Chris Anderson, editor-in-chief of Wired, caused a stir in the technology world when he declared the web “dead” in the magazine’s September cover story. Its demise, according to Anderson, stems from the growing use of simpler, sleeker services such as apps and smartphones. He writes:

“Over the past few years, one of the most important shifts in the digital world has been the move from the wide-open Web to semiclosed platforms that use the Internet for transport but not the browser for display. It’s driven primarily by the rise of the iPhone model of mobile computing, and it’s a world Google can’t crawl, one where HTML doesn’t rule.”

Not everyone is ready to don their mourning clothes for the Web just yet though. In fact, many in the tech community believe Anderson’s statements are not only premature, but potentially based on a fallacy. As TechCrunch blogger Erick Schonfeld points out:

“The [Wired] article is anchored by the startling infographic…, which shows the proportion of different types of traffic on the Internet. The Web, HTML traffic visible though a browser, is only about a quarter (23%) of the overall traffic, down from about half a decade ago. It’s been pushed down by peer-to-peer (23%), video (51%), and other types of apps which use the Internet for transport but are not browser-based. It’s not clear what exactly Wired is counting as video, but presumably it is not all of the Flash video on YouTube which is very much part of the Web.”

Check out Chris Anderson’s article, “The Web Is Dead. Long Live the Internet,” and Erick Schonfeld’s post, “Wired Declares the Web is Dead – Don’t Pull Out the Coffin Just Yet,” for yourself and see what you think: Is the Web really dead or has it just evolved?

More than 1 billion people are linked into social networks, but business-to-business (BtoB) marketers have struggled to prove the ROI from social technologies until recently. According to a recent survey by Regus, marketers are now seeing an influx of new customer acquisition through Web 2.0 efforts.

Nearly half of small businesses worldwide have acquired a customer through social networks. Interestingly enough, large companies were less successful in obtaining new customers through social media channels—despite most likely investing more time and money into social media marketing.

In January 2010, Hubspot found that more than 40 percent of companies had acquired a customer through social media marketing. Clearly, social media efforts are starting to pay off.

 As evidence of these survey findings, one of Arketi’s clients has seen a quick return for its Web 2.0 efforts through LinkedIn and Twitter. This BtoB technology company began testing the social media waters in early 2009, integrating traditional and online marketing tactics as the groundswell of social activity grew.

 In the past few months, this client secured an analyst briefing from an industry analyst who started following the company’s Twitter page and landed a new client from a LinkedIn InMail request sent by the company’s sales executive.

 To read more of the Regus survey findings on eMarketer, visit www.emarketer.com/Article.aspx?R=1007815.

According to the Veronis Suhler Stevenson Communications Industry Forecast 2004 -2014, The Communications Industry spending is on pace to increase 3.5% in 2010 and post a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 6.1% in the 2009-2014 period to $1.416 trillion, driven by a gradual economic recovery, advances in digital technology, and secular trends impacting the entire industry landscape. Here are some interesting findings:

The Targeted Media sector will be the second-fastest growing industry sector and experience a 7.3% CAGR increase in the forecast period to reach $265.58 billion, according to the report. Growth will be spurred by the Pure-Play Consumer Internet & Mobile Services segment:

The complete report can be found at: http://www.businesswire.com/portal/site/home/email/headlines/?ndmViewId=news_view&newsLang=en&div=-867702808&newsId=20100810006496

In this week’s Arketi Web Watch post, we look at Firstdata.com. Though the website certainly is well designed, there are several elements that need to be taken into consideration.

Homepage
The homepage is absolutely gorgeous. However, with the exception of the navigation, logo and footer, the entire homepage is in Flash. This is not SEO friendly at all, nor is it supported on most mobile devices. In fact, a lot of what is Flash on this homepage could be achieved using JavaScript or HTML 5 without losing much of the pizzazz, if any at all.

