SMEs are fed up and not going to take it any more

I thought your article was spot on as regards SMEs and technology (cover story, Connectis issue 12). The Purple Tangerine specialises in marketing strategy and consultancy. I have had many problems with IT and large organisations over our short one-year history and believe there is a huge gap in the market for the company that gets it right and concentrates on the needs of the smaller players - who will pay for quality! I suppose my biggest bug bear is our old friend BT.

I could tell numerous stories including waiting three weeks for a phone line to be installed - when the engineer eventually turned up he didn't even have the right equipment. As regards knowledge management, I have yet to find a company that can provide a basic package. There are some, such as www.driveway.com, but this is probably one of only a handful at most who are anywhere near good. Please keep up the good work on exposing this sector for what it really is.

Nigel Jones, managing director,
The Purple Tangerine,
nigel@purpletangerine.com

Appeasing the SMEs

It was gratifying to observe your conclusions on SMEs jumping on the internet bandwagon. It's about time. We have been working for corporations and multinationals for 15 years, yet realised that some of the same conclusions as in your feature could be drawn about SMEs communicating their convergence, e-business and interactive awareness.

To that end, we have been observing the changing nature of the SME e-business marketplace over the past year or so. In response to the huge demand that exists for SMEs to overcome the technological and language barriers to entry, we set up our communications consultancy.

In light of the European Commission's Go Digital initiative and the communications white paper, we are best placed to find opinion formers from the SME market who know how their needs can be met, rather than allowing governments and industry bodies to speak for them.

Sam Eaton, director,
Cinnamon Communications,
seaton35@hotmail.com

Why we are unwilling to Wap

As your article "What went wrong with Wap?" (Connectis issue 12) points out, many people have access to Wap services and there are a wide range of high-quality portals, but they are only being used to a very small extent. This is because Wap has been developed and marketed largely for the consumer mobile phone user - but, it could be argued, wireless internet is far better suited to the PDA and has great potential for business applications.

Wireless is undoubtedly the next generation of revolutionary technology. The wireless internet is not simply an extension of the wired version. Its true benefit is quick access to personalised information that you can act on immediately.

However, very few organisations have recognised the potential of integrating hand-held and networked computers; even fewer have begun using the technology in this way. The main reasons mobile integration is yet to catch on seem to be that first, there is a misunderstanding about the value of mobile devices and, second, the products are not marketed to corporate users.

As far as the future of Wap is concerned, the sooner the pricing structure changes the better, as it is unlikely that this market will pick up while telecoms carriers demand the same rates for surfing as they do for speech. Fortunately, GPRS and 3G networks will work differently, offering constant connection to the net. With these networks, users will be charged according to how much information they download, using a per megabyte price system.

A substantial increase in today's traffic volumes is required if telecoms carriers are to recoup their investment in 3G licences. Much of this traffic increase is expected to come from a surge in the usage of Wap services, but a radical change in user behaviour is unlikely to happen overnight. The death of the dotcoms should be a warning: consumer activity does not necessarily evolve as quickly as technology. People need time to get used to a new idea before they begin to understand how it is relevant to their lives and eventually start to use it.

John Bycroft,
managing director,
Noblestar,
info@noblestar.com

Web advertising is alive and well, thanks very much

In response to your article, "How to stay alive in advertising" (Connectis issue 12), I dispute the point made about internet advertising being expensive and the comparison made to television advertising costs. Online costs have fallen substantially this year and at a much faster rate than declines in average TV costs.

This means we are paying well below £10 per thousand impressions, often below £5. The fact that the internet continues to attract the sort of young, affluent audiences advertisers want to reach also means that the internet is now a very cost-effective way of reaching prime audience. To cap all this, when you do reach them, the interactive nature of the relationship affords the advertiser a more meaningful dialogue than is available in traditional media.

David Day's assertion that "People over 35 don't use the internet as much" as younger users is true - and they don't go to the cinema as much either. But, like any young medium, internet penetration is growing fastest among groups that were not early adopters - exactly the sorts of audiences that the TV broadcasters most want.

Finally, the author writes that "TV ads have an intrusive feature that other forms of advertising don't. Readers can turn the page and surfers can click on a new ad but television viewers have to flee the room". Hasn't he got a remote control? Isn't he aware of the threat posed to TV advertising's past potency by channel hopping and smart machines that filter adverts out?

The consumption of passive TV advertising is different from the active decision to click on a banner. Indeed, the consequences of clicking in to a well-crafted and transactional website are potentially much greater than seeing a spot on telly a couple of times, however much that spot cost to make.

Although digital television will mean that TV advertising becomes more involving and impactful, the fact is that the internet is fast attaining critical mass as an advertising medium.

Mark Girling,
managing director,
Quantum New Media Services,
info@qms-ltd.co.uk

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