Open Anything = Smart Everything

In my work on The Open Transport Initiative I have been engaging more with those in the Open Banking and Open Finance community.

This has also raise the topic of whether 'Open Banking', 'Open Finance' or even 'Open Transport' are the correct terms for the secure sharing of customer account data.

The UK Government has come up with new term for the whole concept, called 'Smart Data' - which actually is a slightly better term.

This could then mean we evolve to call these things:

• Smart Banking
• Smart Finance
• Smart Transport

Which actually sounds slightly better and doesn't confuse things with the 'Open Data' and 'Open Source' and 'Open Government' concepts... which are all data & tech related, but mean different things.

Can "Plan Buy Run" be more agile?

In an earlier blog post I explained some advantages and disadvantages of the "Plan Buy Run" [PBR] model / approach to IT management.
Note: Yes, I know the term is usually "Plan Build Run" - but how many larger organisations these days build everything from scratch

This approach is more "waterfall" in its delivery, which can be effective for organisations that need a clear and structured approach to IT. But it also means they are more subject to the typical issues of:

• Inflexibility: changes made in one phase can have a ripple effect on other phases.
• Delays: as each phase is completed sequentially before the next phase begins, delays earlier one create a shift in the end delivery date
• Lack of innovation: IT is focused on maintaining existing systems and applications rather than introducing new ones.

However some organizations have successfully adopted a more hybrid approach to the PBR model, where the waterfall phases are combined with agile techniques. This approach allows them to deliver new features and functionality to users / customers faster while still maintaining control over costs and risks.

PDB and agile can run in a hybrid way across the Plan, Buy and also the Run phases.

For example:

• Use agile principles and practices in the planning phase: 
  This involves business stakeholders in the planning process, creating short-term plans that can be easily changed, and focusing on delivering value to the business.
• Use agile methods for building and deploying new IT systems: 
  This uses iterative and incremental development, working in small teams, and getting feedback from users early and often.
• Use agile approaches for operating and maintaining existing IT systems: 
  This utilises continuous improvement techniques, automating tasks, and responding quickly to changes in business (and especially Non-Functional) requirements.

And ultimately there is no one-size-fits-all approach. The best approach will vary depending on the specific organisation's needs, circumstances and resources.

Plan Buy Run - advantages & disadvantages

The plan-build-run (PBR) IT model is a traditional approach to IT management that divides the IT function into three distinct phases:

• Plan: 
  This involves developing a strategic plan for IT, including identifying the organization's IT needs, setting goals, and developing a roadmap for achieving those goals.
• Build: 
  This involves designing, developing, and implementing new IT solutions to meet the organization's needs.
• Run: 
  This phase involves operating and maintaining the organisation's IT infrastructure and applications.

The PBR model has several advantages, including:

• It provides a clear and structured approach to IT management.
• It helps to ensure that IT is aligned with the organization's business goals.
• It can help to improve efficiency and reduce costs.

However, the PBR model also has some disadvantages, including:

• It can be inflexible and slow to adapt to change.
• It can be difficult to coordinate the three phases of the model.
• It can lead to siloed thinking within the IT organization.

The PBR model is therefore seen as a waterfall approach to IT management, as each phase is completed sequentially before the next phase begins.

Using other blogging platforms

 I've not been using Blogspot for about a year, as I have been using other blogging platforms instead.

Why?

Well I've noticed that this blog is getting less & less traffic and also less traction in search engines (with some posts falling out of Google entirely).

Perhaps its best to just use this platform more my informal thoughts before posted articles that get more traffic & engagement on Medium, LinkedIn, etc.

New Zealand Government mandates tech giants pay for news

Some people argue that social media sites, such as Facebook and Google, should pay for the news content that they use, as it helps to support journalism and the production of high-quality news. Others believe that such a move could be harmful to the free flow of information on the internet and could lead to less diversity in the news. Ultimately, the decision on whether or not to make social media sites pay for news would need to be made by individual governments based on the specific circumstances and considerations of their own countries.

However The New Zealand government has now announced that it will introduce a law mandating that big online digital companies like Alphabet’s Google and Meta Platforms pay New Zealand media companies for the local news content that appears on their feeds.

https://thenewamerican.com/new-zealand-mulls-over-law-to-make-facebook-and-google-pay-for-news/

The little secret most SEO agencies still don't want to acknowledge.

Its time to confess all folks!

The little secret that most Search Engine Optimisation (SEO) agencies still don't want to acknowledge is that SEO still works even when you stop employing the agency... but with one huge caveat. 

Yes, unlike paid digital marketing, which stops delivering new visitors almost immediately after it is turned off... the SEO efforts made to improve a client's website ranking in search engines won't be immediately reversed when you stop using that agency*. 

