Social Media Jamaica

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ith all the ‘cloud’ talk pres-ently dominating local and

international business news, the aver-age man could be forgiven for assuming that commercial forecasts are gloomy. After all, clouds generally portend bad weather, and given the still precarious economic conditions of many countries worldwide, people are understandably cautious. But this is not a dark cloud, so there is no need to pull out an umbrel-la. The cloud everyone is speaking of these days refers to a computing model in which services (eg. web-based email) and storage (eg. web hosting) are pro-vided over the Internet.

Cloud computing is not exactly a new phenomenon, as applications like Skype and Google Docs have been in exis-tence for a number of years. Cloud services hold great potential benefit for businesses of all types and sizes. Small and medium-sized business operators especially would do well to examine the possibilities.

Locally, the telecommunications indus-try has eagerly embraced cloud comput-ing technology. Digicel Business rolled out Cloud Services last month, offer-ing Cloud Backup to its corporate cus-tomers with plans to launch additional services over the next few months, including Hosted Email, Hosted Black-Berry Server, Virtual Server and Cloud Telephony. Columbus Business Solu-tions (CBS) also provides cloud servic-es through a partnership with Ignition Technology Group and LIME began offering managed network services for

telephony, hosted email and exchange, disaster recovery, and firewall monitor-ing and management services last year.

Fujitsu also recently announced the introduction of its global public cloud platform to local companies under a ‘try and buy’ offer. Fujitsu’s Global Cloud Platform has already been launched in Japan, Australia, Singapore, the UK and North America. The offer is a free trial

of its Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS) technology, which will be available until August 31, 2011.

Executive vice-president for strategy operations at Fujitsu Caribbean, John Slaytor, explained that the offer also comes with added support such as con-sultancy and transition services. Fujitsu has already begun inviting select cus-tomers to try the service and hopes to attract other organisations. Participating companies will benefit from secure and highly available compute, storage, and network capacity via a web-based, self-service portal, with a seamless move to pay when the trial period expires.

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Participating companies will benefit from secure and highly available compute, storage, and network capacity via a web-based, self-service portal, with a seamless move to pay when the trial period expires.

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There are numerous benefits to be derived from cloud computing, chief of which is saving money. The cloud services provided by these telecom-munications companies will give local businesses key resources such as man-aged software systems and backup fa-cilities, which removes the necessity of costly investment in infrastructure such as servers and software licences. Cloud computing allows business owners to pay a small fee instead of the one-time cost associated with traditional desktop software, which often require annual upgrades. With Digicel’s cloud service, for instance, the price is reduced be-cause capital cost is shared amongst all users and there are no per-feature or per-seat fees – customers pay only for the storage they use. David Bates, head of ICT sales at Digicel Business, has es-timated the potential savings from us-ing cloud technology at between 30%-50%.

Another of the great advantages of cloud computing is accessibility. It is available wherever you are, once you are able to access the internet. Many cloud-based apps also allow users to work offline and synchronize data when they go online. For example, some Google Apps offer a desktop version called Google Gears, which syncs your data when you access the internet. Google Apps has over 2 million busi-nesses and 25 million users in its cloud computing marketplace.

Cloud-based applications are also of-ten simpler and easier to use, with just the basics that customers need to get a specific job done. Additionally, cloud

computing applications are updated and improved regularly. Customers will benefit from these improvements without any additional direct cost and without the effort of downloading and configuring upgrades.

of course, there are several issues to give careful consideration to before deciding to use these services. These include privacy and security. your data will be stored on the Internet, which is not without its breaches, hackers and leaks. Business owners will need to en-sure that their service providers have airtight security features to safeguard sensitive information. Digicel stated that its Cloud Services are designed for syn-dicated use, so encryption and access controls are already standard while the Fujitsu Global Cloud Platform incorpo-

rates multi-tier security features. David robbins, chief technology offi-cer at US-based systems development company NetApp, also suggests talking to your provider about data ownership and mobility, to find out who owns your data once it goes into the cloud, wheth-er data can be shared between services and what happens to your data if you terminate the contract with your pro-vider. And what would happen to your data should there be a major systems failure? Digicel and LIME both have Tier III certification, which means their sys-tems have the necessary capacity and resilience to remain fully operational if there is a major power systems failure or if the systems need to be taken out of production for maintenance activi-ties. CBS, which has its cloud in Cura-cao, said its facility is not yet ‘officially’ Tier III certified, but it operates at those standards.

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Many cloud-based apps also allow users to work offline and synchro-nize data when they go online. For example, some Google Apps offer a desktop version called Google Gears, which syncs your data when you access the internet. Google Apps has over 2 million businesses and 25 million users in its cloud computing marketplace.

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he recent success of the Linke-dIn and Pandora IPos plus the sustained buzz surrounding the

anticipated Facebook and Twitter of-fers clearly demonstrate that there is a huge appetite for social media compa-nies on the stock market. Analysts be-lieve this bodes well for other Internet companies looking to go public and may brighten prospects for the venture capi-tal industry.

