Web hosting users made ‘aware of context’

Web hosting users can make use of context-aware computing, the idea of leveraging information about the end user to improve quality of interaction, as a way to improve customer relations.

According to Gartner, this strategy can also help web hosting users better target prospects as well as improve associate productivity and collaboration.

The organisation has projected that the context information market will be worth $12 billion (£7.2 billion) by 2012 and there will be two global context providers at least with over 100 million subscribers each.

Currently, many different kinds of vendors are trying to get a piece of the context-aware pie, Gartner claimed. It said that web vendors in particular are well placed to become providers in the market as they already have much information on their users.

Social networking vendors also have some of the foundations of context, Gartner noted. While companies such as Facebook and LinkedIn have plenty of information on their users, they do not have as strong access to real-time contextual data and do not have their own location-based services, the organisation asserted.

"Although the rudiments of context-aware computing have been around for some time now, it is a disruptive technology that has the potential to be a real ‘game changer’ in terms of competitive advantage," commented Anne Lapkin, research vice-president at Gartner.

"The real promise of context-aware computing will be realised when context information from multiple sources and multiple applications can be used simultaneously," she added.

Gartner suggested that businesses will need to identify the right business opportunities to make the most out of context information, but they will also need to select the right partners and providers.

Andrew Girdwood, head of search for internet marketing specialists bigmouthmedia, recently advised that marketers should look to leverage social data when planning a display ad campaign on a social network site.

Written by Jermaine Jones.