Digital Discourse / Software

SIIA Survey: Marketing Executives Believe Social Media is an Effective Tool; Not Yet Investing Significant Resources

February 8, 2012 By Rhianna Collier 1 Comment

SIIA’s Software Division today released “Marketing in Today’s Economy”— the first SIIA publication to gather business-to-business sales and marketing tactics from leading industry executives. As part of the guide, SIIA joined with Lopez Research to conduct a comprehensive survey of more than 100 marketing executives in North America. The survey focused on their companies’ use of email, mobile marketing and social media to build their brands, gain leads, and improve customer support.

One of the most eye-opening findings from the study is that a gap exists between attitudes towards social media and investment in social media. About 90 percent of marketing executives surveyed use social media marketing, and three quarters believe it has a positive impact on their business. At the same time slightly more than half (54.5 percent) of respondents said their company’s marketing team spends less than 10 hours per week investing in social media. And further, 35 percent said they spend only between one and five hours per week on social media marketing.

Social media has clearly become a widely used tool among B2B marketers and few doubt that it is helping their business. But the survey also shows that marketers may not be dedicating the resources necessary to get the results they want from social media marketing. It is remarkable to see that, despite their strong belief in the power of social media, over one-third of marketers are engaged in it for only five hours or fewer every week.

The survey suggests that marketers do recognize the need to dedicate more resources to their social media efforts going forward. About 65 percent of respondents cited social media as an area in which they would like to invest more spending, and over 70 percent indicated they expect to increase their use of both Twitter and Linkedin in the year ahead. And importantly, marketers are beginning to apply the same ROI metrics to social media that they do for other marketing efforts, both offline and online. For example, 59 percent of businesses are using social media use web traffic as an indicator of social media ROI, while 53 percent are using qualified leads as a key ROI metric.

Social media is still a relatively new method for growing a business, but marketers clearly believe it is has value and will require greater investment. And with more marketers now applying traditional ROI metrics—such as qualified leads—to their social media efforts, they are more likely to get a clear sense of what level of investment makes sense. The maturation process of social media is clearly underway, and we can expect to see significant advancements in the coming years.

The survey looked at wide range of issues, and found a number of other results that are important for marketers—including:

• 75 percent of respondents do not outsource any social media efforts.
• Nearly 60 percent of respondents said that less than 5 percent of their deals began through social network interactions.
• Privacy is the top ethical concern in today’s marketing world.
• Most marketers predict that the biggest trend in 2012 will be greater communication and quantification of value to customers.

The Software Division conducted the survey in conjunction with Lopez Research during the fourth quarter of 2011. The survey interviewed 106 marketing executives, of which 88 percent were business-to-business marketers.

In addition to the survey, Marketing in Today’s Economy features commentary from 16 leading marketing experts whose companies provide technology solutions or services across a spectrum of industries. The authors offer expertise on a wide range of B2B marketing trends and best practices—from social media to search engine optimization and cloud marketing.

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Mobility, Social Media, Software Tagged With: , ,

Interview with new SIIA member Socialize

February 2, 2012 By Rhianna Collier Leave a Comment

I was delighted to recently welcome Socialize to the SIIA membership. I had a chance to catch up with Daniel Odio the CEO and Co-founder to learn more about the drop-in social platform. Read my interview with Daniel below.

Rhianna: Welcome to SIIA! Tell me a little about Socialize and the benefits for making apps social.

Daniel: Making apps social boosts app discovery (downloads) and user engagement (impressions). It creates a viral loop where users share content with each other and their social networks, which leads to more downloads, which leads to more users, which leads to more social actions all over again.

Rhianna: This week you made an announcement about notifications. Why is this feature significant?

Daniel: SmartAlert notifications “Bring users back” to the app. For example, when a user makes a comment on a piece of content in an app, and subscribes to that thread, and then another user comments on the first user’s comment, the first user gets a SmartAlert notification inviting them back into the app to see what the second user wrote.

Rhianna: You recently moved your company to San Francisco. Obviously, the Bay Area is the home of many great technology companies. How important is it for technology start-ups to be local to the Bay Area? Or does it matter?

