Convergence And Integration In Business: A Comprehensive Essay.

1. What does ‘Convergence’ mean?

2. What are the differences between siloed sectors and convergent industry?

3. How is the role of traditional siloed sectors changing to meet client requirements? Discuss the impact of convergence on the traditional siloed industry.

4. Research and list traditional siloed sectors that have moved toward convergence such as Mobile (Nokia) and Software (Windows 7) as these examples are given in the article.
a. What are benefits of convergence?  
b.What could be the potential impact of integration?

5. Reflect on how you research and make purchasing decisions when you bought ‘shopping goods’ this year.
a. What did you buy?
b. How did you research the product and where did you buy the product?

6. Consider how customer’s needs and wants have changed over 10 years and how Convergence has become a new approach as a result.
a. Discuss the changes in both customer’s needs and consumer behavior.
b. What are the roles of the customer within the convergent environment?
c. What are the trends of convergence in marketing? What is coming together? Provide examples.

7. What is ‘Integrated Marketing Communication’? Explain by discussing differences between integrated marketing communication and convergence.

8. How advertising and PR are used to be unified across an integrated offering in most organizations across all industry sectors to connect with audiences, promoting brands, products and messages. 

Technological convergence: Enabling Efficient Interoperability

Convergence means moving towards a union.  Technological convergence refers to the term describing layers of abstraction that enables different technologies in interoperating efficiently as converged system (Gauch & Blind, 2015).

In siloed sectors, the departments have independent operation and each of the sectors has separate procedure and policies. Moreover, the department works following different timelines, procedures and policies thereby reducing decision-making power and acting as obstacle to innovation. In convergent industry, different parts of business collaborate with the universal procedures and universal policies (Sarstedt, Wilczynski & Melewar, 2013). 

The traditional siloed sectors followed their own procedures and policies that made the act of solving problems difficult. Sales represent a siloed sector that tried to meet the client requirements through creation of brand image. However, with convergence, the different departments shared information and worked based on universal procedures and policies (Dumeresque, 2014). It also helped in identification of the overlapping area and the position of each sector in relation to the requirements of the clients. 

The benefits of convergence are as follows (Roco & Bainbridge, 2013):

Improves the experience of the callers: Recent IP based systems allows cost efficient integration with the back end data bases  thereby allowing the customers to not only check the account balance, place request or orders and also place query regarding inventory system.

Improves the management of calls: This is done through a system driven call control. Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) based system helps in bringing together information about customers, employee and network and business application.

Improves the Employee Resource Management: Convergence helps in gathering data from distributed network of smaller stores or offices and use it appropriately in providing the business with new information. 

The potential effect of integration is as follows:

Integration refers to the act of compiling together the smaller components into one single system for functioning as one. In the context of information technology, integration represents the results of the process with the aim of sewing together disparate and varied subsystems such that data contained within each becomes part of larger and comprehensive system that easily and quickly shares data whenever necessary (Orefice & Rocha, 2014). Since integration is difficult to achieve so the common practice involves employing short term strategy, ad hoc objectives and a slower process leading to full integration through linkage of various subsystems wherever necessary. 

This year I bought a new smart phone 

Mostly, I undertook internet research before making the purchase. I also spoke to some of my friends who already used the particular model. I purchased the product from Amazon, a e-commerce website based in Seattle, Washington. 

Departments Collaboration in Convergent Industry

In the changes in customer need and the consumer behavior are as follows (Solomon et al., 2014):

• There has been a shift in the device used for undertaking research about a product. Initially activities carried out using a personal computer are done using mobile devices such as Smartphone and tablets
• There has been a shift from the voice to the data to the video. People have  become more dependent on telephonic voice, emails and social media for meeting needs
• Consumers preferred a shift in the content from bundled to the fragmented through various apps that makes them more aware 

Consumers with the convergent environment play the role of implanting newer ideas connected to the newer culture and completely aligned with changes taking place within the society (Belz & Binder, 2017). 

Digital convergence refers to one of the trends of convergence in marketing (Van den &  Donders, K., 2014). Digital convergence refers to application of the information technology methods for delivering media programming thereby allowing a media outlet in undertaking the benefits and features offered through media outlets.

Coming together refers to the promise of making complex communications simple through convergence since business requires both data and voice communications. 

Integrated Marketing Communication or IMC refers to the approach of creating seamless and unified experience for the consumers across the channels (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015). The basic premise of IMC lies in the coordination of the marketing communication efforts that allows the firm in reaching diverse audience with constant message. However, the difference lies in the fact that for convergence to occur it is necessary for the IMC champions for facilitating communication and relationship development amongst the cluster members. 

