This week I've been looking into writing a report on how digital convergence has transformed the lives of everyone living in the UK. This got me thinking about role of new, convergent  technologies  in shaping the marketing industry, and in particular advertising.

Advertising, like any other communication method dependent on the media, has been subject to massive disruption by the arrival of digital convergence.

At one time the advertising model was relatively straightforward: find a big audience and speak to them, insistently and disruptively if need be, but ensure that your message is put across. However, new technologies have facilitated the fragmentation of mass audiences to such a degree that advertisers - mega-media events such as X-factor or the FA Cup final apart - can no longer identify a mass audience, grazing like a herd of buffalo on the plain. The audience are hiding now, elusive and difficult to reach, on the internet watching Youtube, fast forwarding through adverts on their digital video recorders, listening to their iPod’s and oblivious to billboards. How will businesses and advertisers respond to this huge shift in audience behaviour? Could technology, the initial cause of the disruption, also provide the solution?      

What about the opportunity that audience migration to a variety of digital technology offers to advertisers? For some, the compression of time between the delivery of the message and the potential fulfilment of purchase that digital convergence affords, either on the internet or on mobile phones, is more than capable of compensating for the loss of mass demographics. For instance, big spikes in music downloads were being seen on mobile phones after targeted delivery of adverts to small groups. 

Others see opportunities in a blurring of the distinction between content and advertising - already seen in advertorials and product placements - as being the surest and most effective method of reaching and influencing consumers. Yet others still see location coming back into play, as a key method of reaching the audience: micro-sites, and sponsorships of specific places, times and days would provide the targeted experience that was the most successful method of selling. And there is the argument that the mass-media model still eventually works.

The data that would truly transform the market, and show the where the greatest opportunities really are, by revealing audience behaviour is already out there stored on Sky boxes, mobile phones, Oyster cards and loyalty cards, ready and waiting to be interrogated. So what are advertisers waiting for?

While convergence has opened up many new opportunities for the advertising industry, it has also created new threats. Brands can be broken by one misjudged or overtly intrusive campaign. What would consumer reaction be to the exploitation of personal data by a large retailer? Or to stealth advertising on social networking sites that sent targeted ads after monitoring user content? While the prospect of losing influence and trust remains, aggressive use of this data is unlikely.   

By Sam Ingleby, programme manager at Intellect

Despite software and IT services being one of the most important sectors of the UK economy - both in terms of direct contribution to GDP and employment - the industry is currently poorly served by data.

The Office of National Statistics (ONS) measures the IT sector as a whole. Its latest figures suggest that the IT sector contributes £66.4bn to the UK economy . That means that that IT contributes 6.4 per cent to the UK economy. Similarly the ONS says that the IT sector employs around one million people. However it does not measure software and services, which we believe account for a large proportion of these figures.

Accurate industry data enables companies to better plan for the future and take advantage of new opportunities. On a macro level, statistical measures inform policy are therefore are the foundations of government’s decision-making process. It is therefore vital to have up-to-date, pertinent data on key sectors within the technology industry.

Intellect is conducting a survey to create an annual snapshot and benchmark of software and IT services companies in the UK. We are asking software and IT services companies for help in providing an accurate picture of the industry by completing this survey. If you work for a software or services company, just click on this link to access the survey:

http://www.surveymonkey.com/s.aspx?sm=P4SPOOP9ynQ5UaT7pgCSIg_3d_3d 

and please do forward it on friends who also work in this sector. 

The survey covers all aspects of software development and sales within the software and IT services community, from staff turnover and profitability to sales and outsourcing of development. The results will be published with an accompanying report towards the end of this year. The report will be sent to government, policy makers, think-tanks, NGOs, trade bodies, and the media.

Thanks for your help with this. Hopefully we will be able to gather a comprehensive and true picture of the sector that will benefit us all.