Besides Facebook and Twitter, several other Internet companies are waiting in the wings to launch their IPos, includ-ing Groupon and Zynga. Groupon has been faced with several hurdles since announcing its intentions and filing to go public earlier this month, including incurring a loss of US$146.5 million for the first three months of 2011 as it spent heavily to expand.

LinkedIn, a professional networking site, became the first major U.S. social-networking site to launch an IPo and its shares more than doubled on their first day of trading. The company is still trading above its IPo price of US$45 per share, but now at US$74, it is down nearly 40 percent from its peak of US$120. Pandora’s shares are also cur-rently trading for US$16 after being val-ued between US$10-US$12 last week. The company raised $235 million based on the sale of 14.7 million shares.

The Pandora IPo is particularly interest-ing because the company is yet to turn a profit after 10 years of operation. Pan-dora runs a service that recommends and plays music, allowing listeners to create playlists based on a song, artist

or genre. The company has 90 million registered users in the United States and makes the majority of its money from advertising; however it has to pay significant royalties for music.

This current resurgence of Internet companies has fueled concerns of an-other dot-com bubble, which wiped out several major web-based businesses in 2000. A combination of rapidly increas-ing stock prices, market confidence that the companies would turn future prof-its, individual speculation in stocks, and widely available venture capital created an environment in which many inves-

tors willingly overlooked traditional fac-tors such as price-to-earnings ratio in favor of confidence in technological ad-vancements. However, some analysts have argued that the prospective IPos will help determine whether this could indeed re-occur.

But why are investors flocking to social media start-ups? Profits, of course. Ven-ture capitalists make money when com-panies they invest in go public or get acquired, and the current resurgence is bringing money back in large volumes. For example, LinkedIn’s IPo has pro-duced more than US$2 billion in profits for its backers, while Groupon’s two top outside investors may own a US$5 billion stake when the site goes public, says the Bloomberg Businessweek.

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LinkedIn, a professional net-working site, became the first major U.S. social-networking site to launch an IPO and its shares more than doubled on their first day of trading. The company is still trading above its IPO price of US$45 per share, but now at US$74, it is down nearly 40 percent from its peak of US$120.

Venture CapitaLists Banking on Social media iPoS

byTracey-Ann Wisdom

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ive years ago, the term ‘social media’ meant absolutely noth-ing. The world was just getting

used to Facebook, founded only two years earlier, and the notion of ‘social networking’ was firmly the domain of college students. Today, ‘social media’ is the buzzword du jour, on the lips of everyone from teens to tycoons. Social networks such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare have revolutionized the busi-ness world and hold vast – yet untapped – potential for marketing success. This has created opportunities for entrepre-neurs like Jermaine robinson, whose one-year-old company, Social Media Jamaica, is teaching local businesses and organizations how to use these services to relate to their clientele while improv-ing their bottom line.

“The goals behind Social Media Jamai-ca’s marketing services are to put our clients in a position to tap into the two-way conversation naturally happening between you and your customers. This conversation occurs 24 hours a day,” robinson said. “our services are de-signed to show you where people are talking about you, the areas where you can best get involved, and the tactics you should use to help increase brand awareness.”

The company’s services include social media marketing strategies, social media audits, social profile creation and com-munity building strategy development. These involve assessing a company’s needs and outlining the specific oppor-tunities and actions to pursue, analyz-ing the impact of a company’s website

across major networking sites and de-veloping strategies to increase visibility, as well as monitoring which communi-ties are most likely to use the company’s products and services and assessing the competition. “our social media pack-ages include Twitter marketing applica-tions, custom Facebook applications and fan pages which are totally managed and hosted on Social Media Jamaica servers,” robinson added.

It hasn’t been easy for robinson and his team to convince some sectors of the business community of the importance of creating a visible social profile. Many business owners still see social media as a fad and are reluctant to invest in it.

This was a major hurdle in obtaining cap-ital for the business. robinson overcame this by utilizing free software, which was necessary to create some applications. For those businesses still reluctant to embrace social media, robinson pointed to Jamaica’s Facebook statistics, which show that some 616 920 Jamaicans use the network . “I would... ask them if they still think it’s a waste of money to mar-ket or advertise their products where so much of their target market spends time daily.”

Nonetheless, robinson and his team have been making headway, attracting clients from a cross-section of local in-dustries, including manufacturing, en-tertainment, insurance, auto sales and a major national sport team. “The prin-ciples of social media can be applied to any type of business. All you have to do is identify your goals,” he stated.

Social Media Jamaica is currently in de-velopment mode, creating its own cus-tom social media monitoring platform and moving social media marketing into events, such as parties. The company’s New york-based associate is also exam-ining opportunities to tap into the large Jamaican Diaspora market in the United States.

contact Social media Jamaica at:Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/social.media.jamaicaTwitter: @socialmediajaEmail: [email protected]

“Social media iS word of mouth 2.0”- Jermaine roBinSon

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“The goals behind Social Media Jamaica’s marketing services are to put our clients in a position to tap into the two-way conver-sation naturally happening be-tween you and your customers.”

byTracey-Ann Wisdom

Jermaine robinson Founder and Managing Director

Social Media Jamaica

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