Advertising represents a marketing communication that involves non-personal openly sponsored messages for promoting or selling a product, idea or service (Parente & Strausbaugh-Hutchinson, 2014). In the present world, advertising makes use of every possible media for getting the message across. Advertising is carried through print, television, press, radio, direct selling, internet, mailers, hoardings, sponsorships, posters, events, clothes, sounds, colour, visuals and endorsement. The industry related to advertising however encompass the companies that put forward advertisements, agencies creating advertisements, media carrying advertisements and host of people like the copy editors, visualizers,  researchers, brand managers, creative heads  and designers. 

Public relations refer to the practice of managing spread of information between the organization or the individual as well as public (Ferguson 2018).

The role of the PR Officer in the convergent industry is as follows:

• PR officer  remains increasingly important to marketing even when both the disciplines converge
• PR  professionals harness digital storytelling, social listening and has social purpose
• PR professionals also aids in providing strategies, creative thinking and expertise
• In the convergent industry PR professionals plays a key role in the achievement of measurable business objectives

Disney Company is a good example of convergence (Gershon, 2013). The company has been a leader in the children animated and feature films. As the film library of the company grew, it began to adopt other means for growing. The PR officer declared Disney converged with the television network ABC that helped the company in strategically growing the entertainment footprint. The company not only purchased the entire catalogue of ‘Star Wars’ from George Lucas but also the animation studio ‘Pixar’. The PR officers played a key role in this convergence by enabling Disney in achieving measurable business objectives. 

Benefits of Convergence

Direct marketing refers to the promotional methods involving the presentation of information about the product, company or service of the target consumer without incorporating an advertising intermediary (Risselada, Verhoef & Bijmolt, 2014). Some of the examples of direct marketing includes, email, telemarketing, door-to-door selling and voicemail marketing. 

Sales refer to the activities of selling or the number of goods as well as services with a given period (Johnston & Marshall, 2013).

The concepts of marketing and sales are same although they have very little differences. The key difference between the two lies in the fact that the concept of sales is focused on product while the concept of marketing focuses on the consumer needs. 

Market research refers to the organized effort of gathering information about the consumers or the target market. It represents a vital component of business strategy (Babin & Zikmund, 2015). 

Marketing analytics refers to means of managing, measuring and analysis of marketing performance for maximizing the effectiveness and optimizing the return on the investment. 

Nestle Australia is a company that undertakes direct marketing, sales, market research and market analytics (nestle.com.au, 2018)

Direct Marketing	Nestle created the new brand ‘ Maison Cailler’ as launching pad for the direct marketing.
Sales	The  company has a rewarding  and fast paced sales cycle with communications and activity across omni-channel structure
Market Research	After the Maggi brand of Nestle faced a decline in the sales in the year 2004 due to its dehydrated format and flavor, the company commissioned face-to-face qualitative research for getting deeper insight into the consumer views.
Market Analytics	Nestle makes use of different web analytics tool.

The tools and techniques of the traditional sector considered for integrated marketing communication environment in context of the digital marketing are as follows:

1. Advertising:It comprises of four characteristics .It is persuasive in nature, non-personal, paid by sponsors and disseminated through the mass communication channels
2. Sales Promotion: This is the process where a potential consumer is persuaded for buying a product.
3. Public Relations:Public Relations represent the manner in which individuals, companies and organizations communicate with the media as well as the public.
4. Direct Marketing:This is a kind of advertising where the organizations communicates directly with the consumers through text message, emails, online adverts websites, database marketing, newspaper, television and magazine advertisements.
5. Personal Selling: This takes place when the sales representative interacts with a client with the purpose of sales transaction. 

Social media marketing refers to one of the profitable and stress free digital marketing platform used for increasing the visibility of the business (Tuten & Solomon, 2017). Social media marketing greatly enhances brand visibility and heightens the user experience. It also involves in promotion and ensures engagement with the target consumers on the social media channels like the Instagram, Facebook, Pininterest and LinkedIn. This tactic is used for the digital marketing and helps the business in increasing brand awareness, generation of more leads and improvement in the customer engagement. 

