Category: Technology & Innovation

- by Amanda Phillips

Is interactivity in e-learning key to successful channel partner relationships?

E-learning and marketing. Two fields which upon first glance may seem quite separate, or are they?

In truth, they share the same common principle: neither can be powerful without an understanding of human behaviour. Instead of B2B and B2C, we think of B2P – business to person. What drives and engages humans? We endeavour to understand the human, rational and emotional drivers to create communications, in their widest sense, which generate cut-through; and which ultimately feel more pertinent to the target audience.

In channel marketing we consider this in our ‘gain, train, empower and retain’ model for effective partner engagement. Gain the partner, give them the knowledge and tools they need to understand your business and empower them to activate their potential, ultimately driving revenue. By ensuring effective on-boarding processes are considered, it sets a precedent for the on-going relationship, whilst setting the vendor apart from other channel partners vying for employee attention.

This is where e-learning fits perfectly, applying the principles of B2P to understand how the human brain functions, thus creating bespoke e-learning solutions using instructional design to optimise the learning process.

Optimising learning materials for effective e-learning

Many companies create learning materials by falling back on templated approaches or even re-purposing PowerPoint, but for effective learning the content and structure needs to be more deeply considered, focusing in particular on the physical structure, psychological structure, conceptual difficulty and sequence.

You’ve heard the phrase ‘a picture is worth 1,000 words’, but did you know studies have found pictures help you learn more effectively than text? Or better still, they’re even more valuable when there’s a relevant link to text or audio, which improves learning performance. Research has shown that for effective learning, multimedia should work synchronously, and that multimedia focuses a delegate’s attention. These are just some of the principles we consider when creating a deeper learning experience through instructional design.

Is the user-interface imperative to effective e-learning solutions?

Learning is far more effective when it uses an interactive interface, and especially so when it’s cognitively engaging. Studies concur an interactive user interface has a significant positive effect on learning from multimedia.

Why is this? Well, for one thing, user interaction reduces the load on working memory and stops it becoming overwhelming. When we learn we need to mentally organise incoming material, and by simply including an option where users can work at their own pace, it allows the time to process the relevant information. This works two ways; if the cognitive load is too high (too many pictures, videos etc.) it can become detrimental, therefore, there needs to be a balance in multi-media to enable effective learning and not detraction.

How is better learning better for your whole business?

elearningblog

E-learning also has wider applications beyond being a compelling Partner Relationship Management (PRM) tool; it is being used by HR Directors for compliance training, customer service skills, technical training as well as inducting staff. It instils company values, helping to generate long-term value from employees.

And it can be used as a marketing and prospecting tool. Gamification is said to improve recall by 80% compared to listening (IBM, 2011), therefore, by creating experiences potential customers are more likely to be engaged with, the brand and its products can stand out in comparison with competitor offerings.

Best-in-breed e-learning and communications

At Volume, we have garnered a wealth of experience in marketing communications and technology innovation and, in particular, have applied our instructional design and e-learning capabilities to clients such as Dell, Zebra Technologies and Virgin Media.

To find out more about how e-learning can help your organisation, contact Aidan Murphy on aidan.murphy@volumeglobal.com, or call him on 07879 652446.

- by Paul Brazier

Demystifying the cloud

Cloud computing (or the cloud) are words we’re hearing lots about right now. They can, however, mean different things to different people. Therefore, we think it’s a good idea to clarify them for our clients. The widely accepted definition of cloud computing is this: the provision of computer resources (such as processing power, storage and software) as a service over the internet or local network.

You might also hear the cloud referred to in one of three different types of model – public, private or hybrid. Let’s look at what these terms mean:

Public cloud: Resources, applications or storage for anyone on the internet to register.
Private cloud: A proprietary data centre operating within a secure network, offering flexible and scalable resources that supply hosted services to employees or a company.
Hybrid cloud: A combination where some services are outsourced to public cloud providers while others are provided by the company’s existing infrastructure.

Within any of these cloud models are elements that can be provided as a service:

Platform as a Service (PaaS): Applications can be deployed without the cost and complexity of buying and managing the underlying hardware and software.
Infrastructure as a Service (IaaS): Physical computers (or more often virtual machines and related resources) are supplied on demand from large pools installed in data centres
Software as a Service (SaaS): Application software is provided in the cloud and users access it from native or provided applications.

