Technology offering

technology vision and capability for 2011 - 2012

Technology is core to everything we do in our
digital world. Creative implementation of that
technology through innovation and
understanding human behavior are core
attributes in amaze’s technology offering.

Staying ahead of the curve with the application
of innovative technology in this ever changing
world remains one of our core qualities. But
technology without purpose or application will fail
to inspire your audiences and users.

Understanding human behavior and how the
application of that behavior and then translating
it into our solutions ensures we can deliver the
very best user experience and engagement.

foreword// our digital enabler

Amaze’s technology remains unique amongst
agencies. Our technology pedigree enables
us to compete with the largest pure play
technology businesses but our agency style
approach to the digital world ensures we can
apply technology to serve and engage your
audiences.

The following document sets out our
capability and vision for the year ahead. It
explores our thinking and challenges in this
evolved digital world.

Matt Clarke – CTO amaze

foreword// our digital enabler

Contents
•The future
•How Amaze stays ahead of the game
•The Splinternet
•Social Platform new business intelligence
•User Experience is what matters
•Seeing beyond the walls
•Cloud computing
•Our technology
• Platforms
• Devices
• CMS
• Client

Technology Choice// Our Approach from blueprint

The future
What’s next? That’s a simple question to ask,
but it’s not so simple to answer. Technology
touches everything in the modern world. It’s no
longer on the sidelines in a support role, but
instead is driving business performance and
enriching people’s lives like never before.

The 1969 moon landings required radical, back
to the drawing board ideas about everything from
earth orbit to life in zero gravity. The entire
programme called for exceptional innovation.

the future// what’s next?

The future
Putting a man on the moon could not have been
achieved using conventional aviation technology
and with this new digital world we operate in we
can no longer rely on yesterday’s approaches to
deliver today’s business objectives or even
engage today’s digital natives.

We are entering the world of web3.0 and web4.0.
Yes another point 0, but in reality, this time we
are making the machine work for us in an
intelligent way, it will be distributed, analysed,
understood, decoupled and engaged with, in new
and extraordinary ways.


The future
The future is shaped by your decisions. We can
provide the ideas, direction, tools, technology
and people. But the future must be embraced as
it starts today.

Take the biggest challenges at the moment,
social, new devices, new interfaces, changing
players. All of this has impacts on your thinking
and investment. It requires bold choices
because sitting it out won’t be an option.


How we stay ahead of the game
Technology requires investment, it is thwart with
risk. Risk often brings challenges which leads to
innovation but it’s something that needs to be
tamed.

Bringing our technology to you should not be a
prototype process. You need to be isolated from
the risk to enable your projects and solutions to
come together as smoothly as possible.

Managing this risk to get new technology into our
business requires us to be smart. We need to
trial blaze new technology in a clever way.

how we stay ahead// managing risk

Staying ahead of the game
Amaze apply two approaches to this;- pioneering
technology teams and amazelabs.

Pioneering technology teams are specialist
teams that work with customers willing or wishing
to apply brand new technology concepts. The
teams are structured in a way, where they are
small but specialised in new technology
adoption. They are prepared for a rough ride to
bring in the technology for you in a low risk way.

pioneering technology teams// managing risk

Amazelabs is our research and development
facility. It provides a framework and vehicle for
us to channel our technology investment.

Amaze invests in innovative projects that enable
us to generate leading edge solutions.

We invest in 3 to 4 ideas per annum and will
support innovators to bring them to fruition.
Investment opportunities are reviewed by the
Amaze executive team based on predefined and
published call for ideas. We source these ideas
from our employees, partners and customers.

amazelabs// managing risk

Amaze labs gets technology to you. Its not
necessary product but its modules, platforms,
ideas and solutions.

amazelabs// managing risk

the splinternet change time for us all

The Splinternet affects us all
For the past 15 years, websites have been the
prevalent digital modus operandi for businesses,
however, all of that changed in 2010 with social,
mobile and applications becoming mainstream.
As these digital technologies continue to
fragment, it has become increasingly difficult for
brands to manage and monitor their online
presence across multiple markets, let alone
understand and act upon the opportunities that
are available to them.

The Splinternet//

‘The Splinternet’ is the term we’ve been using to
describe this effect where the internet is being
segmented into walled gardens; walled gardens
that are being created around users, either
through subscriber or device driven communities.
The two biggest examples are Facebook and
new apps that have been created for the mobile
community, such as Flipboard and the many
gaming apps that come integrated with
something like Apple’s Game Centre. The
Splinternet is affecting the internet as we know it,
creating a number of challenges for agencies
and technology players alike who wish to
continue to reach users moving forward.

The Splinternet//

The following top five considerations are
underpinning the strategies and decision making
process of technologists and agencies like
ourselves that are navigating this new world.