Content marketing refers to the approach of strategic marketing that focused on the distribution and creation of the relevant, valuable and consistent content for retaining and attracting a defined audience thereby driving a profitable consumer action (Järvinen & Taiminen, 2016)

Content marketing is a cost effective and fit for purpose approach for modern marketing due to the following reasons:

• It helps increasing the visibility of the brand
• It develops a lasting relationship with the  audience
• It helps in improving brand recognition and awareness
• Helps in building trust , loyalty, credibility and authority
• Helps in positioning the business

The marketers of Australia spend a larger portion of the advertising budget on the digital media for keeping pace with a more progressive and hyper connected customer base. Australia now presents one of the highest spenders in terms of digital ads per user. Besides, it is found that over half of the advertising budget is spent on either mobile or online. 

The Potential Effect of Integration

Australians are gradually catching up with the trends of social media marketing by becoming more data driven, better understanding of the audience and undertake experiment with various kinds of contents for driving meaningful conversations with the communities.  

It is found that close 34 percent respondents showed immense commitment towards content marketing. Again, closer to 48 percent of the respondents showed somewhat committed towards the trend. Only a 9 percent respondent showed they either had little or no commitment at all and 9 percent respondent showed extreme commitment.   

Coca Cola Australia is a company that emerges the three disciplines which includes social media marketing, digital marketing and content marketing (coca-colajourney.com.au, 2018)). The company undertakes social media marketing through the creation of video reel ads and allows the customers to send personalized messages. Coca Cola aimed at staying connected with the fans by undertaking digital marketing through Twitter. The company posted close to 85 percent of the tweets aimed at connecting to the fans. The company adopts content marketing by posting blogs, stories and articles based on fun, music, health, sport and food. The articles concern more about the key parts of human satisfaction. 

Processes that customers must go through in the cross sector and the media divergent marketing communications are as follows:

• Creation of resources for the practitioner including the toolkit, resource library, case library and the ongoing research projects
• Bridging research for practicing divide
• Communicating work to the practitioners in each of the sectors

Tools for the collaboration in the cross sector assists and guide the practitioners. It  not only clearly articulates but also provides essential ingredients for the collaboration thereby providing practical knowledge for design, diagnosis, implementation and collaborations of the cross sectors within the communities. 

Nike has a strong branding message mentioning ‘Just Do it’ (nike.com, 2018). The message is not only short and sweet but encapsulates every aspect that people feels while exercising. It acts as a motivation in situations when a person just does not want to run those five miles or walk up the four flights of stairs. It acts as a slogan that acts as a drive for pushing people beyond the limits.   

The call to action of Nike’s advertisements helps in understanding the championship of an athlete or record breaker who strives in pushing their limits. As per the knowledge it can therefore be said that everyday athletes makes up for a large section of the target audience of Nike. The advertisement is thus set for encouraging them in achieving their defining moments of success. 

In the convergence environment, unified messaging refers to the integration of the different forms of communication media that includes email, messaging, SMS, video and voicemail that remains stored within single system and implemented through single interface. 

Influence of Convergent Environment on Customer Need and Behavior

The considerations for assuring that messages can remain unified across integrated system are as follows:

• By defining the focus of the brand and reinforcing it continuously
• By  remaining consistent on the various platforms
• By connecting with the various platforms
• By participating in and encouraging a dialogue with the customers

The legislations, regulations or policies that might affect marketing within convergent environment are as follows:

1. Recalibration of Content Service Enterprises: The regulation of the content towards the significant enterprises for providing professional content to the Australians is termed as content service enterprises (CSE). This might have an impact on marketing with a convergent environment
2. Refinement and Retention of Media Ownership Rules of Australia: The new rules were defined based on minimum number of owners who provide commentary and news in each of the local market. However, the minimum number is decided in regard to market concentration and historic rules. This might create an impact on marketing within a convergent environment.
3. Introduction of New Communication Regulator: The replacement of Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA) by the Communications Regulator’ (CR) might also have an impact on the marketing within the convergent environment. 

The resources and documentation used for establishing effective communication are as follows:

1. Availability of Social Intranet Software: Presence of a centralized portal allows everyone in accessing all relevant information, documents and contracts, communication. Besides, it also helps in lowering the maintenance cost of information technology.
2. Presence of Private or Group Messaging and Chat Tools: This act as appropriate tools of communication and helps in binding the teams together. These spaces holds importance when the communication managers requires updates on progress of the project or there is a need for communication with a team member
3. Presence of Tracking and Ticketing Software: It is considered one of the best resources of effective communication since it enables the employees or the customers in submitting a ticket or case thereby assigning it to right employee and providing resolution on time.
4. Presence of Internal Videos and Blogs: The brain process visual information much faster than the text. Therefore, starting to use videos and images across the intranet involve s more engagement from the employees.