Cloud adoption: what does this mean for you?

Volume is your marketing technology partner and once we understand your project or application, our detailed knowledge of the cloud ensures you can rely on us to select the best solution for you.

We believe value is enhanced by cloud offerings, and we can deliver specialised capabilities outside our core activities in a cost-effective manner where ROI is a common goal, budgets are restricted or time-to-market is critical.

We constantly review our cloud strategy as part of our Continual Service Improvement charter and against our clients’ demands and business objectives. Below are a few examples of cloud implementations introduced to deliver service solutions that have exceeded customer expectations.

Volume’s Campaign Builder is a highly successful web application hosted from our hybrid cloud solution and is now available to over 50,000 client Channel Partner users across 140 countries. Those users have viewed and downloaded tens of thousands of assets, and usage continues to grow at a rapid rate. The hybrid cloud solution means that the distribution of content all over the world can scale seamlessly and cost-effectively.

Another success story is our MarketingStore web application, which launched in 2006 throughout EMEA. This has recently moved to our hybrid cloud to allow seamless growth within Asia-Pacific, where local-cloud points of presence are key to ensure high-performing content delivery.

Our email campaign solutions now execute in a cloud environment, providing much higher throughput and analytical control. Systems are controlled and monitored by field experts and best-practice processes are in use. This enables Volume to offer a higher open rate and higher click-through results, and to form recommendations to our customers from trends.

Summary

Volume is your expert cloud-computing-application partner. We have years of experience designing and implementing cloud solutions with a particular focus on security, performance and scalability. Data presented though cloud models is tiered, ensuring sensitive data stays within on-premises infrastructure. Performance and capacity is monitored, and supports an elasticity model that can fluctuate according to service demand.

- by Miles Beacroft

The era of natural computing: what this means for B2B content

The pace of recent technological advancement in computing has been incredible but I have noticed how few product announcements are now seen as a ‘step change’.

Computing has done a curious thing – its complexity has given way to intuitive usage.  Specially designed ‘input’ devices such as the ‘mouse’ are becoming semi-redundant as we increasingly use human gestures to power device interaction. IT has evolved and developed to become human friendly and I believe we are now in the era of ‘Natural Computing’.

Another example would be the phone ‘dial pad’ on today’s smartphones. When connected to headset technology you can now answer or ignore a call or select someone to dial using only your voice to command the device.

It’s not that many years ago I can recall listening to technologists promising to ‘untether’ the businessman from the modem cable; no more waiting for a dial-up connection in a business lounge or in the hallway at home. Devices would be wireless and data would flow freely into the device. Imagine.  I also recall the customer service complaint of a lady having difficulty using the ‘foot pedal’ of her new PC. Once established that the ‘pedal’ was actually the mouse and once placed on top of the desk, all was fine.

Today, all around us, we see people seamlessly interacting with devices – pointing, pinching, swiping, and talking – and the fact that we witness this clearly shows business is now truly mobile. Computing has caught up with itself to allow the human to use devices intuitively – watching young children navigate their way around tablet devices is perhaps a good indication of how far we have come.

This has massive implications for content particularly in the B2B world.

People now have easy access to information in any place at any time – Big Data is here. The challenge is to ensure Content Marketers embrace this and don’t make the same mistake as www.1 by trying to place all of their existing heavy content into a new environment and onto new devices.

‘Consumerisation of B2B marketing’ has mobilised the business audience and social platforms are increasingly being used. No longer are whitepapers with reams of heavy text suitable – we are fighting for time and mind space in a busy world and often on a device that co-delivers entertaining and engaging consumer messaging alongside work.

Content has to be built with this in mind and also with the understanding that attention spans are shortening. 140 characters, 6 sec videos are the social media extremes but ‘Attention Based Marketing’ where you create precise, bite-sized multi-channel content and deliver it in the right format and at the right time of day, is vital in B2B.

For real cut-through we need to ensure that a relevant and personalised message is delivered through our new world devices. Using social data we can understand business issues and we can target specific industries and so consider relevant messaging to the individual’s job role and pain point.

