Although the vast majority of marketers is aware of the fact that the Internet of Things (IoT) will change their industry, besides security concerns, not having the required skills is named as one of the main reasons for not implementing IoT. Indeed, IoT requires a complete rethinking of business management, but rewards with incredible new opportunities. It's not just about connecting devices in a meaningful way, but optimizing processes, extending customer services, and creating new revenue streams. Ultimately, IoT solutions simplify processes and create new values for users.

Ad Verification is a real-time technical process which verifies the inventory quality and visibility of advertising impressions. In the fight against fraud and the lack of transparency and viewability, advertisers and agencies can use Ad Verification to protect their brand image, besides boosting their campaign performance by streamlining media investment.

Do you know the story of the three blind men who meet up with an elephant? Each man feels a single part of the elephant—the trunk, the side or the tail—and as a result has only a partial idea of what the animal is. Marketing today is in a similar situation. Each group understands their part of the elephant, but few have a holistic view. Many also lack a “single source of truth” for their marketing performance. This makes it nearly impossible to understand which marketing and advertising initiatives drive desired business outcomes. Even worse, when marketers can’t get an accurate and holistic view of customers and prospects traversing multiple channels, devices and touchpoints, they can’t accurately measure the value of each experience, or how well they are directing their consumers toward a desired action.

The vision of an all-knowing, omni-present intelligent being that forms the backbone of our everyday lives has been portrayed in movies that captivate the imagination of many. Today, that vision is not too far from reality, and we are seeing this at work through artificial intelligence (AI) – from AI-powered voice assistants like Alexa, to helping solve traffic issues, enabling the sequencing of DNA, tackling business problems and transforming industries such as tech, healthcare to logistics and fintech.

When talking about technology, a lot has changed in the marketing industry in recent years, but structures and teams have largely remained the same. Hence, it is believed that 2018 is the year in which the internal organization gets adapted to external technologies, simply because a renewed disruption is necessary this year, so that the potential of new advertising technologies can be exploited.

Sometimes referred to as ‘hybrid reality’, mixed reality (MR) is the merging of real and virtual worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist and interact in real time.

A new study from Juniper Research has found that global retailer spending on AI will reach $7.3 billion per annum by 2022, up from an estimated $2 billion in 2018, as retailers target new avenues to increase personalization of the customer experience.

Qualtrics, the leader in experience management, announced a global partnership with Kantar TNS, one of the world’s largest research agencies, to help organizations put customers at the heart of their business.

Early this year, Singapore has passed the Cybersecurity Act that establishes a legal framework for the oversight and maintenance of national cybersecurity. Its key objectives are to strengthen the protection of Critical Information Infrastructure (CII) against cyber-attacks and to establish a framework for sharing cybersecurity information.

Reaching the desired audience has always been a challenge not to be sneezed at for advertisers and it can be assumed that it will be even more difficult in future to place advertising messages in a targeted manner. This is because the ePrivacy Regulation (ePVO) will prohibit collecting data to create detailed user profiles without explicit permission of the user. This makes it much harder to play personalized advertising across channels.

The older generation might still remember the time when Integrated marketing communications (IMC) came into play in the 80s. At that time, the whole marketing environment was undergoing profound changes with the advent of the Internet. New communications technologies, media proliferation, audience fragmentation, globalization of markets and the widespread use of databases heralded inexorably the end of old methods and practices by making them less effective or even irrelevant.

Most executives make their decisions based on the perspectives, trends and cycles that are already known today. However, this view carries the risk of thinking too linearly and of missing out on the crucial innovation point.

Sercomm, a manufacturer and supplier of telecom equipment, just launched its new series of LTE-M IoT devices at the Mobile World Congress 2018 in Barcelona, Spain.

With the advantages of extended transmission range, a lengthened battery life, and better mobility, Sercomm's full range of LTE-M IoT devices offers ideal solutions for applications including youth/senior safety, asset protection, smart meter, transportation and environment monitoring. Leveraging the fully-deployed LTE-M network service of Orange, a leading telecommunication operator in Europe, Sercomm's new LTE-M devices answer the needs of numerous markets to catch the upcoming IoT business opportunities.

The trend away from shopping in retail stores to online ordering is gaining momentum, but how can retailers counteract this trend? One possibility is the use of augmented reality, a form of so-called mixed reality. Generally, no costly technologies are necessary because the customer brings his smartphone directly to the point of sale (POS), hence, carrying the necessary equipment with him. AR enhances reality perception by computer-aided information. In retail, these can be the display of product information, offers, product recommendations or navigation through the store. A special form of augmented reality is the AR mirror through which customers can see themselves and virtually test jewelry or clothing.