The Splinternet//

1. Awareness

How can you be made aware of what’s going on in this world? How can
you watch, protect and react to your own brand and product
challenges? We are seeing a lot of paralysis out there, with large
organisations understanding the significance of the impact and
growing momentum of social media, but with no clear insight on
where to start and what to do. The tools now available and the
strength and importance of the communities that are in
conversation about your brand should not be ignored or
underestimated.

The first part of any organisation’s strategy should be to gain an
awareness of what’s going on within these communities. This is
not necessarily just about listening, it should be focused on trying
to make sense of what’s going on and where, and putting the right
framework in place to monitor this new world without having to
watch it constantly. Creating a model that monitors and makes
sense of the Splinternet is the first step towards easing the
paralysis, from which a defined strategy to deal with this new
world can be created. Once you know how users are responding,
you can create a strategy around them to amplify your reach and
begin the process of engagement.

The Splinternet//

2. Governance

Once you have reached this level of awareness, there is temptation to
jump right in. However, you need to be careful as social networks are
great for building relationships but they can be even better at ending
them - it’s like the Wild West out there. If you’re good - or lucky - you
can prosper, but it’s essential to create a framework to facilitate your
engagement in this world.

To do this, look at how do you control your brand’s real estate and
keep track of what’s being said. How many Facebook passwords do
you have and who has them? What happens if they get lost? Who’s
keeping track of what’s being published? Is it effective and how do you
monitor it? The list of questions is endless. Now multiply them by every
territory or company in your group with all those eager social network
engagers and you have a growing nightmare.

Governance is beginning to become a consideration, but it is something
that needs to be acted on early before it’s too late. For many
businesses, policy is not enough and tools are required to ease the
transition into social success. Until recently, however, these tools didn’t
exist and so to address the awareness and governance challenges, we
developed an innovative infrastructure that overcomes both.

The Splinternet//

3. Penetration and engagement

How can you reach users within this new world and close the gap
between domain based investments, such as .com websites that cost a
fortune, and a Facebook page set up in minutes? How do you
penetrate these walled gardens and reach the users and communities
within?

How do we target our advertising in this space and how do we operate
our tools in this space? Take Facebook, its pages are one of the fastest
growing areas to have come out of the Splinternet era, but how do we
take their potential to a new level by building Facebook apps that
integrate with existing content or business systems. Once your
awareness and governance tools are in place, this has to be the next
stage of your thinking and strategy.

It’s a complex process – pages, apps and content all need to be
managed – so to discover that there is a tool being developed that
facilitates this will be music to many ears.

The Splinternet//

3. Connecting Intelligence (making
sense of it all)

The one thing the Splinternet is enabling us to do is connect
intelligence. Even through walled gardens, communities are providing a
level of information and human behavior understanding that so far has
not been seen on the web. This is resulting in product and brand
strategies informed by the likes and dislikes and content generated by
the web 3.0 and 4.0 generations.
Whilst crowd surfing has been long talked about, we are now able to
listen and connect the intelligence with the cloud to truly target brand
messaging. But to really understand the community, you need to
understand who the members are and how they behave, how active
they are, what the size of their network is and whether they are mobile.
Once we understand this, we can interact with them in the most
appropriate ways, such as triggering engagement with an upset or
happy customer, either automated or through a real customer services
representative.

The Splinternet//

3. Convergence

The Splinternet is also starting to enable what we call device and
application convergence. Whilst desktop and mobile will remain the top
targeted devices in business, at home it’s a very different story. Smart
televisions (TVs) and tablet devices are big game changers that are
forcing the convergence of media. For example, the very latest smart
TVs are bringing together smart remotes and mobile apps with the TV
experience.
Media channels can also be converged with social, with on demand or
live TV programming closely integrated on one screen. This
convergence provides the most exciting after-effect of the Splinternet,
as it’s the biggest opportunity to date for brands to reach into the world
of above-the-line targeting. You can find out who your potential
customer is in real-time and connect with them instantly whilst they
consume a particular media.
So, whilst the Splinternet effect has changed face of digital once again,
freeing and restricting us simultaneously, there are steps that every
brand can take to make sense of and interact with those in this new
world.

The Splinternet//

Social platform emerging as the new
business intelligence

The effects of the Splinternet particularly the social platforms rapid rise
to ascension spark the emergence of a different type of business
intelligence.

Social networks will evolve into platforms for reaching customers,
tapping into their social identity, and gain information about them, and
competitors and the market as a whole.

