In our 5 minutes with profiles, MEF members talk about their business, their aspirations for the future and the wider mobile industry. This week, Michael Tomlins, CEO, introduces Infomedia Group subsidiary, Humley.
What does your company do?
Humley develops solutions designed to deploy diverse mobile context and apply real time Big Data to deliver improved consumer engagement and retention for content providers, OEM’s, and Operators. We curate highly targeted communication on behalf of our partners to cultivate an intimate customer journey and thereby deliver deeper value to the end users.
When did Humley launch and what growth have you seen?
Launched in 2014, Humley is a subsidiary of the Infomedia Group, a 20-year old UK company with extensive background in managing billing platforms and mobile payments products. Our flagship solution, called iView, has grown over the first 18 months from a pilot product into a platform with over 3,000,000 users across the USA, Europe, India and the Middle East. Our clients and strategic partners include the biggest names in the industry and the KPI achievements have consistently exceeded industry benchmarks and customer expectations. We’re genuinely thrilled with the very early results.
What are your main goals?
We are currently witnessing a paradigm shift in how Big Data needs to be optimised and applied to achieve maximum impact on mobile consumers, and Humley has already begun to fill the need for a nimble ecosystem with short iterative cycles that deliver results for all segments of mobile service providers, the OEM’s, the Operators, and of course the Content, Apps, and OTT publishers. Over the long term we are committed to expanding on our proven technology as we create uniform and powerful solutions for any business partner seeking to capitalise on context and behavioural analytics. Meanwhile we continue to take on the short term challenges of a relatively little known brand with a bright future; we are aiming to earn our position among the biggest brands in the industry and are working tirelessly to meet the expectations of our clients.
Where do you see yourselves in three years’ time?
Our management team brings broad industry experience, and as a unit we are acutely aware of the cyclical nature of this business. The next three years will only bring even more dramatic shifts and demand even greater flexibility. Already in Year 2, we are being approached by the biggest names in enterprise and world-class computing to collaborate towards bringing the power of predictive analytics to the micro level of the mobile consumer. Our vision is to continue to cultivate deeper technical relationships, earn the trust of our partners, as we become a key provider of critical contextual solutions and a reliable resource to these global leaders.
What aspect of mobile is most exciting to you right now?
We spoke earlier of the ebb and flow that dictates the dynamic nature of mobile technology. Humley has built a robust platform with end-to-end tools designed to serve the broadest range of partners, and the solutions we have developed will continue to branch out as new devices launch, new OS players emerge, and new cloud solutions become the gold standard. At the same time, the need to earn consumer loyalty and confidence has never been greater. We will continue to be driven by our beliefs and best business practices in the areas of transparency and trust.
What’s the most critical issue that will hit mobile within the next 12 months?
Today we are watching the emerging markets theoretically poised to push the needle, but in reality being held back due to a combination of economic gaps and unfulfilled promises in delivering the devices and digital experiences necessary. Bridging the digital divide must become the priority as opposed to simply chasing the opportunity to capitalise on the enormous numbers being dangled in front of us. Companies that invest in creating access to the largest possible audience, instead of chasing the quickest buck, will end up dictating the direction of change in the coming year.
Michael Tomlins
CEO
Humley
Apart from your own, which mobile companies are the ones to watch in the year ahead?
From our own experience, we have learned that some of the most progressive and impressive activity is happening somewhat under the radar and going relatively unnoticed. Not everyone has millions of VC dollars to throw at marketing and advertising. As a result, while the buzz around contextual advertising continues to be created by the handful of giants, we are seeing powerful concepts coming into play by smaller companies all around the world, from Silicon Valley to Bangalore to Tel Aviv and even our own back yard here in the UK and Europe. They are too numerous to list but we certainly know that several will emerge in the coming year, and I believe that those who can prove their products with real-world data will make themselves known quickly in the months ahead.
