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Is Search Engine Marketing (SEM) recession proof?

admin — Thu, 17 Jul 2008 08:48:02 +0000

Is search engine marketing recession proof? Probably yes. Search engines are based on algorithms which can trace internet traffic and current trends. It is much more efficient way to reach the target audience. Google dominate US search market and has nearly 62 percent share. If analyst is to be believed, Google revenue from SEM is increasing about 33% this quarter. That leads to interesting competition across industry players who do search engine marketing business besides Google, Yahoo. Few well know companies are Efficient Frontier and Zanox. Both of these companies are bullish about their future growth. Even with the slipping U.S. economy, SEM spending in North America is now projected to grow to $25.2 billion in 2011, a significant increase from last year’s forecast of $18.6 billion, according to a research done by Search Engine Marketing Professional Organization (SEMPO).

Last week had an opportunity to talk with Anand Ranghanathan , co-founder of Efficient Frontier. He talked about the future of search engine marketing and how keywords are getting utilized to reach the perspective consumers and better advertising ROI. Good thing about search engine marketing is, advertisers can measure the effectiveness of advertising, which is really difficult in traditional marketing like TV or print media.

Another interesting observation is Intel’s impressive growth for this quarter. Which suggest that demand for desktop is increasing and more and more people are getting connected to internet. Going to this logic probably a robust quarterly growth from Microsoft is due

SaaS getting Momentum–Zoho and SwissCom struck deal.

admin — Wed, 16 Jul 2008 11:14:18 +0000

Software as a Service (SaaS) is getting momentum finally.Zoho is partnering with the Swiss telecommunications provider Swisscom AG to offer its Business office productivity software to Swisscom’s 300,000 business customers, Zoho said Tuesday.

Earlier Microsoft announced SaaS initiative by launching Microsoft Live where companies can choose subscription based option (Instead of license based) for many Microsoft products e.g., MS Outlook. Google Apps also getting huge demand from various parts. ZOHO is currently competing with Google for its SaaS initiative. It seems Software as a Service is here to stay.

Report here.

GMAT MATH — Few MATH JJ

admin — Tue, 15 Jul 2008 08:47:40 +0000

1.Is X>Y?
1. (X-Y)/X>0
2). (X^2-Y^2)/X^2>0
Stmt 1) (X-Y)/X > 0 => 1-Y/X > 0 => 1 > Y/X => We can’t say nothing unless we know the sign of X. INSUFF
Stmt 2) (X^2-Y^2)/X^2>0 => X^2 > Y^2. Still nothing can be said till we know the relation between X and Y. INSUFF
Combining (1) and (2) actually gives us no further info. INSUFF
(E)
2. A plane traveled k miles in the first 96 minutes of flight time. If it completed the remaining 300 miles of the trip in t minutes, what was its average speed, in mils per hour, for the entire trip?
Average speed = Total Distance / Total Time = (k+300)*60/(96+t) [60 is multiplied to convert hrs from minutes]
3. Is the positive integer x an even number?
1). If x is divided by 3, the remainder is 2
2). If x is divided by 5, the remainder is 5
Stmt 1) x=3k+2 -> 3k could be add or even. So x could be odd or even. INSUFF
Stmt 2) doesn’t make sense! Remainder cannot be 5!
(E)
4. What is the tens digit of positive integer x?
1). X divided by 100 has a remainder of 30
2). X divided by 100 has a remainder of 30
Stmt 1) x=100k+30 => No matter what the value of k, the tens digit will always be 3. SUFF
Stmt 2) x=100k+30 => J
(D)

Changing role of Information Technology.

admin — Mon, 14 Jul 2008 07:09:50 +0000

How important Information Technology for getting a competitive edge? Due to economic slowdown in technology and banking sectors, thanks to sub prime crisis in US, firms are making relentless efforts to cut operating costs. Investment in Information technology, once perceived as an unavoidable investment for getting an edge over other competing firms, now becoming dollar sucking liabilities for many. New investment in ERP systems, new data bases, new and futuristic technologies are seen as costly affairs and many firms have valid reasons not to do so. For firms who already have legacy IT infrastructure, 70% of their IT investment goes to maintain old servers, desktops, printers, softwares, applications etc. For finance department the most important question to ask, do these investments give good returns?

Probably Nicolas Carr from Harvard Business School has an answer. HBR published Carr’s most debated article “IT Does Not Matter” in May 2003 issue. Carr argued that over a period of time role of information technology will be seen as a hygiene factor for organization, a mandatory stuff but can’t be used to get competitive advantages over competitors.

IT applications are becoming more and more cheap and standardized. Probably all your competitors have the same set of applications, softwares, servers, database running in their organizations. It is mandatory to have a set of standardized softwares and applications or information system like MS office, outlook etc. to run day to day business. It is like wearing a good dress before going for an interview. It’s mandatory, you can not neglect it and probably all other aspirant is doing the same. But does it guarantee you positive result in interview? Obviously not.

Last Saturday we had case on airline reservation system SABRE. Late 1960s, 70s, 80s American Airlines used SABRE as a tool get huge competitive advantages over competitors. As time passed by other players realized the importance of having a computer reservation system of their own and started investing huge money to built one. Few sued American airlines for allegedly unethical use of SABRE. Over the years the role of reservation software changed a lot. Today almost every airline is using SABRE as a reservation system, and needless to say, none can solely rely on SABRE to get an edge over peers.