CHANNELV ISION | JANUARY - FEBRUARY 2022 place of business,” Nace said, and then presented the twist. “But what if you can use that same infrastructure you have in place to create new revenue streams; to engage your customers more effectively; to learn more about your customers? “Large businesses across the globe are doing this, and for our partners out there, you guys should really be aware of what you can do with this solution,” he continued. Wi-Fi can be used to access valuable data and analytics that can help build detailed visitor profiles, which allows the company’s marketers to better understand, for example, how visitors are moving around a space. Typical customers that could benefit from this kind of information are the same types of businesses channel partners already serve, such as retail, health care, municipal governments, office spaces, hospitality, restaurants and large public venues and malls. License toWi-Fi Nace said the solution Telesystem offers is a SaaS-based solution that lives on top of the Wi-Fi infrastructure – above the wireless access point. The solution has three licensing options: • Enterprise License – The solution that provides the analytics to elicit feedback from customers and gather intelligence about those consumers to allow more effective target marketing. • Wayfinding License – A niche solution that helps with pinpoint accuracy within a foot or two, making it a great navigation or geolocation tool. • Presence & Location License – A solution that provides information based on location. “Since it is a software as a service, it is licensed like everything else that we are selling technology-wise,” Nace said. The solution is licensed per access point per month and is very similar to how Telesytem licenses its UCaaS services or SIP trunks per user per month, “and there is a monthly reoccurring revenue that our partners are going to be paid a residual on,” said Nace. “So, the cost might be $50 to $60 per access point, and when Telesystem provides the access point, we’re about $25 per month if you want to layer that on top of an existing infrastructure.” He added, “We’re also going to be able to connect that solution with your existing CRM. Part of the goal of this solution is that engagement analytics are able to glean details, glean information about your visitors.” The information that can be gathered could include how often a customer is coming into a location, the time of day a customer visits a business, visitor demographics, what a customer might “like” or dislike, and their social media history. “Why is this information important?” Nace asked. “It allows the marketing officer to tailor the messages to the demographic, the age range, or even to change the marketing to attract other people who don’t fit the demographics that are being measured.” He continued, “So, I want to gather all that information and connect it to my existing CRM whether that’s Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics or whatever. I can also engage customers when they come to my venue by way of texting.” For example, the store manager or company marketing person may recognize a repeat customer and send a personalize text that welcomes her by name and thanks her for her patronage. “It’s all about engaging and learning about the customers more effectively and then targeting them with very pinpoint marketing as opposed to broad strokes,” Nace said. “It’s taking the guess work out of the marketing.” The Enterprise license allows for sending questions or quizzes to the customer, which allows for immediate feedback. For example, a fitness center might recognize one of its members enrolled into a cardio class. When the class is complete, the center might send out questions regarding how the attendee enjoyed the class or provide further information on the instructor and future classes. With the Presence & Location License, a person shopping in the men’s department of a large store or mall could be targeted by the store’s social media manager with individual information or even a coupon for a value-add or accessory to a recent purchase. Telesystem also can help create splash pages to customize messages and to target certain demographics. Nace said companies with several venues can use a single pane of glass to manage the entire experience and monitor all the venues at once. If it all sounds like an intrusion to privacy, Nace explained that when customers sign onto the building’s or retailer’s Wi-Fi, they are asked to agree to the “terms & conditions,” which explains that their information is being gathered to provide a better experience. o MOBILE & WIRELESS Top Three Opportunities from Retailers Implementing Location Analytics in the Time of COVID (Selected Differences) Source: Retail Systems Research In general, how much of a priority is 5G planning and adoption for the following stakeholders at your company? Source: Verizon, Morning Consult; 2021 A top priority An important, but lower priority Not too important a priority Not a priority D n’t know / No opinion 54% 39% 34% 12% 10% 5% 38% 33% 13% 11% 5% 35% 38% 12% 10% 5% 32% 38% 14% 11% 5% 24% 9% 9% 4% 43% 41% 40% 38% 33% 33% 31% 47% 27% 62% 44% 33% 27% 38% 27% 27% 31% 39% 31% 31% 45% 27% 19% 36% 31% 16% 9% 23% Enhanced customer loyalty Optimized return on inventory investment A faster, more efficient supply chain Enhanced customer loyalty Taking advantage of new selling opportunities Faster time to action in responding to incidents Indoor reconfiguration planning FMCG GM Fashion, Specialty, Brand IT/IS leaders Top executive leaders (e.g., CEO, Presid nt) Engineering/Product Development/ R&D leaders Strategy/Operations leaders Sales/Marketing/Business Development leaders Challenges of deploying a passwo dless auth ntication model Financial investment Regulations around the storage of the data Time Resistance to change from employees Lack of skills and knowledge Resistance change from IT department Passwords will never truly be eliminated 16
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