Understanding this technological change, and what this means for content marketing, will significantly impact the return on investment of marketing campaigns. In other words, content marketing needs to catch up with natural computing.

- by Chris Sykes

Is Marketing Automation taking the Marketing out of Marketing?

With a Marketing Automation application you can streamline your communications, enhance your CRM programme and generate more leads. It can also help you get to market quickly and will deliver a good degree of insight for future campaign planning – sound like a familiar pitch?

The fact is, any Marketing Automation application is only as good as the person or people using it. Before the Internet and email, the telephone was the preferred mass sales tool. It’s not the quality or the functionality of the telephone that dictates whether a call will be successful. It’s not the script that will close the sale – it’s the skill of the person at the other end of the line who can quickly direct the conversation towards a positive outcome.

So if you think about your Marketing Automation tool as a phone, the role it plays is significantly reduced and the dependencies that are formed from repetitive processes diminish. What I mean by that is the over-reliance and assumption that the application itself will result in a lead and that proactive marketing becomes lazy marketing.

Now I get a lot of emails – a lot! There is a growing proportion of spam and unsolicited emails from B2B and B2C entities peddling their wares. I can see they use a mix of marketing automation and email broadcast systems. Those that don’t automatically get trapped in my junk email folder are deleted, not because I’m against email marketing – I’m against bad email marketing. We’re busy people. We get lots of sales and marketing content thrown at us every day. We want communications and offers that are relevant, appealing and worthy of our attention.

How can you achieve this?

Well you can test multiple subject lines, use a variety of templates, cut your content by 50% (yes 50%), ensure your templates are well-designed and are compatible with all the mainstream email browsers and are optimised for mobile devices and tablets. Ensure the integrity of your data – I still receive emails addressed to ‘Active Image’- the name Volume traded under from 1992 to 1997 before I incorporated the company and changed the name. Don’t assume the data sitting in your system is up to date or relevant. Before ‘unsubscribing’, I used to get emails offering me discounts on agricultural machinery. I don’t own a lawn mower never mind a combine harvester.

But as a marketer myself, the biggest frustration is receiving emails that smack of sheer laziness and are devoid of thought and creativity. Emails on a Monday morning, emails on a Friday afternoon, business emails over the weekend will get immediately deleted. And with many of us receiving emails via our smart phones, they are more easily to delete there and then.

Email marketing is a numbers game and Marketing Automation tools help you manage the high volume’s you need to deliver leads back to the business. They are however, no substitute for brains -they can breed laziness and apathy, and in the long-term deliver poor ROI. Don’t fall into the trap.

- by Chris Sykes

The Consumerisation of B2B Marketing

So what do we mean when we say the ‘consumerisation’ of B2B marketing? B2B marketing is now driven by buyers and not organisations! Professionals will choose what to interact with and where to access content. Unless content is atomised, energised and optimised, many campaigns will be simply lost!

We’ve all seen the research we’re being continually fed into today’s increasing mobile dominated device landscape. Focus is turning to the creation of innovative assets that are relevant and engaging – content that is served up in bite-size and engaging chunks for easy consumption across social media platforms, digital channels and mobile devices.

Some stats to digest

According to Canalys, in 2011 smartphone shipments topped PCs by 73 million units. Gartner stated that Q2 2012 was the seventh consecutive quarter showing a decline in PC sales. Gartner also estimates tablet computer sales will explode across the next four years selling 60% as many units as PCs by 2015. That’s over 300 million units! Microsoft also gets in on the act saying that by 2013, Tablet sales will be circa 180 million units.

Professionals now expect a mobile interface and the latest major Operating Systems will start to deliver more on that expectation. Our behaviours, navigation and interaction instincts are also changing: we now touch, pinch, swipe, drag and drop. The vast majority of us smartphone and tablet users, 81% in fact access work email on them. Internet access and social media are the top two uses of a phone and email usage will overtake phone calls on smartphone devices.

The net, net of all this is that marketing content has to adjust to the device and lifestyle. IT in the workplace is becoming consumerised, with many companies allowing employees to choose their preferred devices. This is leading the consumerisation of B2B marketing.

