase business, says ECM Asia Pacific chief technology officer Steve Illingworth

Steve Illingworth, chief technology officer, Asia Pacific, EMC, says it is now easier to analyse and make use of the huge amount of data in today's digital world for business advantages.

"Everything has become electronic or digital, whether information on the web, tweeters, Facebook or other social networking sites, or TV channels now broadcast in digital format or on the Internet, plus Iphone and Android devices.

"Every time you make a cell phone call or send an SMS you are generating a lot of data, so monitors know how long you are on the phone and who you call. For ATM transactions they know which machine you withdraw money from and how much. Every time you walk with your cell phone, it is connected to a base station.

"In the US, doctors can put a very small device in your body to monitor whether you are taking medicine properly if you are diabetic, and what your sugar level is. This is connected to your mobile phone, which sends the data to your healthcare provider.

"You can buy a pair of running shoes from Nike embedded with microprocessors that measure the distance you run and the speed, and it is connected to a watch or a mobile device so you can download the data to your notebook or upload to Nike so they get data from runners.

"Another example is how data has changed business. In the past, if movie studios wanted to know how much money they would make in the first week of a new title, they would hire a call centre in the US to relate what the movie was about, are you going to see it, are your friends going, so they could change the marketing in a timely fashion.

"That's the old way. Now, the trailers and credits have their own websites like avengermovie.com encouraging you to go to the website or a Facebook page which has mention of the movie.

"All the data is collected electronically and analysed to change the way they market the movie. They forecast the performance of Avenger in the opening weekend with 96 per cent accuracy, with no call centre. It's pure technology in real time that allows instant marketing adaptation, and if it's a hit in the US, it's a hit worldwide.

"Getting information accurately, in a cheaper way, will benefit any business. Information is the new oil. In the past, we had data warehouses but the trouble was that the data was rapidly growing in volumes, in varieties and in velocity.

"The problem is how we analyse it and use it to forecast. For example, a bank needs to know where to put new ATMs or new branches, or base stations for telecom firms. It's all about business analytics and at the moment there's a sea change.

"Thailand's upcoming 3G or 4G telecom network means that telecom operators, for example, may get into banking while retailers also start to be hooked up with telecom firms, so businesses will learn to leverage the strengths of partners across sectors. They will adapt and change significantly over the next few years to make use of the huge amount of data.

"Take your cellphone as an example; once it's switched on, it's connected to the base station, so operators know where you are even though the location services are off. They also know your demographic data: name, sex, age, whether you have a mortgage or other loans, or how many kids you have.

"Retailers selling men's clothes, for example, can work with telcos on their next marketing campaign for new jeans targeting 18-25 year-old single men. Then you have 1,500 such people walking within 100 metres of your store and you can market the new jeans to them directly, and they are your exact target. You can give them a 15 per cent discount if they buy within a few hours. That's how a telecom firm can work with a retailer to do a very precise marketing campaign in the digital age.

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Article source: http://www.thethailandlinks.com/2012/12/01/direct-to-the-customer/