The survey also shows the number of Canadian “instrumented” consumers -- who use two or more technologies such as a website, mobile device or in-store kiosk -- increased by 65 per cent over last year’s results, almost double the global result, which reported a 36 per cent increase year-to-year.

“It would appear Canadians’ conservative attitude toward adopting new consumer technologies is changing rapidly to the point that consumers are ahead of retailers,” says John Dawkins, IBM’s Canadian retail sector lead. “Wider access to bandwidth at lower rates, an increase in the number of Canadian wireless service providers, adoption of social media and a comparatively faster economic recovery are driving the emergence of a more complex, competitive and sophisticated shopper.”

The study reveals a portrait of the quintessential Canadian shopper: female; frugal but optimistic about her income; influenced more by family and friends’ opinions than retailers; and who regularly shops for more than people in her household such as parents or grandchildren.

The survey polled consumers from a dozen other countries, including both mature and emerging markets and show globally, shoppers have adopted attitudes during the recession that continue to dictate their behavior:  they buy what they need, search for items on sale and wait longer to purchase; and they have embraced the use of technology throughout the process to save time and enhance the experience.

Other findings include:

• Shoppers are leveraging social media from Facebook to Twitter, to blogs, YouTube and reviews, more than ever before to discuss retailers, products and brands with friends, family members and strangers.
• Consumers are checking prices in store, where 70 per cent of final product  selection happens, using smart phones and UPC tags to check competitive offerings.
• Consumers want a personalized shopping experience and will spend more and be more loyal to retailers who offer them quality, service and promotions on items they regularly buy and remember things such as their preferred payment methods.
• Consumers want to shop seamlessly across channels, check product prices wherever they are, get promotions based on the items they scan, and use a personal mobile device to avoid the checkout lane.

“A new approach to customer intimacy is critical in the new economic environment and this necessitates a stronger commitment than ever before. Organizations that are best at extracting previously undiscovered insights from vast amounts of customer information have a huge advantage in deepening existing connections and creating new relationships,” said Diane Brisebois, president and CEO of the Retail Council of Canada.

The IBM survey of 30,624 consumers was conducted in October 2010 in Australia, Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, China, Colombia, France, Germany, Italy, Mexico, United Kingdom and United States.

With the new $42 million IBM Compute Cloud Centre, Canadian businesses can securely develop, host and test applications while paying only for the computational power they use. The platform represents an evolutionary opportunity for organizations to capitalize on the cloud computing model to further grow their social and business applications. Confidential information is protected and kept securely resident in Canada in accordance with Canadian privacy laws.

Among the first clients to take advantage of the IBM Compute Cloud Centre’s offerings in Canada are VisionMax, a Canadian-based custom software development firm offering IT solutions, and Buchanan Technologies, an IBM Canada business partner and IT professional services firm:

• “There’s a great competitive advantage to providing geographic specific cloud delivery capabilities for customers and ISV’s,” said Stephen Sweett, President, Buchanan Technologies. “Buchanan Technologies is pleased to work with the IBM Compute Cloud Centre and have access to IBM’s global knowledge base as we evolve our own capabilities to meet the growing demand for secure information management in the financial services and public sector.” *
• “At VisionMax we customize solutions to meet our customers' needs,” said David McDougall, President, VisionMax. “But no matter what industry our clients are in, being able to capitalize on the flexibility of the Cloud with help from IBM makes good business and financial sense.”

 
According to Canadian IDC analyst, Mark Schrutt, in his recent report Cloud Computing: The Next Form of Outsourcing, "IBM becomes the first Tier 1 multinational IT service provider to establish Canadian cloud delivery capabilities, in a market that is expected to grow by more than 40% over the next three years, breaking the C$1billion mark by 2015. IBM's global cloud footprint is impressive and is a critical component in addressing some of the technical issues around cloud such as latency. More importantly, at least for the Canadian market, IBM Smart Business Compute Cloud provides an in-country solution for buyers concerned about data residency."

The new IBM Smart Business Compute Cloud Centre complements IBM’s existing dedicated network of 17 data centres across Canada. It will offer a pay-as-you-go service providing customers with access to a Canadian commerce portal where usage charges for virtual servers, selected software images and storage capacity will be available on a per-hour basis.

“This is an innovation investment in Canada that will help Canadian businesses capture the promise of new computing models to drive productivity and increase competitiveness,” said Bruce Ross, President, IBM Canada. “IBM’s breadth of global expertise in cloud computing will provide Canadian organizations with an unparalleled level of service and reliability as they drive innovative business transformation.”

