VMob shines as intelligent Kiwi tech takes Microsoft WPC 2015 by storm

Standing amidst a flurry of flashing lights and staring eyeballs, flanked by Microsoft’s finest and 15,000 listening partners, Scott Bradley delivered his most important speech as VMob CEO.

Flying the flag for New Zealand during the opening keynote address of Microsoft’s Worldwide Partner Conference this morning, in Orlando, Florida, Bradley showcased intelligent Kiwi technology to the watching world.

Ten minutes after taking the stage alongside Scott Guthrie, Executive Vice President of the Cloud and Enterprise Group, Microsoft, the Auckland entrepreneur’s introduction and demo left fellow technology journalists asking, “V-What?”, indicative of the company’s remarkable rise up the Microsoft partner ladder.

Not directed disparagingly of course, more so intrigue, intrigue at listening to a relatively unknown Kiwi company talk intelligent personalisation as a world leader.

“VMob has developed an intelligent personalisation platform that generates physical sales revenue for brands with a strong dependence on bricks and mortar locations, such as retailers, quick service restaurants, consumer packaged good companies, gas stations, hotels and convenience stores,” said Bradley, sharing his story during the Microsoft Vision Keynote.

“These brands typically make at least 90 per cent of their sales from a physical location.

“Our platform uses permission-based data to personalise the interactions that customers have with brands either in store, at home or anywhere else like on the train during their daily commute.”

As reported by Computerworld New Zealand, global giants such as McDonald’s, and more recently IKEA, already use VMob technology to directly target customers through relevant data interoperation.

“If online retailing has taught us anything,” Bradley advised, “it’s that targeted offers and relevant recommendations drive incremental sales.

“VMob’s platform brings that same approach to bricks and mortar businesses.”

Working with McDonald’s in multiple markets across the world, Bradley spoke of the VMob’s relationship in Sweden, where the company partnered with Ape Group, creators of the McDonald’s Sweden app.

Connected to the VMob platform via an SDK, Bradley explained that the content and offers in the app can be personalised to match the preferences of each user and the particular context they find themselves in when they open the app.

“With the permission of users,” he added, “we collect data from multiple connected devices including the mobile app, beacons, NFC payment gateway, Wi-Fi, RFID tags, point of sale, weather and social data to personalise the customer experience and generate incremental sales.

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“We believe it’s really an IoT platform for retailers to generate sales in the physical world.”

The knock-on effect is that VMob, fresh from moving into swanky new Auckland offices and expanding worldwide, collect vast amounts of data, with up to 10,000 data transactions hitting the platform every second.

“How do we turn that into sales for a retailer or a quick service restaurant?” Bradley asked.

“We use tools like Azure Machine Learning and Power BI - and we will soon tap into the power of Cortana Analytics - to uncover insights and deliver the three key metrics that drive the business for every brick and mortar retailer: total number of visits, average transaction value and gross profit.”

As referred to by Bradley, and Microsoft executives during the keynote, the launch of Cortana Analytics Suite represents a fully managed set of services to help businesses transform data into intelligent action.

[[xref:http://www.computerworld.co.nz/article/570968/vmob-takes-top-microsoft-honours-national-international-stages/ |And with Bradley’s VMob now enjoying esteemed partner status,]] Microsoft will no doubt be looking for the growing Kiwi company to take the technology to markets across the world.

Echoing Bradley’s comments, Guthrie believes that as Microsoft evolves its cloud and mobility capabilities, VMob’s role in providing a broader personalisation platform continues to grow.

"VMob's demonstration of how Power BI and Microsoft Azure extend the VMob platform with business intelligence and cloud capabilities underscores the exciting potential of these technologies to transform business,” he added.

During the presentation, Bradley demonstrated the mobile customer engagement experience that is helping to drive millions of dollars in revenue for McDonald’s.

Featuring dummy data on a real PowerBI dashboard, integrated into the VMob platform for McDonalds, Bradley talked the crowd through the technology on display.

“This demo is a great example of how we have been able to utilise Microsoft’s advanced analytics capabilities, Power BI, and our own industry expertise and innovation to create net new revenue streams for McDonald’s,” Bradley added.

To watch Bradley’s presentation, click here