Luxembourg-based ZapFi offers a mobile marketing platform for network operators and consumer brands.

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1 Analytics Helena Schwenk Premium report Technology & Suppliers On the Radar: ZapFi July 2014 Luxembourg-based ZapFi offers a mobile marketing platform for network operators and consumer brands. This On the Radar briefing note follows a simple ten questions format, which we designed to provide a concise but thorough overview of a company and its products and services. We use this format to focus on the capability and suitability of small, specialist vendors to help you build the best possible vendor shortlists when looking to make new technology investments. Find out how to access related research at MWD Advisors is a specialist advisory firm which provides practical, independent industry insights to business analytics, process improvement and digital collaboration professionals working to drive change with the help of technology. Our approach combines flexible, pragmatic mentoring and advisory services, built on a deep industry best practice and technology research foundation.

2 On the Radar: ZapFi 2 1. Who? Founded in 2010 by Gery Pollet and headquartered in Luxemburg, ZapFi ( provides a mobile marketing platform to network operators and consumer brands. The company is privately owned and has 29 employees. 2. What does it do? ZapFi offers network operators and consumer brand organisations the opportunity to sponsor connectivity over their own Wi-Fi hotspots or broadband networks. In return, ZapFi s platform monitors user browsing behavior, locations and habits that form the basis of a detailed user profile used by ZapFi s customers to understand user preferences and characteristics for targeted marketing purposes. Consumers, on the other hand, gain free access to the internet and as part of signing up to the service, receive relevant commercial messages based on the analysis of their online behaviour. ZapFi provides three core services to consumer brands:! Sponsored connectivity to network services, over Wi-Fi or any other (mobile) broadband infrastructure;! The analysis of online behaviour using tools based on SAS technology;! A mobile marketing platform for profile and location-based marketing that can help to drive consumer acquisition and loyalty, increase conversion rates and enhance the user experience. These services map to the three core components of the ZapFi platform: Interaction Module, Insight Module, and Mobile Campaign Module. Interaction module This module manages user connectivity and the registration process through the ZapFi Customer Portal. Connectivity services (including VPN connection, content filtering, anti-spam, and intrusion detection) can be sold standalone; however, for sponsors wishing to engage and target WiFi visitors with relevant marketing messages, the following tools are also available within the interaction module:! Content Management System provides sponsors with the ability to build branded welcome pages.! The Dashboard provides access to information shared by a user such as birth date, gender and first/last name after they have registered and returned to the site. In addition, information about the number of visitors, new and unique visitors, type of devices being used including the identification of the OS and the usage and location rankings where there are multiple ZapFi free Wi-Fi Zones deployed is also captured and displayed within the dashboard.! A rudimentary campaign capability provides sponsors with the ability to test one pop-up advert per week based upon selected registration information (a more comprehensive capability can be found within the campaign module detailed below). Insight module This module is based on SAS technology, including Visual Analytics for data discovery and dash boarding; SAS Intelligent Advertising for forecast modeling and ad placement capabilities that match adverts with consumer profiles; Decision Manager for profiling and segmentation as well as real-time predictive modeling, and Text Analytics for building taxonomies based on consumer interest domains such as fashion, art or sports. The insight module captures and analyses online HTTP data including how long people are browsing, categories of interest, the sites they are visiting and the content they are viewing.