Daniel: It’s critical. There’s a great article on my move west at http://go.DanielOdio.com/west. The environment in the San Francisco bay area is world class and results in the ability to make connections, make key hires, and iterate on the business at a speed that is unmatched anywhere else in the world. As I like to say, San Francisco is “Mecca for Geeks.”

Rhianna: You recently participated in a panel led by the Department of Homeland Security at CES. What are some of the privacy and security issues you face versus the traditional software/hardware vendors? How do you address and ease these fears?

Daniel: Often times the least secure part of a device is the human using it. And that’s where we focus – in this realm security concerns are mixed with privacy concerns. Oftentimes, users don’t know the implications of their actions by design – we work hard to abstract a level of complexity into an easy-to-use service. This means we bear a responsibility to ensure the user doesn’t compromise themselves in ways they don’t even realize. A big chunk of the value we add with our social infrastructure offering is to give the user ways to navigate privacy issues in easy to understand and friendly ways.

Rhianna: Finally, look ahead for me 18 months, what will be the biggest trends in social?

Daniel: Two big trends are converging and we’ll see them in full force in the next 18 months: The explosion of interest-based social, and the power of the Open Graph. Interest-based social isn’t the same thing as the social graph we all know from Facebook. It’s way bigger and more powerful. It’s the connections we all share based on interests, regardless of ‘friend’ status. For example, interest-based groups include people of the same ethnicity, people who love zinfandel wine, co-workers, people who love to sail, and the list goes on. We are all comprised of a series of interests, and for the first time, technology (and mobile in particular) is enabling us to map all those interests and connections, and begin to monetize them.

The Open Graph is an initiative by Facebook to get everyone to share all of their actions – what songs they are listening to, what they are reading, etc. This confluence of mapping interests to people and sharing of all actions will mean the power and reach of social will be exploding in the next 18 months. More about this topic at http://go.danielodio.com/interestgraph and a screencast on why mobile is way bigger than most people realize is at http://go.DanielOdio.com/waybigger

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

 

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Filed Under: Cloud Computing, Mobility, Social Media, Software, Software Events, Uncategorized Tagged With: , , , ,

Leaders from NIST & GSA will Discuss Efforts to Move Apps & Services to the Cloud at Cloud/GOV Conference

January 11, 2012 By Laura Greenback Leave a Comment

As the cloud continues to revolutionize the way government operates, Cloud/GOV is assembling some of the nation’s top tech leaders to discuss how cloud adoption is moving forward—and to identify the services and requirements that are shaping the future of cloud computing in the public sector.

Cloud/GOV, the nation’s leading annual forum on cloud computing in the public sector, will take place February 16 at the Westin Washington, D.C. City Center Hotel.

Keynote speakers include:
• Dawn Leaf, Senior Executive for Cloud Computing, NIST
• David L. McClure, Associate Administrator, U.S. General Services Administration’s Office of Citizen Services and Innovative Technologies

Cloud/GOV is a key resource for government executives, integrators, and independent software vendors involved in shifting applications and services to the cloud in compliance with FedRAMP. As the leading association actively focused on cloud development and implementation, SIIA has worked with Deltek—the authority on government business—to bring together a diverse group of federal, state and local government IT leaders, as well as software vendors who provide cloud-based services.

Learn more about the conference or check out SIIA’s recent policy work on cloud computing.

Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Cloud/Gov, Government, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, Software Tagged With: ,

The Top 10 SIIA Developments of 2011

January 5, 2012 By Laura Greenback Leave a Comment

SIIA had a groundbreaking 2011. We built influence in Washington, released incisive reports, welcomed new members, and hosted dozens of events around the world. Check out photos from our events and read about our 10 most exciting developments of 2011:

1. Patent reform (finally!) passes – The first comprehensive patent reform in half a century was signed into law Sept. 16. SIIA and its members worked diligently toward this goal for over six years, over the course of three Congresses and two administrations. The bill’s passage represents a significant victory for the software and content industries. It will improve patent quality and reduce–though certainly not eliminate–wasteful litigation over bad patents.