So in the same way that organic rankings improve over time from effective optimisation efforts, sites tend to take time to drop lower and lower when SEO is ignored.

How quickly these rankings drop depends considerably on the site, the competition and a number of other factors. And my experience has been that continual sustained SEO efforts have better success that turning that optimisation effort on and off over time.

*Unless they have used paid inbound links and stop these straight away. In which case, you shouldn't have hired that agency for SEO in the first place!

European Interoperability Framework and transport & mobility

Yesterday I posted (for the first time in ages) that I had found a useful diagram called the "European Interoperability Framework" covers different levels of interoperability.

This work from the European Commission in March 2017 gives specific guidance on how to set up interoperable digital public services. https://ec.europa.eu/isa2/eif_en 

It documents 47 clear recommendations on how to improve governance of interoperability activities and ultimately improve the quality of European public services. And in my opinion this includes the transport & mobility sector.

The "European Interoperability Framework" diagram clearly makes the distinction between four layers of interoperability governance: legal, organisational, semantic and technical

Legal interoperability:
This is from legislation that suits not only the physical but also the digital world. Its purpose is to facilitate interoperability between public services at the lower levels

Organisational interoperability:
This provides consistency of processes for optimised data exchange 

Semantic interoperability:
This ensures that the precise format and meaning of the data and information exchanged is preserved and understood between each party.
In other words that data entities & elements and the relationship between them are clear.

Technical interoperability:
Ensures that systems are linked to each other correctly for the exchange of data. This ultimately requires the use of formal technical specifications.

What do we actually mean by Interoperability ?

I not only run a digital strategy & marketing consultancy (Ideal Interface), but also chair a transport data standards organisation (The Open Transport Initiative). 

Unsurprisingly I do speak a lot about Interoperability and its benefits. However I recently found this very useful diagram in a document from the University of Ghent (or Gent, if you speak Dutch):
https://biblio.ugent.be/publication/8504205/file/8504206

The diagram, annotated as the "European Interoperability Framework" covers different levels of interoperability.

Getting the best value from your marketing in 2022

Marketing efforts to get new customers cost money, either in the form of resource budgets or media budgets (or both). This metric, known as the Customer acquisition cost [CAC] is an important commercial metric that calculates the total sales & marketing effort used by the number of visitors that convert or buy a product / service. This figure, along with Customer Lifetime Value (LTV), are probably the two most effective and comparable marketing metrics used.

Understandably most digital marketing managers also like this overall average cost to be broken down by each acquisition channel. This allows them to assess the effectiveness of each, with the usual groupings given by digital analytics applications including: 

• Paid Search - visitor clicks on a paid advert in a search engine results page
• Organic search - visitor clicks on a link in a search engine results page that can be improved using Search Engine Optimisation techniques
• Referral - visitor clicks on a link (usually not paid for) in another website

Note: when explaining this topic I should always mention the Direct channel. This is when no channel can be identified by the analytics application used  e.g. the visitor types the URL director into the browser or when the source cannot be determined). For some sites a large percentage of Direct visits can either be an indication of brand recognition or a reflection of significant offline marketing activity; but for others it could simply highlight a tracking issue with a few key inbound links.

Organic search can have the lowest CAC

Typically Organic Search still delivers a lower CAC than other marketing channels, such as paid search or display advertising. 

This has been explained in detail in many posts, e.g.

https://www.growthcollective.com/blog/customer-acquisition-cost-ads-seo

https://firstpagesage.com/seo-blog/seo-roi/average-customer-acquisition-cost-cac-by-industry-b2b-edition-fc/

Although my own word of caution when calculating CAC is that all costs must be counted (e.g. media, agency management, in-house staff coordination, etc.) not just some, if you are to properly compare "apples with apples".

Data Marketplace Capabilities

In a recent post, I described what a Data Marketplace is (e.g. an online portal or website where data can be easily found and shared)

Since then I have been working with a company to create "a consolidated market place for multiple data sources specifically targeted for the transportation and mobility market"
https://www.smartpassenger.co.uk/

I therefore thought it would be useful to map out the capabilities a data marketplace would have.

These capabilities are generic descriptions of key features you could expect to see in any Data Marketplace, regardless of the sector or industry vertical the platform was found.

1. Data Catalogue
2. Content
3. Data Gateway
4. Data Documentation
5. Self-service Account
6. Data Licensing
7. Offline Billing
8. Online Payment
9. Community
10. Data Source Management
11. Catalogue & Meta Data Management
12. Platform & Account Management
13. Community Management
14. Content Management 

What is a data marketplace?

A data marketplace (or data mart) is an online portal or website where data can be easily found and shared.