3 On the Radar: ZapFi 3 Equally it s able to gather data every time a user logs in to a ZapFi Zone, so browsing behaviour information is built up over time to provide a deeper understanding of mobile users behaviour, preferences and characteristics. Mobile Campaign Module This module utilises ZapFi s user profile information to build and execute targeted, relevant and (where applicable) real-time mobile campaigns. As part of the process, user profile data is combined with information about the shop or location where the ZapFi hotspot is placed such as products on offer and any promotional activities, enabling ZapFi to generate a match between the consumer profiles and the ads displayed by shop owners or brands. Marketing messages and offers can be targeted, as shown in figure one, using interstitials or virtual flyers as well as overlay buttons and SMS or MMS messages. Figure 1 Different types of example targeted marketing messages Interstitial Overlay SMS/MMS In the latest release of its marketing platform, ZapFi supports the ability to use interstitials as a basic survey tool (with one simple question and multiple choice answer) that can, for example, be used to test for levels of customer satisfaction. 3. Who is it for? ZapFi is a business-to-business-to-consumer company offering its SaaS-based product suite to network operators, consumer brands and retailers alike. The typical user profile for the company s mobile marketing platform includes brand managers, channel marketers, marketing and customer insight managers. 4. Why is it interesting? ZapFi is one of a number of small but interesting vendors carving out a place in the fast-moving mobile marketing and analytics space. This comes at a time when mobile penetration in Europe continues to climb. According to comscore s Europe Digital 2013 Future in Focus report i, the average smartphone penetration of the five leading economies of the European Union (UK, Germany, France, Italy, Spain) reached 57% with mobile and smartphone internet audiences skewed towards younger age groups.

4 On the Radar: ZapFi 4 This growing mobile penetration also needs to be balanced against changing patterns of usage and higher consumer expectations. Data from Mobile Marketer 2012 ii for example shows that 70% of all mobile searches result in action within one hour, compared to 70% of online searches result in action in one month. On the other hand, research the Internet Advertising Bureau UK iii states that 71% of smartphone users that see a captivating TV, press or mobile advertisement will immediately do a mobile search. ZapFi is one of a growing number of companies wanting to tap this market opportunity by providing a mobile market software platform that enables brands and networks operators to mine the data generated by mobile users and utilise it to provide right-time and location-specific marketing communications. The end goal: enhanced loyalty and a better customer experience. The difference between ZapFi and other perhaps better known mobile marketing platforms such as Flurry (recently acquired by Yahoo!) and Localytics iv is that the company is focused purely on data from Wi-Fi connectivity to fuel its marketing platform and so can make use of the physical store, branch or restaurant location, for example, as part of delivering targeted messages and communications. ZapFi s ability to generate real-time insights into mobile traffic (including HTTP traffic, not just URLs) using SAS s analytical software provides a valuable window of opportunity to reach consumers at the physical point of purchase, when arguably they are more susceptible to marketing communications and advertisements. It s a market that mobile and fixed operators, Wi-Fi operators and network equipment manufacturers such as Cisco also play in. 5. How established is it? ZapFi was founded in It has a proven track record in Belgium based on its partnership with the incumbent telecoms operator, Belgacom, and other reference customers including Belfius Bank, BNP Fortis Bank, Quick hamburger restaurants and Cora retail. Together these represent more than 1500 hotspots spread over the country and a significant number of individual subscribers and returning users. ZapFi also has a partnership with AB InBev in Germany where the company sponsors Wi-Fi access in selected cafés in five major German cities with their Becks lager brand. Proof-of-concept projects are currently running with a sizable Middle Eastern operator; more projects are to be expected in Eastern Europe and North Africa during the second half of How open is it? The ZapFi service is an OTT (Over The Top) networks service and as such can be deployed over any broadband network, using any type of access point. The ZapFi platform is deployed on a SaaS basis and can be installed either on local or centrally managed servers. All ZapFi services are run on virtual data centres, including its Big Data services, which analyse all data captured as part of building up user profiles. ZapFi is also adding support for the HotSpot 2.0 standard a standard that enables users to connect and login automatically to any Wi-Fi hotspot without the need to identify again. Both the selected ZapFi Wi-Fi hotspot and the user s mobile device need to support the HotSpot 2.0 standard for this to work. From a legal and compliance perspective ZapFi uses a permission-based opt-in model that protects all data through its own data security controller. As it operates within Europe it is compliant with EU Data Protection and e-privacy Directives. Similarly, participation in Wi-Fi marketing services is completely up to the customer or visitor as they can sign out simply by de-selecting the Wi-Fi zone or even turning off their Wi-Fi signal at any time. 7. Who does it partner with? ZapFi s business model is partner-led and is dependent on two key technology relationships: Alcatel-Lucent for network connectivity, and SAS Institute for analytics. These partnerships enable the following platform capabilities:

