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Ubiquitous networking (0)

 

BT futurologist Nicola Millard has produced a white paper entitled The Multichannel Swap Shop: Exploring the Behaviour of the Multitasking, Multicultural, Multichannel Customer.  Much of it concerns the relationship of Internet to bricks-and-mortar retail, but there are some thought-provoking points for our sector, like this:

The biggest consideration for companies with respect to multichannel strategies is the increasing convergence of networked devices combined with the increasing ubiquity of the internet. Convergence will start to blur the physical and the virtual worlds through the use of GPS, RFI ID tags and machine readable physical objects such as ‘shortcodes’, ‘SMS codes’, ‘QR codes’ or ‘UPCODES’, which can be printed on packaging or advertising material.

Hypertag, where a code is embedded into advertising posters, has already been successfully trialled with users able to order products using their phone and a short code. ScanSearch and ScanZoom have been trialled in Japan and the US. ScanSearch, from Amazon Japan, allows the 27% of Japanese customers who currently own a mobile phone equipped with a barcode reader to compare prices on the go with those on Amazon.co.jp and, if lower, buy straight from Amazon via their phone. ScanZoom allows customers to take a photo of a product’s bar code and then get access to PriceGrabber or Amazon’s information for that product, from product descriptions and customer ratings to pricing.

Physical spaces can start to be embedded with social networks - stories, memories, opinions and other social information left by individuals, groups and businesses. This so-called “geo-web” will enable people with mobile devices to access information relevant to their current location – including information sensitive to locale and local culture. Imagine being able to post reviews of hotels or restaurants whilst actually still being there and instantly having that information available to all.

In this converged world, customers can simultaneously be present in both the physical and virtual world. So there need to be tools to manage presence markers (i.e. I am here), attention management tools (i.e. there is something that might be of interest to you here) and the ability to multicontext (i.e. switch between physical and, potentially multiple, virtual channels). For companies, this allows the possibility of helping customers to shop and get service using location data as well as the data in CRM systems.

In addition, products get social and services get smart – whether through the power of IP (Ipv6 addresses) or self-configuring sensor networks. Connected devices (phones, computers, mp3 players, TVs etc) increasingly become intelligent servicing platforms, diagnosing, updating, reordering and supporting an array of products and services without the need for any human intervention (unless, of course, they choose to be involved).

You can download the white paper here.

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