The objective of the campaign lay in attracting new overseas visitors. It had an annual new budget of about £ 1.5 million. The initiation of the campaign led to a 5 percent increase in the passenger numbers. In a matter of three months, close to 7800 Londoners took up the flight and the meal deal along with redemption of three hundred student tickets. In other words, British Airways experienced close to 8 percent growth in the number of visitors that accounted for more than 4 million. This resulted in the increase of gross profit by about 23 percent. 

The London Eye identified and evaluated the traditional tools and techniques to integrated marketing communication environment while deciding on the plan for marketing. This helped in creation of effective strategies for increasing the sales. Business owners who do not have training in marketing might think that TV spots, magazine ads, direct mail and billboards are some of the examples that are in reality subset of the marketing that represents the overall planning in introducing a service or product to the market. On completion of the effort, marketing communication is created through public relations, advertising and promotions thereby supporting the marketing strategies. 

The traditional and the non traditional tools used by London Eye include an online campaign undertaken with advertisements at the key entry points of United Kingdom, a forty-five minute cruise across Thames, production of the guidebooks, introduction of the trained host capsule and the re-launch of the website www.londoneye.com. 

The benefits of convergent, integrated approach to the marketing of goods and services are as follows (Luxton, Reid & Mavondo, 2015):

• It helps in the development of trust:
• It removes any confusion:
• It results in more effectiveness: 

Divergent media environment represents the type of the media that begins from the convergent, integrated format but fragmented into multiple formats of media and represents portrayal of the information through the other media types like the news blog, site and news feed (Voltmer, 2013). 

In a customer centric environment suitable tools and techniques can be created by the following means (Kumar & Reinartz, 2018):

1. Making customer satisfaction as the part of the values
2. Creation of awareness within the organization
3. Prioritizing customer satisfaction over everything else

The five different marketing channels that are not mentioned in the article are as follows (Verhoef, Kannan & Inman, 2015):

• Distributor or Wholesaler
• Catalog
• Sales Team
• Dealer and
•  

Another means of integration of marketing tools and techniques suitable for London Eye would be the adoption of techniques related to content marketing. 

Digital Convergence: A Trend in Marketing

The paid social media tool can be used for the review since the power of the social media is far beyond the organic reach (Fuchs, 2017). Besides, the paid platforms can get the brand to a larger user group that was otherwise not possible to reach. 

The establishment and maintenance of the business and expert networks in relevance to communication convergence is done by the following means (Vermesan & Friess, 2013):

• By keeping a record of the network
• By using social media for staying in touch
• By putting the customer at the centre 

The expert of the organization is identified and engaged in meeting the technological and sector requirements by adopting the following means (Narula, 2014 ):

By placing everyone in the right role: This implies the alignment of the talent acquisition and the retention strategies for meeting the goals of the company.

By providing them with training: This refers to providing the appropriate training and development for removing the obstacles.  

By ensuring distribution of meaningful work: This helps in defining a clear understanding of the contribution made towards the mission, purpose and strategic objectives of the firm 

The significance of selecting and utilizing an integrated, cross sector and the media divergent marketing communications lies in defining the dynamic and the exciting areas within the business and the society relations (Yadav, Joshi & Rahman, 2015). The key aim of using such a solution for meeting the client’s requirements lay in resolving the social, economic and environmental problems through addressing the regulatory and the institutional voids 

These networks are quite vigilant in the media industry. Media convergence refers to the term that merges the distinctive media technologies and the media forms as a result of the presence of computer networking and digitization (Nienstedt, Russ-Mohl & Wilczek, 2013). It is also refers to the economic strategy where media properties employs computer networking and digitization.  The media convergence involves technological merging of the different channels of the media. These includes radio programs, magazines, movies and  TV shows that are now available through ipads, laptops and the smart phones. 

The best ways of establishing these networks from the perspective of the consumer are as follows (Schultz, Castelló & Morsing, 2013):

By Seeking for Referrals: This implies sending an email for gaining introduction with the help of referred contact and back up from the trusted consumers

Participation in the Industry Meetings: This portrays a great means of nurturing relationship with the network, colleagues and meeting of the new people.

By Blogging: It helps in forging the newer relationships thereby enabling the growth of the business network.

Integrated Marketing Communication: Coordination of Marketing Communication Efforts

By being Social: This implies growing the business network through social media apps and sites like the Twitter, LinkedIn and other networking communities present online.  

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