2. Software CEOS predict the future – SIIA took the pulse of chief executive officers to unveil growth and innovation drivers across the software industry. The result was a groundbreaking publication, Vision from the Top, which offers the collective wisdom of 45 SIIA member CEOs. Many of the predictions converged around the future of mobile, cloud and social media.

3. Two markets defined – SIIA’s membership divisions released two market reports in 2011 that shed light on the size and scope of its industries. The Education Division unveiled the 2010 U.S. Educational Technology Industry Market: PreK-12 Report at the Ed Tech Business Forum in November. First in a series, it values the overall market for PreK-12 non-hardware educational technology at $7.5 billion dollars—with content-related products accounting for 42 percent of that revenue. The Software Division released its annual Software Benchmarking Industry Report, which found that small and mid-sized software companies saw significant revenue growth rates of 26-50 percent in 2010.

4. Major cloud policy agenda established – SIIA has long been a supporter of cloud computing as a driver for innovation and economic growth.  In 2011, we took major steps to encourage an effective policy environment to help make this a reality.  To that end, SIIA published a whitepaper for policymakers to explain how cloud computing works and identify its transformative benefits. The policy team also gave input for the EU Cloud Consultation, promoted federal legislation to reform the Electronic Communications Privacy Act and worked closely with Obama Administration officials to advance their Cloud First Policies.

5. New members welcomed – SIIA welcomed dozens of new members in 2011, bringing its total membership to 512. One key area of growth was the Financial Information Services Division’s launch of a new constituency group for credit rating agencies. The group, formed initially by Moody’s Investors Services, Fitch Ratings, and Standard & Poor’s Rating Services, welcomed participation of other SEC-registered credit rating agencies around the world.

6. Digital education gets a boost – States from West Virginia to Florida led the K-12 education shift from print to digital instructional content, passing new laws long advocated by SIIA, which modernize outdated state textbook adoption programs. Texas SB6 provides full local flexibility to purchase digital content and technology, while Florida HB2120 will require schools to spend more than half of their textbook budget on digital materials by 2015-16.

7. Big rewards for piracy whistleblowers – SIIA paid $35,000 in rewards during the month of December alone to five people who reported cases of corporate end-user software or content piracy. The SIIA Corporate Anti-Piracy program uses verifiable tips to launch piracy investigations of cases of piracy that take place within an organization.

8. The higher ed market, demystified – 10 doctors, 5 college professors, 4 MBAs, 3 attorneys, 2 Harvard physicists: they all came together, along with dozens of others including CTOs, CEOs and VPs to create SIIA’s newest publication, The Experts’ Guide to the Postsecondary Market.  The resource offers expert guidance on everything from product development to selling in the postsecondary marketplace. Several authors discussed their key takeaways in a video series.

9. Visionary leaders present – Some of the leading voices in the software and digital content industries spoke at SIIA events in 2011. ProQuest CEO Marty Kahn turned heads with his frank discussion of challenges in the digital content landscape at the Information Industry Summit. Dr. Richard Sims, Chief Economist for the National Education Association, was back by popular demand at the 2011 Ed Tech Business Forum, where he followed up on the bleak economic predictions he made in 2009. Other standout speakers in 2011 were Robert Reich, Chancellor’s Professor of Public Policy for the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California at Berkeley at the World Financial Information Conference, Jim Whitehurst, President & CEO at RedHat at All About the Cloud, and Chris C. Kemp, CTO for IT at NASA, at Cloud/Gov.

10. Excellence recognized – SIIA recognized achievements in the software and digital content industries through a series of awards programs in 2011. Some highlights:

  • The 26th annual CODiE Awards presented 66 awards in digital content, education technology and business software.
  • The Content Division recognized RapidBuyr as the SIIA Previews Program’s “Most Likely to Succeed” at the 2011 Information Industry Summit.
  • The Education Division’s Innovation Incubator Award winners for 2011 were Fluidity Software, Footsteps2Brilliance, GiftedSpeech, and Capstone Digital.
  • On a personal level, FISD presented the Market Data Lifetime Achievement Award to Dr. Joseph Kasputys, founder and former chairman, president and CEO of global information company IHS Global Insight.
  • The Education Division honored Kathy Hurley, senior vice president of strategic partnerships for Pearson and the Pearson Foundation, with its prestigious Ed Tech Impact Award.


