Contextual Advertising and Cloud Computing
Truly contextual advertising implies that the message not only relates to the preferences of the person but also to the context at a given moment. A person’s preferences can certainly be gauged from data about buying choices, web history and spending patterns. However, serving up advertisements merely based on these choices would still be a very ham-handed approach.
Only the Cloud can deliver
Such contextual targeting necessitates huge capabilities of collecting data and analyzing it in real time to get results. In this, only cloud-based systems are really able to cope up. Many major cloud companies active in advertising are using GPS enabled chips found in all smartphones to be better aware of peoples’ locations. Marketers build personas of clients and combine this with the GPS location to give the client a message in line with real-time context.
Retailers use the cloud to understand customer needs
Two people standing at the same street corner could get very different coupons from the same retailer. Even manufacturers gain – because they are able to get a better understanding of what the customer really likes. Such technology is also opening up new areas of cooperation between manufacturers and retailers.
At the heart of the entire system is Big Data, the mammoth mountain of small bits that represents huge insights. Until the advent of cloud computing, such data could not have been analyzed – both due to issues of performance and storage.
Cloud is helping circumvent two decades of traditional problems, especially by offering larger data the application crunches for better predictions.
GPS data from personal mobile devices, computing power from the cloud and some clever software will combine to make contextual advertising possible.
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About the Guest Author:
Sanjay Srivastava has been active in computing infrastructure and has participated in major projects on cloud computing, networking, VoIP and in creation of applications running over distributed databases. Due to a military background, his focus has always been on stability and availability of infrastructure. Sanjay was the Director of Information Technology in a major enterprise and managed the transition from legacy software to fully networked operations using private cloud infrastructure. He now writes extensively on cloud computing and networking and is about to move to his farm in Central India where he plans to use cloud computing and modern technology to improve the lives of rural folk in India.