The research was released today at the 20th annual CASCON, a software and computing conference showcasing research by IBM Centre for Advanced Studies (CAS) in collaboration with academic and government research organizations. Representatives from IBM, Queen’s University, the University of Victoria, the University of Waterloo, the University of Toronto and University of Maryland Baltimore County outlined the results of their Smart Internet research project.

As the world becomes more instrumented and interconnected, and cloud services and analytics become more advanced, the Internet will be able to automatically pull together data and services from a variety of online sources and integrate them in a way that provides context, and which can be used more easily, researchers said.

For example, the project work, which started in 2009, has determined how future iterations of the Internet will enable users to arrange to have taxis to and from the airport automatically ordered whenever they book a flight, and automatically notified if flights are delayed, or link RSVPs on a Facebook invitation with the reservation system at their favourite restaurant, to automatically reserve a table for the exact number of guests who accept.

“The project illustrated how the Internet will move beyond the present paradigm where people are responsible for the initiating and managing their own manual navigation of the Web, to a ‘personalized Web,’ functioning as a platform of services and resources that are dynamically and automatically configured to suit each person’s individual goals, tasks and concerns, in a way that person wants,” says Joanna Ng, master inventor and head of research at IBM’s Center for Advanced Studies.

Currently, a function such paying bills requires you be aware when bills are due and proactively initiate a payment transaction by visiting one, or more URLs. More often than not, this involves repeating many decisions that are the same or similar to decisions made in previous service requests – say last month, when the same bill was due.

The smarter Internet will know when bills are due, and on those dates, log on to your online bank account, process a payment, and even transfer additional funds to prevent overdraft – a series of events set in motion by your one-click “yes” response to an automatically generated question, “Do you want to pay this bill now?”

The research team has also determined how to integrate a behind-the-scene enabler to deliver information and services in way users want, and how to do that when it is most relevant and appropriate to the user’s task at hand or situation.

“If, for example, I’m a physician and use text alerts, a smart Internet would inform me only of messages that are emergencies or of immediate relevance to the patient I am attending to, until I am free. I don’t want to receive notifications about a sale on sporting goods while I’m with a patient!" explains Jim Cordy, Queen’s University professor.

Future research efforts will focus on commercialization of the technologies that support the smart Internet, and other scientific advancements to transform it into a ubiquitous tool that support people’s needs in a timely and personalized way, while still allowing them to maintain appropriate control over the tasks themselves.

The Honourable Gary Goodyear, Minister of State (Science and Technology) and Member of Parliament for Cambridge, Cambridge Mayor Doug Craig, and Chris Mallon, Senior Brand Executive, IBM Canada, came together to showcase the
new system.

“The Government of Canada is committed to investing in roads, clean water systems, sidewalks and other community infrastructure to strengthen our economy and create jobs,” said Minister Goodyear, on behalf of the Honourable Chuck Strahl, Minister of Transport, Infrastructure and Communities. “These projects in Cambridge will help keep residents safe and promote a healthy and efficient environment.”

“There’s a wealth of information on roads, wastewater, water, and other key infrastructure elements that exist in many forms throughout the city,” said Mayor Doug Craig. “The new system brings together a variety of data to enhance management processes of our more than 250,000 infrastructure assets valuing $1.2 billion. This system also includes new mobile applications in the field with real time updating which result in savings for the community.”

The technology allows staff to identify safety issues on roads and sidewalks and effectively organize and route this information to crews to ensure timely and complete response. The new system will be mainly used by Transportation and Public Works staff with a view to expanding it to other areas in the future. The Government of Canada contributed over $978,700 towards this project through the federal Gas Tax Fund. The City of Cambridge also invested approximately $703,000 towards the project, which included training, work management systems and Global Information Systems (GIS) technology development.

"The City of Cambridge is a leading example of a municipality that is harnessing its creative leadership to put funding and technology to innovative use to improve services for citizens. They recognize that we can't continue to address modern challenges with 20th Century infrastructure," said Chris Mallon, Senior Brand Executive, IBM Canada. "This type of bold vision helps pave the way for sustainable growth and a smarter city that is able to adapt and thrive as it meets the urban challenges of the 21st Century."

The federal Gas Tax Fund provides municipalities with a stable and predictable source of funding for environmentally sustainable municipal infrastructure. Funding is also available for planning projects that contribute to the sustainability of communities and regions.

For more perspective from Mike Hausser, director of asset management for the City of Cambridge, see his post on the Smarter Planet blog.