Archive for the ‘SME Trends’ Category

SMS – the growing new wave of communication

Thursday, June 17th, 2010 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

SMS, or simple message service, lives up to its name – it’s one of the easiest and most effective ways to communicate. Its efficiency and availability make it one of the most highly used modes of communication worldwide.



The future of SMS is bright, as it seems to only be trending upward, with usage growing exponentially over recent years.  While the simplicity, reliability, and affordability of SMS have made it an attractive option for mobile users, emerging trends will ultimately spur its growth over the next few years.  Businesses are finding an ally in SMS for machine-to-machine applications, allowing data and updates to be sent from locations that are not fixed, such as moving vehicles with GPS systems.



But there’s a downside: just as businesses are capitalizing on the reach afforded by SMS, so are spammers.  Spammers have the capability to reach many more unwilling “customers” than ever before through the use of SMS.  That’s great news for spammers, but an annoyance for the rest of us.  Nevertheless, spamming will play a large role in the growth of SMS.



Flat rate billing plans and personalization services for SMS are also making it a desirable option for communicating in real time.  For a more detailed review of these growth trends, check out this article.

One of the most important advantages of SMS, though, is that it is often available when other voice services are not.  When calling is not an option because of service disruptions, SMS may be the only way to stay in touch.  It is one of the few reliable ways to communicate during emergencies. The power and reach of SMS was demonstrated during the recent devastating earthquakes in Chile and Haiti.  When these catastrophes crippled voice networks in these countries, friends and family members were still able to connect via SMS. This articleoutlines how SMS is able to survive when carrier networks are damaged.

With all of its efficiency, reach, and popularity, SMS  seems like it will be next big vehicle for marketing.  What’s interesting, though, is that SMS marketing really has not yet taken off. There are some companies like Waterfall Mobile that are providing valuable services with SMS ,such as sending out messages to skiers with weather updates.  Airlines are also using SMS to send out updates to customers regarding flight delays and gate changes.  But what is really surprising is that there aren’t more companies using SMS as a way to gain new clients, market their products, and engage their customers. It’s easy to see the value of using this simple, far-reaching mode of communication –  so what are they waiting for?

A Mobile Dessert I’m Anxiously Awaiting

Friday, June 4th, 2010 | located in SME Trends, mobility | No Comments »

My summer resolution is to replace my Blackberry RIM 8320 mobile phone.  I’ve had this phone for a couple of years, and it’s done a respectable job of handling my corporate Outlook email, calendar, and address book needs.  Despite this device’s solid messaging abilities, I’m looking for a replacement because I’m tired of its “Flintstone”-like Internet browser and its limitations.  Recent smartphone browsing developments make my Blackberry’s tiny screen, sluggish browser speed, and miniscule application market replacement-worthy.

Replacement Criteria

Here’s what I’m looking for:

• A device that handles integrated voice, email, calendaring, and address book at least as well as my old Blackberry.
• A smartphone with the largest possible screen that will fit into my pocket.  It should also support Internet browsing at or close to broadband speeds via WiFi or a carrier’s mobile network.
• A smartphone brand that supports more than 10,000 third party applications — a healthy, growing number of third party apps bolsters my confidence in the platform’s functionality.

Given these criteria, my decision boils down to a smartphone that’s either on the iPhone or Android platform. While iPhone is compelling because competitors have had to perform more than a few iterations to even approach its functionality, and the new 4G IPhone is due to be released soon,  there’s good reason to consider Android in my selection process.

Top five reasons I’m considering the newest Google Android Platform smartphone:

Google is releasing FroYo (Android version 2.2 – with a code name short for frozen yogurt) this summer on phones and carrier networks yet to be determined.  In addition to meeting all my criteria above, FroYo is a significant upgrade for the Android platform, offering speed and phone capabilities that exceed or equal those of the iPhone.   My list of top FroYo capabilities includes:

1. Ability to store Android apps in SD memory. Storing apps outside core memory frees the device to easily add apps that constrained earlier versions of Android, which required them to be stored in core memory.
2. Access to 50k applications in Android’s app market. The platform also has automatic upgrade capabilities.
3. Speeds of 2x-5x faster than Android v2.1 with a  browser that’s 2x-3x faster. Speed improvements enable Google to claim FroYo will be the fastest mobile browser in the market when it is released.
4. Support for Flash 10.1 and AIR from Adobe. FroYo users will be able to access video clips in the most common video format on the Internet (unlike iPhone, which refuses to support the Flash format).
5. Tethering. FroYo users can connect their phones to their PCs/Macs to access WiFi or the carrier’s network − try that with an iPhone.

Looking forward to tasting some FroYo this summer!