The transformation of social networks into social platforms each with its
own ecosystem to fuel deeper levels of interaction will drive better
sources for business intelligence. Social platforms provide ongoing
focus groups, in which any interaction between users tells you
something about your customers, the market and your competitors.
This mined and analysed at aggregate or individual levels will help
companies monitor and develop more targeted promotions and
measure their performance more effectively against their competitors.

The integration points that social platforms provide for this information
will enable companies to communicate by design instead of
opportunity.

Social platforms the new business intelligence//

Social platform emerging as the new
business intelligence

Combinations of social platforms, devices, mobile apps, etc, mean that
corporate website will loose their primacy as online destinations.

Enterprises should be looking at these social identity providers to
connect all of their interaction into a cohesive, multichannel customer
experience.

To succeed our strategy for our customers is to look to establish a long
term ongoing relationship between a brand and customer that
transcends any single interaction. Social platforms or “social identity
providers” now make this possible.


Amaze’s answer to Splinternet challenge

AmazeOne is a digital nerve centre that removes these silos and
collects all of your digital assets (both those owned by you and those in
the public domain) into a single view presented through an intuitive
dashboard.

AmazeOne works by plugging in to both your existing digital technology
infrastructure and key social channels. It has been developed to meet
the needs of multi-national organisations that have the challenge of
managing multiple markets, in multiple languages in a coherent and
consistent manner.


Amaze’s answer to Splinternet challenge
A New Way of Thinking...
AmazeOne has been designed to meet the challenges of brands and
businesses operating in today’s digital society, and is built on 15 years
of experience working with clients to produce digital solutions. All
features and functionality in AmazeOne are based on marketing and
technology insights developed by Amaze strategists.
Born out of knowledge of clients’ current requirements and frustrations
as well as reacting to future communications challenges, AmazeOne
also incorporates strategic insights, providing a single place to
understand emergent technologies and marketing
trends, and a tool to manage your digital brand presence.


User Experience is what matters
The splinternet provides us with challenges, amaze one provides the
management governance tools, the business intelligence, social mining
and analytics. But how do we engage the user?

The social platforms do it purely by pulling on social human behavior.
But how do we trigger the same human behavior for you.

We need to trigger emotion, we need to convey this through our
interfaces, designs and technology interaction. Its all about user
experience, how it conveys your brand, how the interaction triggers
emotional responses? Trapping this in your digital solution leads to
increased engagement. Doing this through technology is a fine art.
Video and sound provide us with the easiest route. But navigation and
interaction can convey emotion too, they can reflect your brand’s
personality. Every interaction can enhance a user’s experience.

Our technology looks at these emotional trigger points and implements
them through the very latest web interface technology like html5,
webGL or through app technology such as iOS5, Android, Windows
Mobile and social apps.

User experience is what matters//

What are these trigger points and how do we implement them into our
technology.

The Story
The story and how its told creates an informing emotional trigger point.
Using, sound, video and emotion with well designed interfaces make
this connection with your user. Content still remains king in this world
but its how we deliver that content that creates the emotional trigger.
Convergence of video, sound, text and animation with good design help
put the emotion into the story.

The Interaction
How does it feel? We can feel from the story but that’s a different
feeling from how it feels to be emerged in the experience of our
interface and navigation. What does it feel like to click around, pinch,
flick and zoom. Is it clunky, smooth? Designing the interface
interactions and how they animate help us trigger these senses. The
story gets heard once your user as settled down, but often the first
experience is through the interaction to access that content. One click
is all it needs to make it feel like a good experience.



The Share Experience
Very few people are true leaders? We all like to think of ourselves as
leaders, but we are not. Going it alone is not something that comes
natural to most people. However we’ve done it for years on the web.
We go out there to navigate, explore and discover. But the minute we
are able to share the experience we see an explosion of untapped
behavior. This is an emotion shared. We don’t tend to bottle things up.
Our interfaces are the same, we can all now share but as we continue
to develop our interface technology we want to share but we also want
to prevent the feeling of isolation as we jump from site to site, app to
app. Presence online enables us to remove the isolation of browsing.

With social platforms managing our identities and our relationships we
can now bring them with us. For example facebook connect allows us
to navigate the web with all our connections, people and social identity
in tow.



Feeling of space
Space and the full screen experience are driving some of the latest
interface thinking. Building websites and apps with this in mind,
combined with gesture navigation, are not only influencing tablet and
mobile navigation. The apple OSX Lion launch will see more of this
technology start to become mainstream. Microsoft also has plans too.
Some of these plans where dropped from Windows 7 but they will start
to emerge in future Microsoft interfaces.

But its how website and apps start to work with this newly enabled
technology. Space + Gesture navigation will start to become
mainstream in the web browsing experience.

