The impact of emerging technology and communication platforms!

Cloud Computing | Social Networking

April 22nd, 2009

About Agosto

• Local IT Professional Service Firm– Outsource IT Operations (Managed Services)

• Full-service IT Support • Infrastructure Support

– Outsource CIO / CTO and Strategic Consulting• Strategic Consulting• IT Steering Committee• BA / PM Services

– On-demand (Software as a Service) Consulting• SaaS Implementation Experts

– NetSuite– Google Apps

• Specialization: – Complex, decentralized environments– IT Leadership and Management– Cost Containment Strategies

About Agosto

• Some of our clients:

About Aric

• 1998 - Graduated from UST with BA in Marketing Management

• 1996 - Started a IT Service Firm (full-service B2B IT Support)

• 1997 – Added Internet Services

• 1999 – Learned how to burn money

• 2000 – (Short break) – Helped Time Warner Launch RoadRunner

• Late 2000 – Acquired previous firms assets and reorganized

• 2001 – Sold ISP and focused on IT outsourcing

• 2005 – Sold firm to Techies, the commercial spin-off of the Geek Squad

• 2007 – Joined Agosto as a Consultant

• Today – President of Agosto and Consultant

About Aric

• Specialization

– IT Leadership

– IT Service Management

– Business Analysis and Process Engineering

– Software as a Service (SaaS)

• Interesting Trends

– Infrastructure-less Solutions

– Social Networking

– The ‘Consumer Electronic’ Invasion

Cloud Computing | SaaS

Introduction to SaaS

• Terms– Software as a Service (SaaS)– Cloud Computing / Grid Computing– On Demand– Web 2.0

• What is SaaS?– Delivery Model– Success stories

• Salesforce.com• NetSuite.com• Google Apps• Amazon Web Services

– Multi-tenancy

Introduction to SaaS

SaaS:Multi-Tenant Shared

Spend Resources on Innovation Business Model Based on Customer

Success, Adoption and Service!

Traditional:Single Tenant Isolated

Spend Resources on Individual Maintenance and System Changes

Business Model Based on Upgrades

Introduction to SaaS

Introduction to SaaS

• 5 Myths about SaaS1. SaaS is a peripheral trend

- 21% of all enterprise companies have implemented or are piloting SaaS – Source: Forrester Research

2. SaaS offers just one type of application- More than 950 SaaS offerings across 80 different application, industry and technology areas

3. SaaS just offers ‘skinnier’ versions of sophisticated applications- GE just deployed Aravo Solutions (Information Mgmt)- Carlson Companies deploying Google Apps (Email Platform)

4. SaaS is less reliable5. IT Professionals are uniformly opposed to SaaS

- Empowers business units vs. ITSource: Five Myths about SaaS. Jeff Kaplan

Introduction to SaaS

• According to Forrester, the following functions is a good SaaS play:– Archiving and eDiscovery– Business Intelligence (BI)– Collaboration– CRM– Digital asset management– Enterprise content management– Enterprise resource planning (ERP)– Human resources– Integration– IT management– Online backup– Supply chain management– Web content management– Web conferencing

Introduction to SaaS

• Keys to successfully leverage SaaS?1. Clearly determine your objectives!

a. What’s the goal?b. What’s the benefit? Cost containment, OpEx vs. CapEx, etc.c. Understand all costs (migration, subscription, support)

2. Develop a detailed requirements document!a. Workflows and process mappingb. End-user management c. Infrastructure

3. Develop migration plan! 4. Pilot!

a. Measure pilot results against expected benefit.

5. Understand your exit strategy!

Social Networking

Introduction to Social Networking

• What is Social Networking?– Blogging

• Blogger • Wordpress• Squarespace

– Microblogging • Twitter• Pwonce

– Social Networking • Facebook • MySpace • LinkedIn• Yelp

– Social News • Digg.com• Slashdot• Fark

Social Network Stats

Avenue A Razorfish’s recently published Feed report surveyed “connected consumers”. • Of these connected consumers, 28% use Twitter. • 52% regularly use RSS feeds• 55% use desktop widgets, whilst a further use widgets on sites such as Facebook or

iGoogle. • Video has been a star this year, as usage has hit the mainstream. 52% of connected

consumers have uploaded videos with some frequency. • 72% have shared videos with their peers. • 68% of consumers say that they participate in more than one social network. • Somewhat surprisingly, 40% say that they have made a purchase based on advertising

through a social network.

• More than half of companies surveyed are either using Facebook as part of their marketing strategy (26%), or planning to utilize this social networking site (25%).

Social Networking

Realities of our world• Web is increasingly fragmented as content becomes distributed. Your online brand isn’t your website.

• Many websites now include some social elements, whether this includes sharing links with friends, posting articles on Delicious, Digg, or StumbleUpon, or wider integration with other third-party social networks, such as Facebook.

• Social networking exploded during 2007 and 2008. In 2009, companies are now focusing more on monetization opportunities from social media.

– Twitter has integrated search into its home page. Finding relevant information for companies is thought to be a potential route to monetising the microblogging service. – Earlier this year, Cisco launched their social-media platform, Eos, a hosted solution to allow media and entertainment companies to create, manage and grow online

communities. – At the end of 2008, European business social network, Xing, acquired New York-based socialmedia, for a reported $7.5 million. – In 2008, AOL bought Bebo for $850 million, as part of its international expansion strategy. AOL also acquired social networking site SocialThing in 2008 in a $10

million deal.

• As social media establishes itself as a marketing discipline, there is greater emphasis on measurement and tracking as metrics better enable marketers to benchmark success.

• Online video-sharing sites continue to thrive. Video services such as Hulu demonstrate that consumers are open to viewing advertising in between clips, in preference to traditional formats such as pre-roll.

• Twitter got a mainstream plug on national television recently, on Oprah as Ashton Kutcher race to 1million followers beating out CNN.

• Whitehouse.gov features a blog, RSS and email newsletters. President Obama’s administration uses Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

Social Networking

• Social Networking is changing the rules– Power to the people

• Marketing is moving from a ‘Push’ to a ‘Pull’ – Gen Y | YouTube Generation– Fragmented marketing tactics

• Success Stories– Comcast– Gartner Group– Zappos

• http://www.zappos.com/map/#

Social Networking

• Social media allows the market to be more customer-led, increasing the ease of communication with and between key stakeholders.

• A growing number of companies are incorporating social channels into their online strategy, although it is worthwhile remembering that the industry is relatively immature. Best practice in this area is still emerging and evolving.

• Companies need to take greater steps to fill the gap between where their brand is positioned online and where the conversations are actually taking place. – Online marketing is increasingly about approaching the customer using channels that they are familiar with, instead of merely increasing traffic to your own website. – Companies “need to go where the conversation is”. - Gartner’s Twitter account has been cited as an example of best practice. Gartner’s aim is to facilitate dialogue between key analysts and customers, and therefore make the customer experience interactive.

• Who is the best person to manage social media channels? Senior employees will increase levels of authenticity and trust, and will enable the brand to build greater authority and influence.

• Privacy is a key consideration

• Involvement into relevant networks will allow companies to foresee potential opportunities

Social Networking

• Keys to a successful social networking initiative:1. Clearly determine your objectives!

a. What’s the goal?b. What’s the benefit?

2. Understand the Social Networking culture – dip your toe in the water!3. Develop success metrics

• CPA (cost-per-action/ cost-per-acquisition) is the key measurement metric that is driving digital marketing

• Viewings on YouTube, • Page views • Clickthroughs and traffic• SE Ranking

4. Be authentic and genuine – provide relevant content to your target audience!

Questions?

Thank you!