Tablets and smartphones have very different screen real estate and navigation to the business desktop and notebook devices. In fact, phones are getting bigger rather than smaller as screen sized is preferred over form factor and weight – that was the old mobile world and goodbye Nokia and Sony Ericsson. Business data and content are increasingly consumed on the go, so content too must go mobile.

Content is changing from words and images to interactive graphics and video. ‘Empathy’ videos can convey a strong business message in an ‘advert length’ clip for a B2B audience. Business professionals favour short form content over longer programmes, as 42% of video is consumed at the workplace in ‘snackable’, short form clips. Here’s a good example.

So what did we learn in that minute?

We learnt quite a bit about Dave and ‘his views’ as a typical B2B prospect. His attention is limited and is continually multi-browsing and multi-tasking. To attract his attention content needs to be ‘atomized’ from more traditional locations and that the messages fed to him need to be precise, engaging, relevant and compatible with mobile devices.

So with all this in mind, where does a B2B Marketer start? It doesn’t mean you start from scratch, you can re-energise and utilise existing content. Old assets still fit the desktop environment but can be repurposed for easier consumption and mobile device. Messages can and should be replicated across different channels maximising content creation ROI. Content must be creative and engaging or expect to be ignored.

- by Chris Sykes

Technology or People?

I established Volume with the concept of embracing perpetual change and the understanding that change is our biggest challenge. As a futurist, I’m fascinated with tomorrow and how we can gain the most value and satisfaction from the virtual ‘relationships’ we now encounter and interact with every day. In the digital age, it’s easy to get lost in technology.

Is our world about technology?

Volume is respected for its creativity, innovation and marketing thought-leadership. Its results-oriented culture however, is not the sole driver of growth or success. Volume is about people: our people, our clients and their customers. Understanding technology is one thing, knowing what makes humans tick is entirely another. Combine the two, you get one heck of an agency.

- by Daryl Swinden

Why the Cookie Law is like speeding

With little over a month for compliance of the EU legislation are you on schedule?

On 26th May 2012  owners of EU websites that have cookies are expected to provide the visitors an opportunity to authorise the use of cookies*. The user must have a right and the opportunity to change their mind at a later date.  There is however an alternative. Remove the cookies altogether!

All bar a very few cookies that are deemed essential are affected – the vast majority of cookies do not fall under “essential” and must therefore be dealt with. Unfortunately, the law doesn’t specifically differentiate between those that are more intrusive than others however, unofficially those that don’t deliver information around sensitive data are not deemed high priority issues.

Ironically, in order to remember if a user doesn’t want you to store cookies on their device you would need to store a cookie – which is contradicting the law.

If a user clicks ‘No’ to cookies there goes your tracking and insight out of the window and potentially, functionality for the user will be impeded.

The method of authorisation is up to the website owner – this can be in the form of a pop-up, an information bar or any other ideas you can think of – so there is some creativity around the solution.

The issue is that huge players such as Google & YouTube don’t seem to be joining in on this. This is giving other organisations false confidence in avoiding the law too.

If they aren’t complying you don’t need to right?
Wrong!

Think of it like speeding in your car.

Your mates (Google & co) are saying “It’s fine – you can break the law a bit, we are doing 90mph in a 70mph limit and are getting away with it.”

But for you surely just a bit over the limit is OK, we all know that 75mph is not as bad as 90mph right?

‘Slightly’ non-compliant is better than “totally” non-compliant, but we should remember in the eyes of the law, both are non-compliant. It only takes a police officer to be having a bad day to be punished for 75mph, yet an officer on a good day may waive you.

Breaking the law is breaking the law, no matter how close to the law you are. If you do break it, you risk ending up at the ICO’s ‘speed awareness course’.

Yes, I think we all agree it’s an obscure law, penalising those that use cookies effectively & harmlessly – enhancing the user’s experience, as well as gathering information to further improve customer understanding. It is law, so we can moan about it all we like but it’s inevitable and best to just get on with it.

Those trying to avoid this law may likely go through a lengthy legal battle with the varying data protection authorities in the EU.