More Businesses Are Tapping Benefits of Social Media

Monday, May 24th, 2010 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

There is no denying that social media is an extremely powerful tool for today’s businesses. Companies of all sizes have begun to explore ways to communicate with their consumers via social media. They’ve discovered that this medium can be an effective and inexpensive way to send updates, promotional campaigns, sales announcements and other outbound communications.

Social media is also used by companies to obtain feedback and leverage the influence of people who are well-connected. Starbucks is a perfect example of a company that is engaging consumers and asking for their input - take a look at their idea wall.

Another great example is the Facebook campaign launched by Papa John’s Pizza, where fans of the Papa John Pizza page were recruited to create a new pizza recipe.

But large companies aren’t the only ones benefiting from social media – small and medium businesses can take advantage of it as well. In an article in Destination CRM AMI’s Marketing Strategy Group VP Chad Thompson suggests that there are many reasons for businesses to consider social media:

1. Social media makes it easy to identify fans and advocates. Sites like Facebook and Twitter enable fans to easily share their enthusiasm for your business. They’re also easier to grow than traditional marketing tools like an email blast. Rather than going to the work of gathering phone numbers and email addresses, SMBs can communicate directly to customers without cluttering up their inboxes.
2. Social media provides the ability to gather insight from a broader range of people. “A lot of SMBs are finding ways to integrate social media sites and services into their actual business,” Thompson says. One-way communication like direct marketing and email can only be sent to customers who opt in, but social networks help get messages out  to a large group that could include vendors, associated businesses, and prospects.
3. Social media allows businesses to build credibility. SMBs are also using social media to take a position of thought leadership in an area of business. Companies are publishing in-depth blog posts that demonstrate an understanding of key industry issues, and spreading the posts via sites like Twitter and Facebook. As a result, they’re making their brands more distinctive and standing out from competitors.

“They know that it’s not enough to be on there,” Thompson says, “They have to show greater analysis and understanding and expertise.”

To that end, take a look at this article published by Mashable about five surprising Social Media business success stories.

I expect to see more and more businesses using creative ways to utilize the power of social media to create greater customer loyalty and capture the attention of more potential customers and fans. Do you have any examples of businesses using social media to share?

Are today’s laptops soon going to be relics of the past?

Tuesday, May 4th, 2010 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

Apple recently announced that it crossed the 1 million mark on the number of iPads sold… and it only took 28 days! By comparison, the company sold only half that many iPhones during the same period after they were first released. That’s a figure with some staggering implications.

We all know that desktop PC’s are going the way of the dinosaur - as more consumers demand mobility and convergence, they simply don’t keep up. But what about laptops?

Laptops are far more mobile, and they have served us well, but the iPad can do most of the same functions in a small, lightweight unit – and provide lots of additional tools and apps.

Motorola just announced how they will be creating their own tablet. Will other device makers follow suit?

So I ask you: will the Apple iPad change the personal computing industry as we know it today, just like it did with the iPod and iPhone?

What would it take for you to leave your laptop at home? Are there features or specific applications that are must-haves for you? I’d like to hear your thoughts.

Big changes in play. FaceNingTwitterForce

Thursday, April 29th, 2010 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

Many of you have probably heard about the Morgan Stanley Mobile internet report featured on GigaOm yesterday. Two pieces of information in this report were particularly interesting:

1. Mobile internet users are expected to surpass desktop internet users in 2013, and;
2. As of July 2009, more people use social networking than use email, and more time is spent on social networking than email.  These are fundamental shifts in user behavior, connectivity, and personalization that are sure to affect virtually every business in a variety of ways.

What do you think?  Are you seeing the use of mobile internet or social networking increase in your business?

There have also been notable announcements in the social networking industry in the past few weeks.

1. Facebook is now everywhere. The “Like” button is now all over the web, the “FaceWeb”
2. Twitter is going vertical. Twitter buys client application and SMS company + announces paid advertising.
3. Ning is shutting down their free communities. Up or out.  Revenue from Google AdWords is not enough to support free.
4. Salesforce.com announces Chatter for free use and buys Jigsaw. A big step toward further enabling social networking and crowd sourced data for business.

It’s hard to draw any single conclusion from all of this. One thing is clear - the ways consumers and businesses communicate, share information, and get work done are changing fast.  I’m curious to see how the expansion of Facebook across the web and Twitter’s broader use of SMS text messaging change the landscape.  Will this bring value or just inundate users with a flood of random information?  What do you think?

Ribbit gives eBizQ the 411 on Trends in Mobile CRM

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010 | located in Articles and Media Mentions, SME Trends | No Comments »

eBizQ recently interviewed Ribbit’s own Greg Goldfarb, VP and General Manager of Enterprise Applications, to find out how mobile CRM is evolving and how it’s being used today. Among many observations, Greg shared the following with eBizQ editor Peter Schoof.

