Assignment Help on The Global Impact of Velti Mobiles
INTRODUCTION
Velti Corporation is just 11 years old, yet it has achieved remarkable land marks in the world of Mobile marketing industry. Velti’s vision has enabled it to expand its business to more than 15 countries, and delivering services to around 500 brands (Velti, 2012). The sensible use of creativity, innovation, and technology has transformed Velti into one of the pioneers of mobile marketing campaigning and advertising solutions. Velti is a globally recognized marketing platform that serves as a link between brands and consumers across different countries.
One great example of Velti to consider is when Johnson and Johnson launched its “Baby-center” mobile campaign with Velti in 2007. The selected market for the particular product was young newly pregnant women, and the focus of the service was to provide them with relevant information about their stage of pregnancy along with tracking them through alerts. The sales for the particular product skyrocketed within days of its launch, imploring the company to expand its product line to various countries. The credit clearly goes to Velti’s relevant, affordable, and mass market advertising strategy which is its bench mark and unique selling point (USP). Velti provides mobile advertising solutions that are custom made, and hit right on the spot (Chutani et al, 2010).
GLOBAL STRATEGIES
International organizations all around the world have dealt with many technological challenges in order to gain independence in a disperse environment and to achieve international fame. In today’s demanding business environment subsidiaries must secure knowledge based upon relevant information not just raw data. The free flow of communication between domestic head office and subsidiaries must be ensured.
Another very important aspect of such dispersed environments is proper and efficient use of information technology, strategic management tools, and effective marketing strategies on both local and international level. It is all about conversion of ideas into useful opportunities, and seizing them to beat competition on a global front with a multidisciplinary focused integration of both domestic and international domains. All these aspects can be achieved through highly distilled information transfer, and research based investigation tools (I.R.M.A & Khosrowpour, 1997).
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Steven Mandell and Philip Grubb conducted a comparative study of American multinational organizations in 1979 to draw conclusions about the nature of subsidiary and head-quarter information sharing and professional relations (I.R.M.A & Khosrowpour, 1997). It became obvious that there were two extremes, at one side were the mutually dependant, harmonious, interrelated relationship. The other extreme was that foreign subsidiaries completely controlled their resources and technology with minimum interaction with the parent branch. So, it was concluded that the nature of internationalization of a firm, as well as its foreign subsidiary’s market position, is determined by the overall size of its parent firm i-e the industry that it operates in, and the nature of its foreign subsidiary (I.R.M.A & Khosrowpour, 1997). Businesses at both small and large levels are rapidly being globalized because of various reasons (Mead, 1994). Extending your business internationally has now become very much desirable and easible in today’s rapidly changing business environment Mead, 1994). To be successful on the global scale companies were required to support each other through a well integrated network of communication and channeling of information.
Importance of Skilled workforce
Managing people and resources can be quite a challenging task especially when companies are operating globally, as there are not only cultural issues but issues such as PESTEL that companies need to consider. Chuck Kwok and Jeffery Arpan (1994) claimed that there is no one single approach that has proven to be successful for all companies. In many cases, the process of internationalization has continued to fall short in fulfilling the need for businesses, due to issues in dealing with the global context of business. Technologically advanced and globally dispersed teams may present a huge challenge for even the most experienced management heads. It becomes a demanding and sensitive task for the centralised management to overcome across the border barriers, and manage resources skillfully. The process of decision making requires extensive knowledge of business, information technology, and management trends to create link between parent and subsidiary organisations. The process of going international or global for any company is never easy, although due to the rapid advancement in the technology it has removed many barriers for companies to operate on the global level (Bradley, 2004). Cross cultural inter-dependencies can be exploited through research and development in a technologically savvy environment like Velti’s.
For Velti it is very important to bring about new and innovative strategies such as team events, value based packages, and effective human resource management. This has made Velti a prominent international mobile marketing figure. Geographical dispersal is no more a turbulent factor due to technologies such as: Virtual environment set-up, video conferencing, web page development, leadership organization and inter-collaboration, employee co-ordination, sharing meta-systems, and carrying out meaningful divergent and convergent conversations as discussed elaborately by (Valerie & Prestridge 2012).
Global Platform
For many local and international companies, Velti is a global platform that provides them with mobile marketing and advertising related solutions, and creates or enhances a brand’s image and its market worth and share. Jeannet and Hennessey (2004)n real terms, developing international strategy is more complex and requires more research as compared to local ones, since there are various factors that play their roles in the success of a company. The winning logic behind Velti has been its well-integrated organizational set-up, team management and their globally diverse experiences.
Joint venture
To further enhance its global marketing skills, Velti has formed partnership with StrongMail, a leading digital marketing solution provider (Marketwatch 2012). As per the partnership, StrongMail will integrate Velti’s advanced marketing platform into message studio, i-e StrongMail’s flagship campaign management solution (Marketwatch 2012). Scott Olivier, V.P of products at StrongMail believes that today’s customers want companies to devise plans and mobile solutions to suit their needs, be it email, mobile or social media. It seems that the only way to attain long term customer loyalty is that we meet their expectations in exactly the way they want. StrongMail’s partnership with Velti will ensure that they make revenue, and implement productive, integrated programs that are not only easy and quick, but fulfill the customer’s needs. They will aim towards engaging consumers in significant cross-channel conversations, utilizing their combined expertise and experience in integrated mobile marketing.
Hence, it is re-assured that the winning streak that Velti has shown lately, owes to their mass-marketing approach, relevancy towards their services, and fulfilling consumer expectations.
Velti plans to internationalize their activities and expand their services globally. Peter Parmenter, (Head of New platforms at “Electronic Arts” a leading U.K based video game designer company) shared in an interview that their transition to cross-platform games business owed to their technological dispersal of communication. He also enlightened other companies about the four stages of a company’s mobile marketing cycle i-e Activation, Acquisition, Optimization, and Retention (Velti Mobile Marketing Innovation & Networking Lunch: Peter Parmenter, EA, 2012). He suggested that companies must recognize timely mobile opportunities, understand the changing consumer approach, and trends of the target market’s segment.
That has been the essence of Velti’s marketing and advertising strategy and a core ingredient in maintaining such rich and diverse consumer base and impressive clientele.
Velti’s Technology
Velti is a force to reckon with, in the field of mobile marketing and advertising technology with a globally widespread clientele. They provide feasible solutions to brands, advertising agencies, media, and mobile operators, to help them achieve prolific targets and result oriented campaigns through cross-channel interactions with the consumers via mobile devices. Amit Chaturvedi (General Manager Media and Technology Solutions at Velti) believes that it is now important to engage consumers in meaningful interaction across the channel through mobile (Marketwatch, 2012). Velti “mGage” helps its customers reach out to their consumers through mobiles and other communication media. The customers are attracted through campaigns via mobile internet and/or related applications, and the relationship is extended through the mobile channel (Marketwatch, 2012). Velti strives towards ensuring that marketers, who take part in mobile interactions, derive relevant results through established practices and customized templates through the mGage platform. It will enable them to seize opportunities, and expand their product and service offerings. Velti’s innovative vision and technology has made it possible for brands associated with it achieve their desired targets.