Volume is providing solutions for our clients, and can help with yours too. If you have concerns over your compliance get in touch to discuss how we can help.

For a review of the ICO’s guidelines click below:

ICO guidance.

*some cookies are exempt from the law however, these really are few and far between.

- by Josie Rogers

Solving the multi-device challenge with HTML5

The multi-device user experience

Users are more demanding and expect a high quality experience. We are now working in a constantly connected environment where people access the internet from a number of devices via desktop, tablet or smart phone. Many people own more than one internet connected device. In fact, Cisco predicts that by the end of 2012, the number of mobile-connected devices will exceed the number of people on earth.

The difficulty to overcome is that mobile users expect a web browsing experience on their phone that is comparable to a laptop or desktop PC. With multiple mobile O/S platforms to support, this leaves developers with a challenge – creating a website that will provide an engaging experience across each and every platform and browser. With so many constraints to think about, what is the best solution?

Enter HTML5

HTML5 techniques help bridge the gaps between desktop, tablet and mobile experiences however, many have been unsuccessful in their attempts.

The original HTML was invented over twenty years ago. It has gone through a number of updates, but it’s been more than a decade since the last one.

The web is accelerating – over time the internet has got better and now has a better degree of dependability. With modern browsers, we are now seeing more developer issues being solved. Updates to HTML standards and specifications bring a number of key benefits:

  • Rich and dynamic creative content e.g. videos, graphics and audio can be added into a webpage more easily without the use of plug-ins
  • The video experience is superior, as it is native to the browser
  • Location can be tied into your web applications
  • Load speed times can increase. In a world where every second counts, this has a positive effect for reducing page abandonment
  • HTML5 runs across mobile devices including all smart phones and tablets giving a consistent experience for all, thus helping developers solve the multi-device challenge

Let’s see it in practice

We’ve recently launched a new digital interaction application for Zebra Technologies built using HTML5. In browsers that support HTML5, you really experience the difference from Flash-based solutions. The site uses HTML5 video which enables the video to be viewed across a number of devices, without having to use plug-ins (that relies on the user having plug-ins installed) leading to a better user experience. Take a look at the Zebra Virtual world for transport on your mobile, tablet or desktop now and let us know what you think!

The latest addition to the Virtual Zebra world has been built in HTML5


 

- by Joe Duffelen

The Future is Mobile

The question used to be: do you have a mobile phone? Now we’re asking; what’s  your smartphone? Apple?, Android? or Blackberry? Last year something happened that has never happened  before; according to Henry Blodget, the number of smartphones sold exceeded the number of personal computers (PCs) sold.

With a rapidly growing smartphone and tablet market, the operating system developers and manufacturers face a strong battle to become the dominant player within this competitive space. It doesn’t take a genius to realise that Android and Apple are the current market leaders and arguably other manufacturers and operating systems are falling at the wayside. Surely, for them, it is now too late, or perhaps not! The Business Insider slide deck by Henry Blodget reveals that over half the mobile audience in the U.S does not use a smartphone; so if IDC’s predicted 49.5% increase of smartphone purchases occurs by 2015, there is certainly room for Microsoft, Blackberry or any other manufacturer to establish themselves as market leaders. Although time is of the essence and they must move fast.

Is your business mobile?

The Financial Times cites a JPMorgan prediction that 657 million smartphones will leave stores in 2012 and IDC predicts smartphone sales will rise to 982 million in 2015. It has been a prediction on the tip of many industry experts’ tongues for a while; organisations will NEED to be mobile savvy. Fast, relevant and easily navigated information is what is wanted by  every organisation and every user.

From a business perspective, this can also only mean two things. Your web presence needs to shift from the desktop to the mobile device and you must discover how you engage and transact via the mobile medium.

What is the way forward?

At Volume we have developed a number of mobile apps, mobile sites and mobile-optimised sites:

Our own web site www.volume.co.uk is mobile-optimised. The site is developed using the latest technology (MVC HTML/CSS2/CSS3 and jQuery) to ensure the user experience is of the highest quality if viewed on a smartphone or tablet device. 10% of the people who have visited the Volume website in 2012 have come from mobile devices.