But how the implementation of HTML5, Flash and technologies like
WebGL, combined with how the browser and operating system will
work with this technology is a key a consideration when it comes to
future website and application design. Design still remains key to
initiate this emotion but as with interaction we need to bring the design
alive.



Getting Gratification
Tomorrow we need ways to reflect back the user’s sense of self-
perhaps his reputation among his peers or an amusing aspect of her
personality-and will ensure the right levels of socialisation, joining users
with people they like. It is also essential to emphasize the fun aspect,
providing immediate gratification, appealing to the senses or to the
desire for escapism.

Also important to engagement is the idea of challenge with tangible
goals and incentives and a gauge of progress during the interaction
with the application or interface.



Convergence & Entertainment
Entertainment experiences will span more and more devices and tap
into more and more sources of content. We will have to rethink our
concept of “the TV” so that we separate the device from the service
and the service from the process of streaming content. Broadcast as
we know it will fade away.

Its clear that as the TV set, the content, and content-delivery processes
become more digital, TV will become more web-like in its approach.
We need to consider web style optimisation, personalisation, and
advertising focused on what will appeal to me as an individual through
my devices.


removing walls - challenges for I.T. departments

Removing walls within traditional I.T.
functions

I.T. organisation are rapidly becoming outdate and too rigid for
today’s businesses. Organisations are faced with change on
many fronts, but the increased change created through our
connected, globalised world means that the big system, protected
culture of typical I.T. teams needs to change.

Business units now have choice. Cloud based thinking and innovation
by software vendors means they can avoid requests to I.T.
departments.

This leads to problems, problems that will eventually hit business units.
I.T. functions within organisations can offer value. However they need
to focus on their strengths. These strengths should be less centered
around control but more around achieving outcomes, minimising risks
and providing a service.

Removing walls//

functions

I.T. organisations should bolster their capability in the following
core disciplines;-

Governance – creating flexible policies to enable business
systems, social systems and web systems to adhere to
governance models that enable business units, but prevent future
problems from building up. As discussed earlier in the social
world. Governance is our primary concern. But governance to
information management within an organisation is critical to the
smooth running of the organisation. It should be less about rules
but more about creating ecosystems for tools and services to
work within. For example identity management, data
management all can have their own governance approach
without dictating which tool to use or which password policy to
set.

Removing walls//

functions
Architecture – I.T. teams should play a key role when it comes
to architectures of solutions. But their approach to architecture
is often too controlling and inclusive to every aspect of the
business. This new world leads to loosely coupled architectures
of many systems. Where the couple points are based around
information flow or governance. Open standards now make this
easier and less expensive to have this approach. With I.T. teams
having the overall knowledge of systems will ensure that they
play a core role within making decisions around solutions.
However it needs to be low touch.

Information Management – Information is still the life blood of
any organisation. Data is the obvious component part to any
information system. However the concept of Data as platform is
still a million miles away. This is due to each application requiring
different data structures, however as we start to see more
decoupling of applications the data will become the platform.
Data mining and data to data systems will become a growing

Removing walls//

functions
growing requirements for businesses and I.T. procurement.

New Skills and incentives

In the future I.T. team new skills will be required, they will be
focused around solution and service delivery. Some may say
that I.T. departments have been doing this for years however, in
the future, it will require more depth to these skills and staff
members to be more incentivised in the successful rollout and
user adoption of systems. Key skill investment areas;-

•Service delivery roles – outsourced and insourced
•Data Architecture
•Data Analytics
•Multi channel internet solutions

Removing walls//

Cloud Computing
Cloud computing has certainly gained momentum over the last
12 months. It has no doubt struck accord with cash strapped
businesses. But our view is cloud computing is too low down the
software stack and is predominantly concerned with vitualising
platforms. As more and more businesses compete in this space
we see the value of cloud computing moving up the stack and
unleashing its service orientated flexibility on the domain of
traditional software as a service vendors. Confusing? They both
operate in the cloud but for pure software as a service vendors to
add even more benefits to business they need to reach into
organisations. Clouds will grow tentacles into businesses as the
membrane between the traditional I.T. systems and the cloud
gets thinner. What does this mean in real terms?

Cloud Computing//

Cloud Computing
Data will become the platform but it will extend with its
applications into the cloud. As with the web the data will reside in
the cloud along with an app store approach to enterprise
applications. Internal private clouds and infrastructure will
become agents to the cloud. The cloud concept will increase up
the value chain where cost savings are only half the reason why
people will make the move.

Cloud Computing//

Real Technology

So we’ve talked a lot about the future but what does it all mean
for our actual technology offering. The following section breaks
down this offering into the following areas;-

•Social
•Content Management Systems
•Mobile Devices
•Server Development Framework Technology
•Interface Technology
•Data as a platform – in more detail

Real Technology//

Technology offering

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