Paylocity Addressing the Growing HCM Market

According to an IDC research report, the US market for Human Capital Management (HCM) applications and payroll outsourcing services is expected to be worth $22.5 billion this year. Another research report by Aberdeen Group published in 2012 estimated that nearly 38% of HCM related investment was being made in cloud computing initiatives. It is not just the big organizations that are wanting to deploy cloud based offerings, but the smaller organizations are also realizing the benefits of a cloud-based HCM offering.

>>>

Featured Videos

Rubicon Project’s Latest IPO

According to a research report by ZenithOptimedia, global ad spend was estimated to grow 3.5% last year to $503 billion. Digital advertising is becoming an increasingly bigger component of the advertising market. US digital advertising is estimated to account for 21.8% of the overall ad spend of $109.7 billion, compared with 19% market share a year ago.

>>>

Nokia Finally Moves to Android

According to a recent Gartner report, worldwide mobile phone sales excluding the smartphone segment grew 3.5% last year to 1.8 billion units. During the fourth quarter of 2013, mobile phone sales grew 3.9% to 490.3 million units. Samsung remains the market leader with a 24.6% market share and 444.4 million units in 2013 compared with 384.6 million units a year ago. Nokia is a distant second player with 250.8 million units sold in 2013. However, Nokia’s phone sales have fallen significantly from 333.9 million units reported in 2012.

>>>

BlackBerry’s Struggles See No End

According to an IDC research report, smartphones powered by Android OS grew from 69% in 2012 to 78.6% in 2013, eating into the share of iOS devices. iOS-based phone sales fell from 18.7% to 15.2% and BlackBerry phones fell from 4.5% a year ago to 1.9% in 2013.

>>>

Mobile Messaging Apps: Kik Interactive

Besides Asia-based mobile messaging apps like WeChat and LINE, there are a few other players in the North American market as well who have managed to amass a substantial user base along with a sizeable revenue model. One such player is Canada-based Kik Interactive.

>>>

Mobile Messaging Apps: KakaoTalk

As I mentioned earlier, the preferred mobile messaging app varies across geographies. Facebook and WhatsApp are universal leaders in the Western markets, but the Orient is still dominated by home grown players. Here is a quick review of KakaoTalk, another Asian company making it big in the market. After capturing the South Korean market, KakaoTalk is working on expanding their market presence and is said to be preparing for an IPO.

>>>

Mobile Messaging Apps: LINE App

An OnDevice research conducted in November last year noted that the preference for mobile messaging app market is split across geographies. While Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp may be clear leaders in the American and EMEA markets, the Asian market is a different story. Asia is dominated mostly by home grown apps who are now planning to make it big in the international markets as well. China is led by Tencent’s Weixin, also known as WeChat and the Japanese market is headed by South Korean Naver’s LINE App.

>>>

Mobile Messaging Apps: WeChat in China

Facebook may have bought WhatsApp to consolidate its leadership in the mobile messaging apps segment, but market dominance in China still remains a distant dream. Government regulations coupled with the country’s language and cultural differences have caused most technology giants including the likes of Google, Yahoo, and Amazon to rethink their China strategy. Similarly, while the rest of the world uses either the Facebook Messenger or WhatsApp as their preferred mobile messaging apps, China has been dominated by home-grown WeChat.

>>>

Mobile Messaging Apps: A Market Review

The recent $19 billion acquisition of mobile messaging app WhatsApp by Facebook has brought unprecedented attention to the market. According to consulting firm Ovum, global revenues of mobile SMS plans fell from $145 billion in 2012 to $120 billion in 2013, primarily due to the shift toward data-driven communication applications. Add to that the growing adoption of smartphones, and this trend is likely to continue. Here, we review the top ones that are making waves in the market: Tango, WeChat, LINE App, Kakao Talk, and Kik Interactive.

>>>

Chinese E-Tailer Trying to Bypass Intermediaries

According to a Euromonitor International report, worldwide e-tail sales are projected to grow 17.7% annually over the period 2012 through 2015 to be worth $849 billion in 2015. Analysts believe that as Internet penetration improves globally, e-commerce transactions will also grow. Additionally, this growth is also benefiting manufacturing countries such as China, which has now become a major producer of consumer goods for global brands as well as home grown smaller products. iResearch estimates that the Chinese consumer goods export market will grow 16% annually to $1,983 billion in 2015. Online retail in China is dominated by Alibaba. But there are other vendors as well who are helping consolidate the fragmented small firms in the country to enable them to sell their products in international markets.

>>>