SBIR Phase I: Improving Business-Consumer Commerce Via Mobile Social Networking Services

这个小企业创新研究第一阶段项目提议调查一种方法，以解决在店内商业-消费者交易中常见的关键问题，即缺乏关于消费者身份的先验信息，以及缺乏对消费者个人利益的洞察力，这影响了购买决策。将探索将社交网络的力量与移动计算相结合的创新解决方案的可行性。要实现这种独特的移动社交网络解决方案，需要在三个方面进行具有挑战性的研究创新：(1)开发适当的无线软件和系统基础设施，将移动电话与在线社交网络无缝集成；(2)实现实用的数据挖掘解决方案，将消费者偏好与商业产品/服务联系起来；(3)确保满足消费者和企业对隐私的关切。这项研究的一个成果将是为手机和在线服务器提供一种新颖的移动社交网络数据服务，这将从根本上改变企业与消费者之间的商业活动的质量和可移植性。这项提案的第一阶段研究产生的移动社交网络技术的更广泛的社会影响具有巨大的潜力，因为采用这项技术并加速其进入市场的动力很强。商家将有强烈的动机采用这一独特的移动社交网络技术，这样就可以更多地了解刚刚走进商店的潜在客户，并且可以在符合消费者兴趣的商品上提供即时的有针对性的折扣，从而提高消费者的忠诚度，实现可能不会发生的交易。相反，消费者有动力采用这项技术来获得这些折扣，从而节省他们的金钱和时间，同时也提高了他们的商业-消费者交易的质量。

This Small Business Innovation Research Phase I project proposes to investigate an approach towards solving key problems experienced commonly in in-store business-consumer transactions, namely a lack of a priori information about the consumer's identity, and a lack of insight into the consumer's personal interests, which influence buying decisions. The feasibility of an innovative solution that combines the power of social networks with mobile computing will be explored. Achieving this unique mobile social networking solution will require challenging research innovations in three areas: (1) developing the appropriate wireless software and systems infrastructure to seamlessly integrate mobile phones with online social networks, and (2) realizing practical data mining solutions to link consumer preferences with business products/services; (3) ensuring that consumer and business privacy concerns are met. An outcome of the research will be a novel mobile social networking data service for cell phones and online servers that could fundamentally transform the quality and portability of business-consumer commerce.The broader societal impacts of the mobile social networking technology resulting from this proposal's Phase I research have the potential to be substantial, as there are strong incentives to adopt the technology and accelerate its implementation into the marketplace. Businesses will have a strong incentive to adopt this proposal's unique mobile social networking technology so that more can be learned about the prospective customer that just walked into the store, and instant targeted discounts can be delivered on merchandise that matches the consumer's interests, thereby driving up consumer loyalty and enabling transactions that may not otherwise occur. Conversely, consumers have an incentive to adopt the technology in order to obtain those discounts, thereby saving their money and time while also enhancing the quality of their business-consumer transaction.