Although the name indicates that data is only bought and sold via a Data Marketplace, other data can also be made available such as Open Data (free to use, re-use or redistribute) or Shared Data (limited by license or end-usage).

Data marketplaces typically offer various types of data for different markets and from different sources. Making them a focal point for providing and accessing information about specific sectors or industries.

There can be a wide range of data formats and technologies provided via Data Marketplaces. However the widespread adoption of APIs for integration has meant that these are often the chosen modern way of publishing data sources now.

Transport & mobility - data quality

Lately I have been looking at data quality in the transport & mobility sector.

Helpfully UK Gov has 6 "Core data quality dimensions":

1. Completeness
describes the degree to which records are present

2. Uniqueness
describes the degree to which there is no duplication in records

3. Consistency
describes the degree to which values in a data set do not contradict other values representing the same entity

4. Timeliness
describes the degree to which the data is an accurate reflection of the period that they represent (and that the data and its values are up to date)

5. Validity
describes the degree to which the data is in the range and format expected

6. Accuracy
describes the degree to which data matches reality

These terms are use across UK Gov and were created with the UK Data Management Association https://www.dama-uk.org/

More info here: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-government-data-quality-framework/the-government-data-quality-framework

VUCA - the military term for tech projects

I'm finding that I'm increasing using the military term VUCA when referring to a technology project. This acronym, which stands for volatility, uncertainty, complexity and ambiguity has been used over the last 2 decades to reflect the lack of knowledge about what is about to happen.

For me it sums up the vauge definition of large software-based projects, where either there has been insufficient strategic input, not enough analysis or just a general lack of willingness to define future scenarios or risks.

I'm now on the hunt for further useful military terms, without falling back on SNAFU.

Transport volumes are very low right now, but this isn't just bad news

We live in a business world now driven by Digital Transformation. It seems that every media outlet wants to be "the next Netflix" and every takeaway restaurant thinks they should be "the next Deliveroo" Note: This is despite Deliveroo actually losing over £200million last year, a fact that hasn't been lost on the UK stock market in the week

2020 will be remembered as the pandemic being the catalyst for a huge shift to digital. Digital working processes, Digital meetings, Digital retailing, etc. 

It will also be remembered as the year there was a huge reduction in the overall use of transport, as:

- those working were strongly encouraged to work from home, where possible

- lockdowns prevented a significant amount of personal & business travel 

- tourism was stopped

- people were furloughed from work  

Photo credit : https://unsplash.com/@thenightstxlker

But, as vaccines are rolled-out and restrictions are lifted, we are likely to see a significant "bounce-back" in the transport & mobility sector over the next few months, as staff return to the city and the office (although perhaps not to pre-pandemic levels for a long while / if ever). 

So now it is high time for transport operators (and their suppliers) to fully embrace digital transformation and modernize their legacy business processes & systems. The current situation of low passenger volumes may mean reduced revenue, but also means less risk when making significant technology and data changes. 

In short, if you are going to implement a new process or technology solution across the transport sector... now is probably the best time to do it.

Does your website really need “personalisation”?

I see it in nearly every new website set of requirements these days… the request for “personalisation of the digital user experience” or something similar.

(Usually just sitting in one line of a very long set of crafted and prioritised requirements or user stories – hiding in wait to catch-out the unprepared software or digital agency that has to fully respond with a costed and carefully caveated proposal in a matter of days)

So what is meant by “personalisation”?

In my experience there are two different types of digital personalisation:

Implicit personalisation

This is where the user experience is changed based upon inferred and non-personal details cleaned from the user e.g. their referral site, the search engine term they used, the language of their device, the day and time of their visit and even the assumed location they are browsing from.

This gleaned information can then be used to serve-up more tailored marketing messaging & content (text & images) and perhaps more targeted products that have been previously viewed or purchased by similar people. The aim is that the website ‘learns’ what assets to serve to improve the site’s goals (AKA the conversions), typically an ecommerce purchase or a lead generation form completion.

It can be relatively easy to implement basic implicit personalisation, either using such functionality already available with a decent Content Management System (CMS) vendor or from a Conversion Rate Optimisation tool that can be added subsequently.

 

Explicit personalisation

This functionality has the same basic aim, to increase the conversion rate of the digital experience and therefore make more money or generally get more business. This is also done by serving up the content, data or features to favourably change the user’s behaviour. However explicit personalisation does this by utilising data actually known about the customer, such as: their address data (for more local content), their demographic data (for more age or gender relevant content) or their previous browsing & purchase data (for more targeted content).

This form or personalisation, as you can imagine, requires the digital user experience to have access to some or all of the customers' personal data, perhaps stored in an online account. It therefore typically needs a more complex integration to the source of the customer’s data and secure handing of potentially personal details. 