For instance, check out the unobtrusive “dashboard” feature at the top of the page.  In it’s collapsed, default state, it appears as a discreet ticker. When opened it becomes a scrollable pane of attractive, semi-interactive charts with a “subscribe” call-to-action (CTA) always present. Equally important, the main feature and navigation are not obstructed nor pushed below the fold when the dashboard is expanded.

The homepage main feature does quite a bit of heavy lifting as it serves as an overview for FirstData’s six service areas. The functionality to toggle between the six service areas could be a bit more obvious, but each story is so well paced and structured, that it is forgivable. The pay-off screens to each overview have engaging content such as videos as well as CTAs for white papers and press releases. My one complaint – I wish you could skip right to the pay-off screens. As nice as the Flash is, if I were a repeat visitor I would want to be able to skip the fluff and get right to the more valuable content. (more…)

Today McAfee released its Most Dangerous Celebrities™ list. This is a very savvy PR strategy for a company that does not often land mainstream, national (or international) press coverage. A wonderful tie-in to pop culture while advancing both a BtoB and BtoC message — using security technology to avoid cybercriminals.

By the way, Cameron Diaz has replaced Jessica Biel as the most dangerous celebrity to search for on the Web.

The full release and more info on safe searching can be found at: http://home.mcafee.com/AdviceCenter/Default.aspx?id=ad_sfs_mmdc

The only downside of this news is that it is being eclipsed by another release regarding Intel Corporation’s definitive agreement to acquire McAfee, Inc., through the purchase of all of the company’s common stock at $48 per share in cash, for approximately $7.68 billion.

Oh, well timing news is always fun for any PR team.

Given today’s economic environment, consumers are taking extra care in deciding just how to spend their money. Though it has always been important, studies show that customer service has recently taken on a stronger role in the world of the consumer, and is more likely to influence a sale than ever before.

Sixty-one percent of Americans claim that quality customer service is of a greater importance in the current economic state. These Americans are also likely to spend roughly nine percent more when they feel as though they have been treated with above average customer service. Consumers who experience quality service are reportedly 81 percent more likely to give a company repeated business.

However, only 37 percent of American consumers believe companies have put additional emphasis on the importance of customer service since the decline of the economy. With the correlation between customer service and successful sales, one would think corporations would be rushing to improve customer service. But this, apparently, is not the case.

Twenty-seven percent of Americans feel as though companies have resisted any change in their attitude toward customer service, and a shocking 28 percent believe businesses are now paying even less attention to customer service. Jim Bush, executive vice president of world service at American Express, states that “it is important to see customer service as an investment, not a cost.” Maybe if businesses realized just how valuable the investment of customer service could be, they would do something to change these unsettling statistics.

Christopher Hosfort of BtoB magazine made every marketer smile with today’s article on Accenture’s “Onward and Upward: How Marketers Are Refocusing the Front Office for Growth” report.

The research is not really rocket science for anyone who has worked in or with corporate marketing teams – they have insufficient budgets, skills shortages and inadequate tools – but at least it lets us all know we are not crazy or alone.

Check it out below…

Accenture: Marketers hampered by insufficient budgets, skills shortages

By: Christopher Hosford

New York—Marketers responsible for driving corporate growth are being hindered in their efforts by insufficient budgets, skills shortages and inadequate tools, according to a new study by consultancy and technology services company Accenture.

According to the company’s report, “Onward and Upward: How Marketers Are Refocusing the Front Office for Growth,” top strategic objectives include improving operational efficiency, increasing profitability and responding effectively to change.

However, respondents said they’re encountering several barriers to success, such as inefficient business practices (cited by 21% of respondents), inadequate funding (17%), insufficient integration with other business functions (15%), a lack of required skills (13%) and lack of access to the customer data they need (6%).

Generally, frustrated respondents reported that changes in customer expectations are impacting their marketing strategies. For instance, 72% said that “most or all” of their customers expect more value for money, 71% said customers have higher product quality expectations than in times past, and 68% said customers have higher customer service expectations.