• Greater automation is helping to make CRM more dynamic—user-specific, relevant data can now be pushed out to users (as opposed to users digging for relevant data themselves).
• Integrated voice and text messaging is solving the problem of how to get information from the CRM system out to salespeople in the field effectively and efficiently.
• CRM is becoming a more of a collaboration environment than a sales reporting system, rapidly linking mobile field sales people to those working in the office.

You can also read the transcript and listen to the entire interview here.

Road Warriors Work Best in the Cloud

Monday, April 19th, 2010 | located in Productivity, SME Trends | No Comments »

Laptop? Check. iPhone or Blackberry? Check. 3G/4G card? Check.

Most sales professionals already have everything they need to stay productive on the road, according to David Taber, CRM consultant and author of Salesforce.com Secrets of Success. In a recent article penned for CIO magazine, Taber makes a strong case for cloud-based CRM versus remote-desktop solutions and smart phones with CRM clients over laptops. Taber also weighs in on the iPad and gives it the thumbs down.

Read all about it here: CRM for Road Warriors: Phone or Laptop?

Marc Benioff says it is time for a change.

Thursday, March 4th, 2010 | located in SME Trends, Salesforce | 1 Comment »

salesforce.com CEO, Marc Benioff, shared a couple of thoughts via a guest video during the RSA conference keynote. Marc has spent the last 10 years pushing the edge of enterprise software by bringing productivity products into the cloud, and is encouraging companies to embrace change.

One of my favorite quotes from this short video is: ‘Lotus Notes was conceived before Mark Zuckerberg was. It is time for a change.” Amen brother.

I would not call myself a Benioff ‘fan girl’, but I do appreciate the vision he brings to the world of enterprise solutions - working to bring cloud + mobile computing + social elemsntelements and .

On the horizon for 2010: Increasing clouds with smarter apps expected.

Thursday, January 28th, 2010 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

Demand for cloud computing and smartphone apps grew undeniably in 2009, and mobile business professionals can expect to see that momentum continue to build in the year ahead. Here are a few of the trends we see shaping up in 2010:

• Last year’s recession actually stoked demand for cloud computing, since budget-challenged companies turned to easy-to-implement technologies with fewer upfront costs to reach business objectives. Analyst firm ABI Research expects the number of people subscribing mobile cloud apps to increase from 71 million to almost one billion by 2014.
• Saving time and increasing personal productivity, too, drove demand for both smartphone apps and mobile cloud apps in 2009. Gartner Group expects mobile consumers to spend $6.2 billion on smartphone apps in 2010, with downloads (the vast majority being free) numbering more than 4.5 billion.
• Products will continue to evolve at a record pace to meet all this demand. Fueling this evolution is good old-fashioned competition. With Verizon and Google now challenging Apple and AT&T with the new Droid smartphone and Android OS, for example, apps on either platform are bound to become more feature-rich and more valuable as the industry giants vie for market share.
• Broader market evolution ultimately means good news for mobile business professionals: more intelligent apps that cost less and help you work more efficiently. Ribbit for Salesforce is a great example of this trend. In 2009, we released a major new version of Ribbit for Salesforce that added capabilities previously unavailable anywhere—namely, integral support in Saleforce CRM for SMS and Find Me/Follow Me call forwarding.

We plan to keep advancing Ribbit for Salesforce with new features and capabilities in 2010, fully unlocking the power of SMS for business professionals and enabling more connectivity options. Additionally, we plan to keep expanding our value proposition with exciting new capabilities. Expect a busy year!

Check out the Ribbit for Salesforce demo of our latest capabilities: DEMO

Is This the End of Standalone GPS Devices?

Thursday, December 17th, 2009 | located in SME Trends | No Comments »

Now that smartphones have become so advanced, I’m starting to wonder if standalone GPS devices will soon go the way of the dinosaur.

According to market research firm iSuppli, all phones will have some sort of built in GPS by 2011. With such advances in technology, the question becomes: why would anyone need or want a separate personal navigation device (PND)?

I like my current PND. The main reason I haven’t pitched it out yet is that I find it hard to drive while looking at the small screen on my phone. My PND has a larger screen that makes it easier to read, and therefore easier to use. I also rely heavily on the fact that it has an audio “voice” feature. It tells me what my next move is, thus eliminating the need for me to keep looking at the screen.

But I won’t keep it forever - once Apple rolls voice into the Google Maps app on my iPhone, I’ll no longer need to carry around another device.

And about that iPhone… iSuppli predicts that the number of iPhone owners who use their phone as a navigator will increase from 2 million in 2009 to 20 million by 2013. That’s a tremendous jump that doesn’t bode well for standalone GPS devices.

What do you think? Are PND’s on their way out? What hurdles do handheld phone apps need to overcome to truly replace the need for PND’s?