Google now using bold to show keywords in organic and Ads

To quote my old pal Jon Gritton "Whoa.... Google's bold text just changed font"

And yes, a quick check in Google UK indeed confirms that both the organic and paid (Ads) text now highlights the search term in bold text.

This is a significant change to the Google Search Engine Results Pages (SERPs) and now almost certainly increases the value of Meta Description tags within each page. So expect the Search Engine Optimisation and Paid Ads community to be excited and full of recommendations to take advantage of this alteration.

Planning a new website or app? Think strategic

I talk to a lot of individuals and organisations about improving their digital experience.

Most want to redevelop their website or mobile apps to be more usable, commercially beneficial or compliant (e.g. to web accessibility standards).

I have therefore found myself using this diagram to explain the different dimensions to consider before going any further.

Strategic aims:
What are the top-level objectives of your organisation? To grow market share? To innovate faster? To delight your customers? 

Commercial goals:

How much is a prospect worth to you? Do you prioritise long-term customer lifetime value? Or just to make as much short-term revenue as possible? 

Personas & channels:
What are the archetypal features and mindset of your different target users? Which of these personas are the higher converting & higher value ones? What digital channels and devices do they use and which ones convert better?

User needs and top tasks:

What problem are they trying to solve (and what would stope them doing it)? Why are they doing this task now? What path(s) to conversion does each different target group take?

"As Is" analysis:
Why are you replacing your current site / app / platform? Why doesn't it perform or help you meet your aims & goals? What data or insight are you not getting right now? What volume or performance do you need / want?

Usability testing:
What elements of your site help users and what hinder them? Is your navigation & on-site search usable and useful? What components to customers miss out or not understand? as they browse Why do they leave your site half way through your main goal funnel? Why do users not like, trust or believe your content?

Benchmarks & standards:
Is your site / app fully meeting all legislation?  Is the front-end fully compliant with all coding standards? Does your content's tone-of-voice align with that of your brand? Is the site optimized for search engines? 

Competition:
Which of your competitors delivers a better digital experience and why? What features or content do they have that sets them apart? How is your competition able to be faster or more innovative? (In other words... what tools and processes in your organisation make you slower or less agile?)

Best backpack for all weathers - this was not what I meant

My consultancy company (Ideal Interface) has recently started working with this UK backpack company called traffic (https://gowithtraffic.co.uk). They have cleverly designed a wipeable water-resistant backpack called the "crosstown" and now sell it on Amazon. We do the digital marketing work for them, including some content marketing and search engine optimisation (SEO).

My latest blog post appeared on their website today with the title "There’s no such things as bad weather – just an unsuitable backpack!" 

This was quickly indexed in Google and within hours appeared in the Google Search Engine Results (SERPs). However the small issue is that the term that now gives this page a top ranking in Google UK is not one we expected. And rather than the page appear for searches such as "bad weather backpack" or similar... the one that DOES work from an SEO perspective is: "unsuitable backpack".

Ooops :-) 

Needless to say, we are going to have to look at alternative ways to optimise this site and its pages for the correct search terms in future.

Australia makes Facebook & Google pay for news

Australia will force U.S. tech giants Facebook and Google to pay Australian media outlets for news content in a landmark move to protect independent journalism that will be watched around the world.

Mel Silva, Managing Director of Google Australia and New Zealand said about the regulation
"It sends a concerning message to businesses and investors that the Australian government will intervene instead of letting the market work"

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2020/jul/31/google-and-facebook-to-be-forced-to-share-revenue-with-media-in-australia-under-acccs-draft-code

How do you think?

A friend on Facebook recently posted about some people not having an internal monologue when they think.

This got me thinking (funny that) and realising that I have a strange combination of thoughts, that help me in different situations:

1. 1. Internal monologue:
   Typically used to read and sometimes remember names & places (e.g. repeat it over & over to get the noun to ‘sink in’). On other occasions hear my internal monologue and quickly repeat it out loud without checking what I’ve heard… this is when I get accused of “speaking without thinking” - just ask my embarrassed wife - which is actually the opposite of what happens.
2. Non-verbal idea:
   These are usually more abstract and are when my mind wanders (especially in the loo & shower for some reason). It is at these times I come up with innovative stuff, typically by mashing together different concepts.
3. Visual thoughts:
   This is where I use my brain to draw / create something (sort of like a 3D object in a computer programme). I think it comes from my engineering studying days and is now especially useful for visualising technology ideas, where I need to work a problem out or crate a solution. However, this is best done by drawing out on paper / whiteboard what is in my head and then getting myself or others to change/add to it.

How do you think?