5 On the Radar: ZapFi 5! The ZapFi Customer Portal, which manages user registration and access, is fully compliant with the Alcatel WLAN Gateway and supports both the Alcatel Motiv and Radius servers;! The ZapFi Insights Module is developed using analytics tools (including text analytics and visualisation) from SAS Institute. Both partners Alcatel-Lucent and SAS Institute are instrumental to ZapFi s commercial efforts and results, with both companies promoting the ZapFi Suite of tools to their customers, network operators and consumer brands alike. ZapFi doesn t currently have any formal partnerships with other technology companies such as database, marketing automation or CRM application players that would enable the integration of ZapFi insights into wider customer service, sales or marketing efforts. 8. Are there areas for improvement? ZapFi is a startup company and as such is currently focused on go-to-market activities and building its customer base. The company thus far has had most success in Belgium its home market by virtue of its partnership with Belgacom; building partnerships with other fixed and mobile network operators and manufacturers especially in countries where there s a high degree of smartphone and tablet penetration (such as the UK and Germany) should remain a priority for the company going forward. This is particularly pertinent given that many mobile network operators are placing an increased focus on public Wi-Fi as a consequence of their bandwidth capacity being stretched by the explosion in data usage in recent years. Increasing the number of partnerships it has would also enable the company to broaden the functional scope of its platform since it could theoretically be used not only in retail stores but also in hotels, conference facilities, shopping centres, schools, and even city centres anywhere where Wi-Fi coverage is needed. Similarly ZapFi s offering could benefit from development in a couple of areas. Firstly, the ability to integrate with other data sources or operational marketing applications would potentially enable ZapFi to build a richer and more contextual customer/user profile. Likewise it would, for example, be useful to integrate ZapFi customer portal within other social channels so customers are presented with offers via Facebook or Twitter feeds, for instance. Similarly the ability to track and understand usage patterns over more than one Wi-Fi hotspot in real time (for instance in a large store, hotel, stadium or airport) would also provide opportunities for a more granular level of location-based marketing (based on a user s real-time proximity to an outlet or particular stand, for instance) as well as provide a valuable insight into footfall and movements to help optimise store or retail layouts. The ZapFi platform would also benefit from having some form of marketing measurement capabilities in place so users could assess whether or not their mobile marketing campaign is a success. The addition of A/B testing, for example, would allow users to assess which types of marketing content attracted better responses or led to an increase in sales. 9. What s next? ZapFi has a number of corporate and product initiatives focused on increasing the traction and uptake of its mobile marketing platform. Firstly, the company plans to introduce a consumer privacy control feature enabling registered visitors to decide what information is kept, deleted or shared about them from their digital Wi-Fi footprint. The idea behind this initiative is that ZapFi can build deeper relationships with consumers based on greater trust and transparency, where both parties benefit in the long run. The consumer will benefit by having their privacy wishes respected and (where applicable) having more relevant messages targeted at them; ZapFi will potentially benefit from its enhanced reputation as a trusted Wi-Fi partner of consumers, which in turn could potentially build credibility with its own customers and prospects.

6 On the Radar: ZapFi 6 In addition to these platform enhancements ZapFi is also working on extending its partnership network. The company is in currently in talks with a global player in the mobile marketing space who is interested in augmenting its current Ad Serving platform with complementary Wi-Fi marketing services. 10. Should I consider it? ZapFi s offering is primarily designed for global brands with a significant physical as well as online presence in the marketplace. The ability to use the physical location of a visitor or customer together with their online browsing behaviour to serve up relevant ads and messages can be particularly powerful in certain situations. Furthermore we believe the platform will appeal to organisations looking to supplement their online advertising endeavours across traditional medias such as web, display and video with a greater mobile Wi- Fi or broadband advertising capability, enabling them to serve up more relevant and personalised adverts or communications. ZapFi s offering will also appeal to organisations where the reliability and security of the mobile network and its data is a concern. The company s use of gateway security and application monitoring for both wireless and VPN traffic provides an extra layer of management enabling ZapFi to maintain visibility and control over applications, regulate bandwidth availability and deny website access, in the case of security threats for example. i ii iii The Big Mobile Handbook Pages_0_0.pdf iv For more information see the MWD report, On the Radar: Localytics -