BI goes mobile

Johannesburg, 06 Mar 2008

Multimedia Solutions has launched a Mobile Business Intelligence (MBI) solution allowing companies to analyse customer browsing patterns on mobile Web site (mobisites) and customise content accordingly.

At the heart of the MBI solution is a chain reaction engine (CRE), which monitors customer browsing patterns, analyses customer profiles and actively seeks out trends and usage patterns. These are used to customise content, which is then presented back to the customers on the mobisite, says Multimedia Solutions operational director Riaan Groenewald.

"When a customer goes to the company's mobisite, they'll have the chance to fill out a profile if they wish to. They can fill out their personal information, as well as their preferences [regarding] which of the company's products and services they are interested in," he adds. "The person can also state how often they would like to see content they are interested in... and add other content including news, weather, sport, Facebook feeds, etc."

All of this information is linked to their cellphone number which is picked up when they first visit the site. When they revisit the site, the CRE will pick up that number, greet them by name and display the content and feeds they requested, thereby, giving them a completely customised experience.

Furthermore, the CRE integrates with the companies' backend IT systems, enabling them to analyse patterns and match products, services and specials to customers based on customers' profiles and the analysis of browsing patterns done by the CRE.

"So, for example, if a bank that sells prepaid airtime were to adopt the MBI solution and picked up that a customer was buying airtime through their ATMs and that the customer also visited their mobisite, a prepaid airtime special could be posted on the mobisite when the customer next visited the site," he says.

Dual benefit

MBI benefits both the customer and the company, Groenewald adds. The consumer is able to customise content and how often they want to see it on the mobisite. Customer service is also improved because the company is actively looking to provide information that would be of interest to the customer.

From a company point-of-view, the company is able to better understand customers' preferences. And the more it understands its customers, the more work it is able to do to customise product offerings.

Traditional forms of advertising have, for the most part, used a shotgun approach, running campaigns across different mediums to put a message out into the market, Groenewald adds. These mediums generally have had no real means of identifying whether consumers responded to the campaign, or even whether consumers wanted to see that information.

"MBI creates a paradigm shift, doing away with the shotgun approach and customising content to meet customers' needs and interests. It also personalises the mobisite, creating a one-on-one personal interaction with the customer as opposed to a blanket service offering approach," he says.