SOCIAL, MOBILE & THE CLOUD
COMPLEX NATURE OF TECHNOLOGY OR
AN OPPORTUNITY FOR BETTER BUSINESS?
2012 was a landmark year when the impact of the social,
mobile, and the cloud technologies became evident, thus
laying the foundation for a new organization-wide IT architec-
ture. Enterprises have gone through a series of complexities in
this scenario. Right from adaptation and development to
sustaining and making use of all the analytical information
these technologies help with, business leaders often find them-
selves in a dilemma. The easier a technology is for the user, the
tougher it is for an organization to leverage its full potential.
Simplicity is a result of complex technological evolution. What
is convenient for the customers today is delivered by complexi-
ties organizations face. Complexities not only occur during the
time of development, but in keeping up with the dynamic
nature of technological change and in the struggle to leverage
the benefits. Social, Mobility, Analytics and the Cloud are rewrit-
ing the future of business success.
According to the Aberdeen group, the cloud is the canvas on
which the application landscape is painted. Mobile is the
delivery point, and social is the glue, the web of threads that
connect it all. The synergy of these technologies will lead to
innovation, transformation and interconnectivity of IT comput-
ing services, tools and realignment of resources.
Research
Consumerization of IT
and the ubiquity of
connected smart
devices has converged
four formidable forces.
02 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
Importance of Mobility
Over 77% percent of the world’s population is connected
through mobile.This rapid expansion has led to the consumer-
ization of IT with connected customers are connected setting
the rules today. Customer interactions happen all the time. Be
it transactional or relational, social media is all about constant
interactions. Customers live online, and companies need to
develop effective online sales strategies to effectively utilize
the reach of this ever-growing platform. To explain the impor-
tance of this connection you could say that“the cloud is
where it all happens, social is how it happens and mobility
enables all the happenings.”Simply put, virtual space is reshap-
ing reality.
For example, to devise any new initiative, a CEO operating in a
hierarchical organization would need to navigate various
chains of command. In a ‘wirearchy’ created by the nexus of
these technologies, he can dynamically interact with individu-
als at all levels of the organization, regardless of rank and
seniority.
These forces are very customer-centric. User
behavior is the driving power propelling
these forces and it is vital for organizations
to recognize this. Mobility capitalizes on the
opportunities that social and the cloud hold,
while recognizing the power of user behav-
ior through social and mobility will shed
light on the opportunities these present.
Mark Zuckerberg put it best in Facebook’s S-1 filing when he wrote, “
Today, our society has reached another tipping point. We live at a
moment when the majority of people in the world have access to the
Internet or mobile phones — the raw tools necessary to start sharing
what they’re thinking, feeling and doing with whomever they want.”
Cloud
Enables delivery of information
and funcionality to users and
systems
Information
The context for delivering
enhanced social and mobile
experiences
Social
Links people to their work and
each other in new and
unexpected ways
Mobility
A platform for effective social
networking and new ways of
work
1 2
3 4
03 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
Hierarchy
Wirearchy
For example, to devise any new initiative, a
CEO operating in a hierarchical organiza-
tion would need to navigate various
chains of command. In a ‘wirearchy’ creat-
ed by the nexus of these technologies, he
can dynamically interact with individuals
at all levels of the organization, regardless
of rank and seniority.
04 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
Despite all the complications, businesses can find ways to
grow and sustain in the dynamic digital world. Ubiquitous
connectivity is the mantra. Every connected user in today’s
world is a potential customer. Their seamless connectivity
gives birth to precious data. Every second, there are millions of
interactions happening on the social space and the informa-
tion companies can extract out of these interactions is invalua-
ble. Understanding such information can help analyze
sentiments, build brand loyalty and establish a strong brand
image.
Sentiment analysis is the key to understanding customer
needs and relationship. Apart from the conventional uses,
sentiment analysis can help companies create better products
that will be in demand. Similar to the beta launch of digital
products, sentiment analysis helps understand the success of a
product, pros and cons of the product and the necessary
changes and improvements their customers would require.
Sentiment analysis has been one of the biggest topics since
the emergence of Web 2.0. This will continue to be the case as
the next generation of mobile users will hardly use traditional
devices such as desktops and laptops. With the increasing
adaptation to touch sensitive devices, we believe that tomor-
row’s users will prefer gesture and motion controlled devices
over existing type and tap or click devices. This provides
companies with a window into the mind of their customers; a
window that reveals more and more, as companies get more
adept in recognizing user behavioral patterns and as the
interactivity of mobile devices increases. Social media
platforms will be the tool that records their customer opinions.