Intel has become the latest in a line of companies concerned about the impact of email on business productivity. An email-free day has been trialled by a number of companies, to improve communications internally and externally, with some success. But these attempts to deal with email highlight a broader problem facing almost every organisation.

Email has proliferated massively over the last decade. A reliance on email is now commonplace, with some workers found to be checking inboxes 30 to 40 times per hour. Email management has become an increasingly difficult, but vital, skill, as information within emails becomes more business critical and has legal standing.

Information within organisations has also increased, as much as sixfold every year, according to IDC. How companies manage this information, whether it is email, electronic documents, paper files, and so on, is becoming an ever more important part of business strategy. Effective information management is increasingly being seen as a differentiator, adding value that can provide a competitive edge.

Intellect recognises how important information is and how damaging poor management of it can be to business. We are working with our members to ensure that there is greater clarity around the information overload debate and to provide businesses with a path to effectively manage customer and internal information, without resorting to banning emails.

Fifty years ago last week, on 4 October 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik I, the first artificial satellite. Four years later Yuri Gagarin became the first man to orbit the Earth and in 1969 Neil Armstrong landed on the moon.

Nowadays satellites are part of our everyday lives. They deliver TV to the home, collect weather information and help navigate us quickly and safely through land, sea and air. Space services and applications are key to strategic and economic development across the world. The City uses them for synchronising financial transactions, farmers use them to improve their yields and reduce chemical use, surveyors use them to ensure pinpoint accuracy, and governments use data from them when making decisions and for secure communications. 

In 2006, the Case for Space initiative painted a picture of the huge benefits the UK enjoys from its world leadership in space. It is a story of one of Britain’s most hi-tech, value-adding sectors, that today supports 70,000  jobs,  contributes £7bn a year to our economy,  employs the most highly-skilled workforce in  manufacturing, and is growing four times faster than the rest of the economy.

And it is clear that in the future satellites will play a greater role in our lives than they already do. We have a vision of 2025 where they guide, locate and connect everything. Satellites will be instrumental in tackling climate change, improving the security of our country and our understanding of the planet and beyond. In addition, it is predicted that by 2015, the sector will deliver 60 per cent growth in its direct contribution to UK GDP, an extra £2.75bn in spillover effects and a further 50 per cent increase in productivity.

However, the Case for Space, which Intellect is part of, makes a number of recommendations, pointing out that to achieve this vision, and for the UK to maintain its leadership, recognition of space technology as key technology, government commitment to a space policy with vision and ambition, removal of regulatory barriers and better use of space solutions across our policy landscape are vital.

The future prosperity of this sector in the UK, and the adherent benefits for the country, could be secured by implementing these recommendations. Without them we could well see it shrink. So while we celebrate 50 years in space, let's not leave the potential unleashed by Sputnik I unfulfilled. 

Last week I attended a debate on whether IPTV and web video are the mechanism best suited to deliver the next leap in viewer experience. This so-called 'fourth platform' is being seen by many in the broadcast industry as the new golden goose of content provision.

The debate identified three major problems for this new bird in the shape of business models, existing technologies and consumer behaviour.

Business models remain problematic with nothing available that can guarantee revenue, which will continue to deter entrants to the nascent market. Secondly the technology required to utilise the platform is likely to offer barriers to consumers, as it is more complicated to use than the existing and hugely popular TV. Thirdly, and the most significant barrier to IPTV's success, is consumer behaviour. While short clips, in the shape of YouTube or Google video are an entrenched and popular method of viewing content for consumers, there is little appetite for long-form television watching on the PC, or a competent method of transferring downloaded or streamed content from the PC to the consumer's TV.

This leads, I believe, to a couple of big questions, for which I am not sure anyone has found the answer. What is TV for and how much does this depend on the device you watch it on? Without knowing this, can we really decide whether IPTV and web video are the best mechanism for future TV content delivery? Answers on the back of a postcard, or should that be programme guide...

By Sam Ingleby