Accenture’s online survey was conducted from November 2009 through January 2010 and drew 400 marketer respondents from companies with annual revenue of $1 billion or more.

Source: http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100812/FREE/100819964/1078/newsletter011

In this installment of Arketi Web Watch we taking a look at Starbucks.com. The Starbucks site does a few things very well. However, like many large consumer sites, there are numerous design inconsistencies.

Let’s dive in.

There are some really nice things happening above the fold on the homepage. The global navigation has gorgeous typography; it’s so good that the tiny navigation descriptions are an asset and not a distraction. But it’s the navigation behavior that really shines on this site. Check out the drop menus, not only are they visually pleasing, but they have Calls to Action. One more time, the drop menus have Calls To Action!  As a veteran Web designer, I found myself saying, “why didn’t I think of that?” This is certainly something that I’d like to see become an industry standard. (more…)

I was eating lunch with some colleagues the other day, and we were all complaining about the customer experience and actual TV service provided by the cable or satellite TV service providers we used. Interestingly, three of the four of us had different providers, but we all equally disliked our providers. I noted that I was in the middle of moving over to AT&T U-verse, which had won the J.D. Power Associates award for two years running. All were interested to know if it was warranted.

After having the service installed, I truly enjoy the service and much more so than my previous provider. The product is truly excellent. However, I feel I must also share these four specific examples of poor sales and service experiences that occurred before and after the service was installed. They were mostly created by IT deficiencies. Here they are:

1 – When I ordered the service, the sales representative had convinced me to get the 12MB speed for Internet connectivity. After he placed the order, I changed my mind and asked him if he could change it. He said that once the order was placed, he could not. But, that he would log in the next day and make the change. I called back a week later, and he had not done that. I asked the customer service rep to make the change – she said she did, but it was never done. I gave up – apparently, they really want me to have the greater speed. Why can’t the order be changed at anytime?

2 – One week after I ordered the service, AT&T called me to tell me they had a great deal on AT&T U-verse and that I should consider switching. I told the rep that I had just ordered the service a week ago, and she said that they use different databases and don’t cross-check them, so she had no way to know that I had already ordered the service. She said she would update her specific database so they would not bother me again. (more…)

We can thank telecommuters for easing traffic congestion and reducing smog in our communities. But, in the coming months and years, this growing population may be adding new challenges to our jobs as btob marketers.

According to a recent Forrester Research report, more than 40 percent of all information technology workers in the U.S., Canada and U.K. will telecommute by 2016.

The report was based on an online survey of more than 3,900 IT workers from companies with more than 100 employees. The increase in telecommuting will cause more companies to allow employees to use their own IT resources, including software, hardware and cell phones. Forrester has dubbed this phenomenon, “technology populism.” The analyst firm predicts that this trend will create an environment in which technology vendors must market to end-users, while also continuing to focus on CIOs and corporate buyers.

BtoB Magazine reported on this Forrester Research report titled, “What Technology Populism Means for Tech Marketers,” in its July 27^th issue. The article quotes Forrester analyst, TJ Keitt, author of the report.

“The proliferation of choice in endpoints is an important story because it shows that businesses are acquiescing to things that were historically no-nos,” Keitt stated. He also provides three suggestions to help marketers improve their reach and target end-users.

1. Emphasize ease of setup and use. “The quicker you can get someone up and running, especially if they are installing something on their own, the more willing they are going to be to recommend it to their friends and colleagues,” Keitt said.
2. Focus on specific job-use cases. When you’re marketing end-users, they just want to know how a technology is going to make their lives easier, according to Keitt. “Talk about which types of jobs will benefit and why it will be important to them,” he said.
3. Identify and enable influential end-users. “We’ve seen the incredible power of word-of-mouth and the power of social networks,” Keitt said. Look at the customer’s social network reach, and consult with these people when it comes to future iterations of your products.

To read the entire article, go to: http://www.btobonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20100727/FREE/100729952/1428/FREE&template=printart