Opportunities at the Door Step
When Sentiments Matter
Consider these interesting statistics. The information value chain has been unlocked by the advent and convergence of social,
mobile and cloud technologies, or what the industry calls“SoMoCloTM
”(term coined, and owned, by the Aberdeen Group).
Year founded Articles Languages Words Updated Mistakes per article Cost
Encyclopedia Britanica
Wikipedia
1768 65,000 1 40 million Annually 2.92 $729
2001 4,086,999* 270 2 billion Realtime 3.86 free
05 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
It is no news that even the oldest and
most trusted brands now need to
reestablish themselves. Brand loyalty,
which is one of the most critical free
growth driver, is now looking for
guidance, and technology guides it
today. According to a Comscore study,
Brand Establishment
Opportunities
in Emerging
Markets
in the US alone, 235 million people use
mobile phones and eventually a major-
ity of them will own smartphones.
There are more than a billion smart-
phones in the world and by 2015, there
will be a billion more according to
Strategy Analytics. Such is the potential
of mobility and companies must
capitalize on this opportunity, reestab-
lish their brands, build, and sustain
brand loyalty on the social space.
An interesting study by Nielsen,
conducted in the early 2012 reveals
that of the total mobile owners, 36%
own smartphones in Brazil, 37%
percent in Russia, only 10% in India and
66% in China. These statistics show that
there is already a huge established
base of smartphone users in the BRIC
countries, and the opportunities
provided by these countries will only
increase as more and more of potential
customers migrate to smartphones.
Mobile Ownership in the Bric Markets by Type of Device
Among mobile subscribers aged 16+, first - half 2012
BRAZIL
INDIA
RUSSIA
CHINA
Smart phone Multimedia phone Feauture phone
06 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
A Peek at Tomorrow
Technology has already found ways to improve the mobile
experience. For instance, touchscreen mobile devices will let
users feel the texture of the object displayed. We believe that
technology such as Tactile Pixels will revamp the future of
shopping experience. E-commerce has come and gone, and
the future is all about m-commerce. Customers will soon be
using only their mobile devices to get all the information
about the products they want to buy, to purchase products
online supported by secure cloud-based payment gateways,
and to share product reviews – that could make or break a
brand – on social networking websites.
There is a definite and continued shift of ad spend towards
mobile channels, and brands are building models that bring
together cloud, social, and mobile. Of course, the introduc-
tion of mobile currencies has made digital cash a reality and
has simplified electronic funds transfer. Though practical
adaptation of mobile payment systems has been slow so far,
in the near future through awareness, much like internet
banking, mobile banking and payments will see a better,
steeper growth.
07 Social, Mobile & The Cloud
BI Intelligence states that by January 2013, 29% of mobile
users have made a purchase using their phones.Bank of
America predicts that $67.1 billion in purchases will be made
from mobile devices by shoppers from the US and Europe. As
a result, businesses that are mobile friendly will see better
growth and ROI. Besides improving sales and revenue, mobile
transactions also provide unique insights into customer
purchase behavior and demand patterns. Brands can better
understand individual customer needs and create custom-
Growth and Progress
ized products. This will enable organizations to transform
transactional relationships to personal ones. Analyzing
purchase history will help understand individual customer
needs and will help brands create customized products. And
since mobility and social networks are interconnected and
interdependent, real-time review and interaction tracking is
another possibility that will help understand customer
psyche better.
Wipro’s mobility solutions help clients reach their maximum
potential, be prepared for the future, and do business better.
With this expertise and foresight, we help our clients in the
Retail, Banking and Finance, Healthcare and Life Sciences,
Energy and Utilities and Telecom and Manufacturing. Be it
Wipro’s Omni Channel that aims at providing real-time shop-
ping experience on their mobile phones, or the mobile
healthcare solutions that focuses on making the life of
doctors and patients easier, we aim at providing the best of
solutions to help our clients and their customers reap the
maximum benefit of technology.
What We Do With
Mobility
People are already tapping social, mobility and the cloud at the office – opting
to buy their own smartphone over the company issued one. They are using their
mobile device to keep up with the industry and competitors, using online
storage for corporate documents needed from home without the hassle of VPN.
Further, social, mobility and the cloud are improving businesses’bottom line by
increasing productivity, responsiveness and efficiency. And now, with the
explosion of Big Data, there is a pressing need to convert these one-off consum-
er behaviors into a consistent and systematic strategy across their business and
IT governance.