SMAC (social, mobile, analytics and cloud) is the concept
that four technologies are currently driving business innovation.
SMAC creates an ecosystem that allows a business to improve
its operations and get closer to the customer with minimal overhead and maximum
reach. The proliferation of structured and unstructured data that is being
created by mobile devices, sensors, social media, loyalty card programs and
website browsing is creating new business models built upon customer-generated
data. None of the four technologies can be an afterthought because it's the
synergy created by social, mobile, analytics and cloud working together that
creates a competitive advantage.
Social media has provided businesses with new ways to reach
and interact with customers, while mobile technologies have changed the way
people communicate, shop and work. Analytics allow businesses to understand
how, when and where people consume certain goods and services and cloud computing
provides a new way to access technology and the data a business needs to
quickly respond to changing markets and solve business problems. While each of
the four priorities can impact a business individually, their convergence is
proving to be a disruptive force that is creating entirely new business models
for service providers.
The integration of social, mobile, analytics and cloud
requires clear policies and guidelines as well as management tools that can
automate business processes. The media company Netflix is often cited as an
example of a business that has successfully harnessed the power of SMAC. For
example, when a Netflix member streams a TV show from the Netflix cloud to
their iPad, they are given the option of signing into Neflix with Facebook's
social login.
After viewing a show, members are given multiple ways to
provide social feedback. They can rate content with stars, write reviews and/or
share what they just watched with friends on Facebook or Twitter. Customer data
is stored in the cloud and Netflix can break down its analysis to such a
granular a level that its recommendation engine can personalize suggestions for
individual family members who share the same account, a concept known as 1:1
marketing.
Proponents of SMAC as a customer relationship management
(CRM) strategy believe that 1:1 marketing (also called one-off marketing)
should be the ultimate goal of every SMAC initiative. Critics worry that 1:1
marketing initiatives that aggregate customer data from disparate sources, especially
data that is purchased from data brokers, may violate customer privacy and
cause legal problems related to compliance and data sovereignty.