Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX)

In recent years Wi-fi networks covered huge floor area and street zones, having turned from category NICE-TO-HAVE (something desirable) into category MUST-BE (something obligatory).

It was promoted in many respects by distribution of smartphones and tablets and also informatization of society in general. Using the Internet it is possible to register in appointment now, to be registered on a flight, to put the child on a waiting list in kindergarten, to pay penalties of traffic police, to correspond with tax administration, to check estimates of children at school and many other things.

Existence of Wi-fi often becomes the profit generator. Let's take hotel business where Wi-Fi directly affects occupancy of hotels. Wireless Internet access becomes obligatory and for ensuring educational process.

Some companies and the organizations try to provide lack of Wi-fi as a certain distinctive feature of the business ("We have no Wi-fi, communicate with each other!"). Statistics, however, demonstrates that services based on Wi-Fi are very demanded:

• 29% of buyers in Europe answer the special offers received thus (Mobile Marketing Association, 2010);
• 40% of visitors of stadium responded on the offer to purchase hotdog at a discount during the match (Mobile Internet 2.0: Monetizing Public Wi-Fi via Business to Consumer Relationships, 2012);
• 53% of mobile users are ready to share information on the location to receive relevant offers on availability of services, actions and discounts (JiWire, 2010).

The solution Cisco Connected Mobile Experiences (CMX) allows to implement such services. This platform uses Cisco Wi-Fi infrastructure designed for position fix of client devices with a given accuracy. The external application developed by the third party can be a contextual superstructure to Cisco CMX. The solution Cisco CMX provides the API interface for external systems.

CMX allows to build the Wi-fi network implementing several key functions:

• detection of Wi-fi of clients (using smartphones in pockets of visitors with the included Wi-Fi), their positioning on territories taking into account number of storeys, the analysis of nature of their movements on the platform – where they go with what speed where stop and spend time where the user group gathers. All this analytics can be received on zones of the premises and time spans. Such data will allow the owner of the platform to adapt business процесcы to a customer behavior.
• Connection of guests through a page with information adapted to location of the guest. Means, for example, that the client who is in a restaurant zone at connection to Wi-fi network will receive the offer free of charge to drink a cup of coffee, to try a new dish from the seasonal menu or to lead the child to the children's game room. In a zone of a women's clothing on the smartphone invitations to sales of clothes of fashion brands, information on discounts for accessories and house utensils will appear. One more option – use for an input in network of accounts in social networks. In such option the marketing specialist of an institution can obtain the additional information about the guest: a sex, age, the place of residence, – and also to use social networks for advertizing of the business among the friends of the guest if that makes Check In. Such data will allow to send to visitors even more customized offers.
• Involvement – an opportunity to deliver the necessary information to the connected guest's smartphone and to receive response. This information should generate directly or indirectly a positive cash flow for owners of the platform: increase the level of satisfaction/loyalty of the guest, inform on existence of additional services (navigation on the platform, the schedule of movie theater, existence of the children's room, the goods delivery on the house, a term consumer loan, discounts for goods and so forth). Will indirectly generate a cash flow the raised customer loyalty which are pleasant to use navigation on shopping center, to armor online tickets at cinema, to obtain information on services of the platform. The direct cash flow ‒ is a direct response to "hot" offers and coupons, i.e. additional sales.

The essential share of expenditure is made by spontaneous purchases, i.e. acquisitions which are not planned in advance. The solution Cisco CMX will help to make the most relevant offers to guests of a trade zone and by that to increase the number of spontaneous purchases.

It would be curious to consider the standard business case which is clearly demonstrating a ratio of costs for the similar solution and an additional profit which it generates. However there is no generalized example on all chances, unfortunately. Each business case considers a large number of the factors relating to a specific situation. Besides, the Cisco CMX platform is only the tool. How skillfully the customer's marketing specialist will be able to involve it, to foresee we not in forces.

It makes sense to consider what positive changes of the solution based on Wi-Fi introduce in operating activities of the enterprise of a certain vertical of the market ‒ for example, the organizations of the retail having a number of trading floors and warehouses. These changes can be defined by the following factors:

• the mobile marketing including mobile advertizing and coupons.
• Additional services for the client using mobile technologies (for example, the order of the goods delivery for the house, watching videos of designers of the selected clothes, navigation on shop with the list of the planned purchases, additional purchases [Upsell] on special offers, the help in making decision on purchase using a video call to the expert of shop, implementation of payments from mobile platforms and additional sales due to commission of purchase right after creation wow - effect, reduction of losses of sales to clients who decided not to wait in queue per hour for peak).
• Economy of the squares at the layout of goods and reduction of average time of customer service thanks to consultants of tablets with information on the complete range.
• Increase in efficiency of transactions of the enterprise thanks to video conference and the mobile terminals connected to the central database.

Expensive part of the project does not suffer approximation too. Zones of the trade premises can be broken into categories, at the same time the needs for the wireless equipment for each category will be the:

• the covering is not required (office ladders, elevators);
• The covering without geopositioning (service premises, small shops) is required;
• The covering with geopositioning of different accuracy (trading floors, a parking, a zone of restaurants, entertainments, movie theater, a skating rink) is required.

Such zoning will help to optimize the number of the radio equipment that directly will affect project cost.