Laura Greenback is Communications Director at SIIA.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Content, Education, Policy, Policy - Cloud Computing, Software Tagged With: ,

SIIA Member Savvis Discusses How the Cloud Helps Software Companies Get to Market Quicker

January 4, 2012 By Katie Carlson Leave a Comment

“Traditional software methodologies, timelines and cost structures are now coming under scrutiny in every phase of a project lifecycle. Companies once took old hardware out of production and then allocated their computing toward development environments because it still had some economic life left.”  SIIA member Savvis explores the question: how the cloud as a tool assists in getting to market quicker? Check out their blog post to learn more.

Katie CarlsonKatie Carlson is Program Manager for the SIIA Software Division.

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Filed Under: Software

Judiciary Presses Forward with SOPA; White House Unveils IT Reforms

December 13, 2011 By David LeDuc Leave a Comment

December continues to be anything but a slow month in Washington. Yesterday, House Judiciary Cmte. Chairman Lamar Smith (R-TX) confirmed his plans to markup the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, H.R. 3261). In addition to scheduling the markup, Smith released a revised version of the bill that reflects weeks of working closely with stakeholders and other members “to strengthen the bill and address legitimate concerns from groups who are interested in working with Congress to combat foreign rogue websites.” Changes to the revised bill as highlighted by Committee staff include: elimination of the redirection clause for infringing websites, orders for an interagency report on the domain name system, addition of a new clause to relieve Web firms of monitoring sites, and clarification of the definitions re: which sites and companies are covered.

Last week, Federal CIO Steve VanRoekel made several important announcements regarding ongoing efforts to reform federal IT and embrace cloud computing. In what he characterized as a “year of change in Federal IT,” VanRoekel declared that “cloud computing has become an integral part of the government’s IT DNA,” and made the following announcements:

1. Released a memo to formally establish FedRAMP (the Federal Risk and Authorization Management Program), a long-anticipated program intended to reduce the duplicative efforts, inconsistencies and cost inefficiencies when assessing and authorizing cloud systems.
2. Released the Shared Strategy Memo to provide the roadmap for agencies to increase use of shared solutions through leveraging tools to do more with less, in accordance with the cloud-first policy and cloud migrations under the IT Reform plan.
3. Released the TechStat Report highlighting tools and practices for agencies to turn around or terminate failing projects at the agency-level.

And tomorrow, the House Energy and Commerce Sbcmte. on Communications and Technology has scheduled a hearing to air concerns by the growing list of U.S. lawmakers regarding the pending roll-out of ICANN’s Top-Level Domain Name Program. This hearing follows a similar one by the Senate Commerce Committee last week where Chairman Jay Rockefeller (D-WV) and other Cmte. members warned ICANN officials to proceed with caution and head their voices of concern.

David LeDuc is Senior Director, Public Policy at SIIA. He focuses on e-commerce, privacy, cyber security, cloud computing, open standards, e-government and information policy.

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Filed Under: Anti-Piracy, Cloud Computing, Digital Policy Roundup, Policy Tagged With: , ,

An Interview with New SIIA member SpotlightTMS

December 8, 2011 By Rhianna Collier Leave a Comment

I recently caught up with Tony Knopp, CEO and Co-founder of SpotlightTMS, and new member to SIIA. I had a chance to ask Tony some questions and gain some insight into the company he co-founded in 2007. Read my interview with Tony below.

Rhianna: Welcome to SIIA! Tell me about SpotlightTMS and why is it important to enterprises?