If a user visits your website through their smartphone or tablet device to only discover the website to be incompatible this could mean a number of lost opportunities; a sale, a lead, a potential business partner?

Then there are Mobile apps. Mobile application software is designed specially to offer the user a seamless experience, for a specific product, service or game. Volume designed and developed a mobile app for Zebra Technologies, ZipShip. This was intended to allow Zebra printer users to search for available printer consumables and media for various Zebra machines, cancelling out phone calls, emails and the waiting game; making the process mobile and instantaneous. The beauty of ZipShip is the convenience, ease of use and captivating trance it has on a consumer; there are no distractions, just you and the product you need to be delivered when and where you want. There is obviously one implication to consider when creating a mobile application; an app is only available on the specific operating system in which it was designed for – to make it available on all operating systems could prove costly. Therefore research into your target market is essential to ensure your mobile application is relevant and used.

‘Mobile optimisation versus mobile apps’ is another blog. For now, I will leave you with this: Dan Frommer from the Business Insider quoted Matt Galligan saying;

…the future of mobile is the future of everything.

So watch this space and think carefully about how your business can be active by preparing for the mobile take-over, instead of letting it become something you employ once traffic to your website and online sales begin to decrease.

- by Josie Rogers

Turn up the Volume!

Festivals are a great way to enjoy live music and with many festivals popping up all over the UK, festival organisers are always looking to raise the bar in festival quality. Technological innovations have always played a part in improving the festival experience for example, the introduction of festival radio meant that people could listen to live music from different stages, as well as hearing all the backstage gossip. More recently, silent discos have proven to be massively popular at many UK festivals such as Brownstock, Vfestival and Creamfields. Part of the popularity has come from being able to listen to what you want, wherever you are. What if you could take this a step further by listening to live music being played on another stage via your mobile? This could help you decide whether you want to go and watch it live and also ensures you don’t miss a thing. Also, wouldn’t it be great if you could also check out what the line-up is and see which of your friends are also at the festival?

This got us thinking about how we could enhance the festival experience. The result was a state of the art mobile phone app, which will bring cutting-edge technology to the Caversham Festival, an annual community festival organised by Reading-based charity, Readipop.

 

Festival Enhancing Features

  • You will be able to check the in-built festival guide to discover the band line up for each stage
  • Plan your own entertainment itinerary
  • See what food stalls have to offer and find out where on site they are
  • See what/when workshops are happening
  • Redeem special discount vouchers for money off purchases from stall holders
  • Tell your friends about what you have been doing using Facebook and other social media integration

And the best bit

Most impressively, the mobile app will enable you to ‘Turn up the Volume!’. Through your smart phone, you can listen to any of the music being played on any of the stages with its radio-like live-streaming functionality. This means you could be with friends at the main stage and quickly check out what is happening on the floating stage. Of course all of the content will be recorded as it happens and instantly uploaded to the Caversham Festival website, where you will be able to listen and even watch your favourite bands, or the ones you missed, when you get home.

Go on, take a sneak peak!

Here’s a few snaps of how the app will look, we will let you know when it’s ready to download!

At Volume we’ve created other trend-setting mobile apps and so it is great to have been able to turn this expertise to charitable use. We specialise in delivering projects totally in-house from the creative concept, design, digital execution, software development, social media management and marketing strategies through to market analysis. This made us the ideal people to deliver this gift to Readipop, as creating a mobile app includes most of these processes.

Volume’s Chief Executive Chris Sykes is thrilled to be involved with the festival:

“We were impressed with the passion and hard work Readipop puts into the Caversham Festival and the local community. The least we could do was to try and help to enhance the festival experience, whilst utilising the very latest mobile technology. We’re all looking forward to the 8th of July. It promises to be a fantastic event.”

The Readipop Caverhsam festival is in its 14th year and is a way for the local residents of Caversham and wider Reading to celebrate the place we live. The festival will feature live music, an arts trail, fairground rides, children’s workshops, good food, over 40 stalls. Most of the content of the festival is made up from local bands, groups and clubs and showcases much of the work that Readipop helps to create throughout the year.

This year’s Caversham festival will certainly be something to look forward to with the added experience from the innovative Smartphone app, hopefully see you there on the 8th July!