Wiki, Blog, and Podcast Analysis - Essay Example

Wiki, Blog and Podcast Analysis ID 19714 Order No. 300761 ] [Supervisor] [Any other details] 19 May 2009 Table of Contents: I. Introduction In today's era of competitive marketplaces return on customer and customer retention are two fundamental focus areas that find highest priority among the marketing strategists. Organizations are ready to invest extra efforts and money into standards, procedures and technologies that can ensure better engagement with customers. In this process, the organizations should develop strategies that can achieve loyalty of customer & lifetime value of customer that can add to the competitive advantages of an organization in the modern competitive business world. Transition to strategies that are customer centric require change in the way customers satisfaction is achieved. Such a transition may require one or more strategies from the following as defined by Ballard (2008): Change in strategy from market segmentation to customer segmentation Systems & processes to capture & preserve customer data & information Organized IT strategies for management of customer data Shift in fundamental philosophy from selling products to serving customers Shift in business orientation from transaction based to customer based Organization structure changes to customer relationship management from product management Shift of focus from brand equity to customer equity & lifetime value Framework to enhance customer knowledge and participation Marchand & Meadows (2006) presented alignment towards customer orientation in three strategic steps: Step 1: Determining the meaning of customer orientation for the business Step 2: Determining the information acquisition & sharing required to achieve customer satisfaction in the business Step 3: Determining how effectively the people should use Information Technology to interact with customers In this presentation, the feasibility & implementation of interactions with customers using Wiki, Blogs and Podcast are evaluated for Smith Systems Consulting (SSC). II. Background This presentation is pertaining to the feasibility analysis of Wiki, Blogs and Podcasts for Smith Systems Consulting for the purpose of two way interactions with the customers. The paper is presented in the form of feasibility study and proposal for Smith Systems Consulting. The organization is in the business of web site development for the customers staring from conceptualization to productionization. Smith Systems Consulting uses cutting edge programming, database & networking tools, methods and techniques to develop the websites for their customers. In order to keep in touch with the customers, Smith Systems Consulting wants to carry out research on Wiki, Blogs and Podcasts to verify their feasibility for this purpose. The author hereby presents their feasibility analysis in the next section. III. Modality a. Wiki Austin and Coates et al. (2009) define the Wiki as a fully editable website on which users can read and add content to contribute to a framework of collaborative knowledge. One of the most prominent examples of Wiki is the Wikipedia - the free encyclopedia that comprises of more than 2 million articles available in 265 languages. The content on Wiki's can be updated by any user through a web interface that allows almost instantaneous updating of the content. The system is subject to reviews like peer reviews, expert reviews, abuse control, etc. Wikis can be public (editable by anyone) or private (editable by a closed user group). i. Type of Information that Wiki can effectively convey Wiki is used as shared knowledge database in which content is added and managed related to a particular subject matter, project, reporting matter, conference, discussion groups, on-line terms & glossaries, dictionaries, collaborative software development, etc. Hence Wiki can be used for any collaborative environment for knowledge sharing. The content in Wiki can be entered and edited by a large number of people - which means, the same does not become protected by the person that is entering it. Discussions & explanations on Wiki are centred at the subject matter and are entered for the purpose of knowledge sharing and not for sharing of personal viewpoints. Technically, content in Wiki comprises of text, pictures and hyperlinks. The textual information is normally cited as per the standard methodology. If citing is not available then a note stating "citation needed" is displayed next to the text. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] ii. How a Search engine will affect using a Wiki The Wiki becomes more effective when implemented with a search engine integrated with its infrastructure. The search engine uses unique keyword caching in the form of scripts from multiple file formats - Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Adobe Acrobat, HTML, etc. These scripts can be easily deployed on a website that uses these file formats [http://www.wrensoft.com/zoom/reviews.html]. Usage of a search engines like Zoom or Google Desktop with Wiki will make it very effective knowledge management system whereby contents from millions of knowledge files can be searched within seconds using advanced & effective tools like the zoom search engine. iii. Advantages Wiki is an excellent system to run virtual knowledge sharing projects. Its feature of collaborative knowledge can ensure that even customers can share their knowledge & experience about usage of the products of the technology companies. In this case study, customers can be invited to open forums related to subject matters that can be updated by Smith Systems Consulting engineers and other customers that have experienced the products as well. The system can bring the customers more closer to Smith Systems Consulting and can benefit out of such collaborative knowledge forums to use the products of Smith Systems Consulting in better ways. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] iv. Disadvantages There are three major disadvantages in hosting and managing a Wiki system - unverified content with false information, breach of copyrights of the content uploaded and plagiarism. The hosting companies can face serious legal cases if copyright infringed or plagiarised content is posted and the company is not able to verify this proactively. Also, if false information is posted on the Wiki, it can cause more damage to the customers rather than extending benefits. Hence, the Wiki system should be supported by a sound backend content auditing system. Another problem with such a system is abuses or derogatory remarks embedded somewhere in between large paragraphs that would be noticed only if a reader has read through the entire content. Such abuses can cause reputational losses for the company. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] b. Blog Blogs are also called web logs in which the creator develops a website and invokes a discussion, appraisal or criticism related to specific subject matter. The respondents of blogs can post their comments, viewpoints, criticisms and appraisals in the form or comments. The comments are tagged with date & time stamp and becomes read only after the respondent has saved the comment. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] i. Type of Information that Blog can effectively convey The type of information posted on blogs is very different from Wikis. Application of blogs are to invite viewpoints, discussions and criticisms of a subject matter and not to develop a knowledge base. The content is not structured in the form of a well organized article, essay or dissertation but is just a stream of messages posted by the respondents. Blogs can be very useful for Smith Systems Consulting to invite feedback, criticisms, ad-hoc solutions to problems, etc. from the customers. Blogs are also useful to develop a social networking among customers such that solutions to problems, criticisms, appraisals, comments, etc. can be shared by the customers among themselves. Smith Systems Consulting can benefit by keeping close touch with customers and also by giving them a comfort feeling that they are a part of the forum where their voice shall be listened to. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] ii. How a Search engine will affect using a Blog Blogs essentially comprise of text and URLs only and hence can be cached in search engines using the unique keyword caching mechanism. Tools like Zoom Search Engine and Google Toolbar will make the customer viewpoints & comments searchable through search engines for both the customers as well as for Smith Systems Consulting. The customers can search for solutions or experience sharing pertaining to problem resolution using the search engine on the blogs. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] iii. Advantages Blogs are easy to implement and use systems for sharing comments, viewpoints, experiences, etc. on the subject matter. They do revolve around the core subject matter but are not very tightly bound with the scope of the subject matter. Hence, blogs can result in free flow of information, comments, experiences, etc. while Wiki can ensure updating of knowledge. Both have entirely different perspectives. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] iv. Disadvantages Blogs are also subject to same threats as applicable in case of Wiki - copyright issues, wrong content, abuse, plagiarism, etc. However, it is easier to manage these issues in blogs because the comments are associated with authors along with date & time information. Wiki is much difficult to manage because the identity of contributors do not surface anywhere. Information in blogs, however, is not organized because every blog possesses a base content and a series of comments with name of author, date and time stamps. Hence, they are more of discussion strings (like chain mails) rather than organized knowledge. Therefore, Blogs can be used for tips & hints and not for in-depth critical thinking and study. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] c. Podcast A podcast is a speech or music file that is created by the author and distributed over the Internet. The audio files can be in the form of mp3 or WMA formats. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] i. Type of Information that Podcast can effectively convey Podcasts are not streaming audios or discrete audio files that can be simply played through a playlist in the windows media player or other forms of media player. Podcast is essentially audio on demand embedded within web enabled documents. Podcasts can be used for recorded lectures, recorded theorizing by experts, or recorded book reading. Professors use podcasts to record their lectures and use in virtual classrooms or distant learning schemes. Podcasts can be linked with Microsoft PowerPoint presentations to develop a packaged lecture. Hence, podcasts are means for communicating knowledge to the recipients. Smith Systems Consulting can use podcasts to deliver recorded product briefs or technical explanations for end customers. [Austin and Coates et al. 2009] ii. How a Search engine will affect using a Podcast Podcasts can be search engine enabled using two methods - associating adequate text with the audio files or speech to text conversion which finally is cached by the search engines using unique keyword caching. In the case of Smith Systems consulting, podcasts can be hosted on a web enabled servers and their speech to text files can be used to create a search engine cache. When keywords are searched, the text files point towards the URL of the podcast that can be played or downloaded. This technique can be used to index thousands of podcasts that are recorded for the customers and saved on the web enabled servers. [Crowell. 2005] iii. Advantages Podcasts can be very useful in delivering speech based explanations of products, technologies, implementation procedures, troubleshooting procedures, marketing brochures. Podcasts can be synchronized with PowerPoint presentations to deliver effective audio-visual presentations to the customers on-line through the web servers. iv. Disadvantages Podcasts are one way communication systems unlike Wiki and Blogs that are two way communication systems. They are not as user friendly as Wikis and Blogs because the customer need to be attentive to the speech when the podcast is playing whereas in case of Wikis and Blogs, customers can read & respond as per their own pace. Podcasts are also subject to copyright infringements and hence the company hosting them should verify their validity & ownership before hosting it. Moreover, podcasts cannot be searched as effectively as the text based content of Wikis and Blogs. IV. Costs The software tools available to develop a system for Wiki, Blog or Podcasts are freely available and hence will not require any investment. However, the creation, organizing, hosting and management of content do require some investments. The hosting shall be required on a web enabled server which can be located at the hosting facility of an ISP. In this context, the following tentative costs are presented herewith: S.No. Description Tentative Price 1 Server class machine for hosting Wiki, Blog and Podcast system $5000 2 Web enabling cost (hosting with a service provider) $500 per month 3 Creation of Wiki, Blog and Podcast hosting system (development charges) $10000 4 Creation of content per dedicated person $30 per hour 5 Annual maintenance & administration charges $25000 These costs are not referred from any source but rather are budgeted as a ballpark. V. Recommendation It is recommended that a mix of all the three technologies is implemented for Smith Systems Consulting. The systems can be developed and deployed on the same server which in turn is located with the hosting service provider. At the most, a standby server for disaster recovery can be deployed at an additional cost of $5000. The three systems can be deployed for the three purposes as presented above - Wiki for hosting collaborative knowledge sharing platform, Blogs for sharing comments, criticisms, experiences, solutions, etc. and Podcasts for structured recorded presentations for the clients. VI. Conclusion: In this essay, the author presented a feasibility analysis of Wiki, Blog and Podcast for implementation at Smith systems Consulting. The feasibility has been studied and proposed based on the type of customer engagement that can be achieved through such systems. The three systems are recommended to be implemented in mixed mode whereby each system will serve different interaction needs with the customers. Finally, a rough ballpark estimation of costing has been presented. Reference List: Austin, Anthony and Coates, Jessica et al. (2009). Blog, Podcast, Vodcast and Wiki - Copyright guide for Australia. Queensland University of Technology. pp5-13. Ballard, Kirsten. (2008). Building a strong Customer-Centric strategy to enable CRM and develop customer Loyalty. Applied Information Management Program, University of Oregon. pp46-47. Crowell, Grant. (2005). Video and Podcast Search Engines. Incisive Interactive Marketing LLC. Retrieved on 19 May. 2009. Available at http://searchenginewatch.com/3555196. Marchand, Don and Meadows, Rebecca. (2006). Customer Relationship Management - Challenging the Myth - focus on people not the technology. Perspective for Managers. IMD International. No. 131. pp1-4. End of Document Read More