Tony: SpotlightTMS is the first SaaS allowing companies to track and manage the business impact of their sports and entertainment tickets while staying compliant. Companies globally purchase 124 million tickets annually representing a $16 Billion spend. 40% of those tickets go unused while billions are spent on ad hoc tickets through a decentralized market. Companies currently attempt to address this pain with Excel spreadsheets and ineffective home built software. Spotlight is Salesforce.com for tickets allowing customers to track and manage the buying, selling, and utilization of tickets in a centralized solution.

Rhianna: How is the Cloud and SaaS helping to grow your business?

Tony: Prior to the cloud, ticket management was primarily enterprise software sitting behind a firewall. The price point for enterprise software along with the endless customizations for multiple workflows and regulations made adoption of ticket management software impossible and cost prohibitive.

The Spotlight Cloud allows our customers access to their ticket inventory and data from anywhere, in real time, in a secure and user friendly manner at an investment that pays for itself. With the Ticket Cloud, our customers have access to their company inventory as well as tickets from all major providers (Ticketmaster, StubHub, Tickets.com, etc) in one easy-to-use web portal. The SaaS application allows customers to configure workflow and business processes to their specific needs instantly.

Rhianna: How is integration with other business solutions like salesforce.com important to you and your customers?

Tony: Spotlight aims to allow our customers to interact with the Ticket Cloud in the applications they “live” in every day. Whether it is within their Salesforce.com instance, Microsoft Dynamics, Microsoft Outlook, or through a mobile app, Spotlight connects business professionals to the tickets they need. At Spotlight “your tickets find you” by personalizing our end user instances using relevant information within the CRM’s and other solutions. Spotlight identifies opportunities for our customer firms to better match their current tickets and inventory with the appropriate business use. The end user can leverage Spotlight’s ability to match tickets to their top opportunities and proactively plan their asset utilization.

Rhianna: You have a rather unique channel strategy with major sports teams. Why is this important and how do you see it growing over time?

Tony: The team channel allows Spotlight to address market pain for both our professional team partners and our customers. As the economy remains mired in stagnant growth, sports teams and venue operators are quickly finding their luxury offerings on the chopping block at Fortune 1000’s and local businesses looking to cut costs.

In a subpar economy, companies are looking to tighten up spending and the first items cut are those that cannot justify an immediate and tangible ROI. Many teams in each major league have seen this trend and responded accordingly: by partnering with Spotlight to assure their customers are achieving their business goals with tangible results. Teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Miami HEAT, Chicago Bears, Detroit Red Wings, and Houston Texans have been great partners over the years and are seeing a positive effect on business.

There will be a number of lasting business shifts from the Great Recession of 2008 and we believe the focus on accountability through tangible numbers and transparent, efficient software is one of those changes to the status quo. Sports teams and venues will need to evolve to address this shift. Teams and leagues will continue to partner with Spotlight to encourage and assure long term success in their customer partnerships.

These days it is not enough to simply answer the phone, sell a suite to a business, and leave the business to try and use the asset. Companies are looking for a partner that is invested in the success of their purchase and Spotlight is the platform that allows our customers to partner with the teams.

Rhianna: Do you see an ecosystem of other SaaS players growing up around Spotlight, enhancing your value and competitive positioning as well as theirs?

Tony: Absolutely, just as Salesforce.com has spawned a industry of add-on and complementary services, we envision a similar ecosystem growing up around Spotlight. I can see Spotlight interacting with a number of CRM systems in addition to Salesforce.com with which we currently work. Other potential ecosystem partners include Cloud based ticket vendors, records compliance management systems, HR systems (tickets are often also used by HR), financial and SOX reporting systems, social networking services and even Cloud based billing systems.

Rhianna: Is the accelerating growth of mobile business changing or expanding your business strategy? If yes, how?

Tony: Mobile has been and remains a very high priority for Spotlight. Spotlight meets our customers where they live and that becomes more and more mobile everyday. When our users are out with their customers they need access to their tickets and those they can purchase. Mobile allows our customers to request tickets, buy tickets, track who is actually attending the event, and stay proactive in their asset utilization and will be a major part of our success in the future.

Rhianna Collier is VP for the Software Division at SIIA.

 

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Filed Under: Software Tagged With: , ,
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