The Weather Company.pdf 6f4r61

For the exclusive use of L. Nguyen, 2016.

BAB168/ NOVEMBER 2015

THE WEATHER COMPANY: CREATING CONSUMER APPS THAT LEVERAGE BIG DATA It was a gorgeous day in the fall of 2014 at the Atlanta headquarters of The Weather Company (TWC). In fact, with one glance at the oversized 10 on the OutSider mobile running app his team just released, Chris Huff, VP of Mobile and Consumer App Development, quickly confirmed it was a perfect day for a run. The 10 was the highest score on the soon-to-bepatented Run Weather Index (RWI). Touching the number displayed the six components comprising the RWI algorithm—wind speed, precipitation, temperature, humidity, cloud cover, and air quality. Weather was a key factor for runners, and the inclusion of TWC’s detailed and highly accurate weather forecasts provided the OutSider app with what the team hoped was a clear competitive advantage over myriad other running apps. In building this app, TWC was reacting to the mobile mind shift, particularly among the 15- to 30-year old consumer demographic. Impatient and glued to their smartphones, millennials had very high expectations for immediacy. They wanted to transmit or receive information from anywhere, at anytime. Forrester Research referred to these incidents as “mobile moments,” and searching for weather information was a perfect example. 1 In 2014, the dramatic shift to mobile devices caused The Weather Company, parent company of The Weather Channel, to face the biggest challenge in its 32-year history. Similar to the disruption created by the movement from printed to digital books or DVDs to streaming video, weather consumption was moving quickly from TV to the smartphone. Nielsen reported that the network averaged a five-year low of 211,000 daily viewers in 2013, down from 273,000 in

“Forrester Research Publishes New Book: ‘The Mobile Mind Shift’.” Professional Services Close-Up. Business Insights: Essentials, May 19, 2014, http://bi.galegroup.com.ezproxy.babson.edu/essentials/article/GALE%7CA368528939/48707a75e8111e213213ae 2efe6db51b?u=mlin_m_babson, accessed September 2015. 1

This case was prepared by Ruth Gilleran, Senior Lecturer, Patricia J. Guinan, Associate Professor, and Salvatore Parise, Associate Professor, of Babson College. It was developed as a basis for class discussion rather than to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of an istrative situation. It is not intended to serve as an endorsement, source of primary data or illustration of effective or ineffective management. Copyright © 2015 Babson College and licensed for publication to Harvard Business School Publishing. All rights reserved. No part of this publication can be reproduced, stored or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission of Babson College.

This document is authorized for use only by Linh Nguyen in CIS 2016 Spring taught by Mark Lee Ford, Temple University Japan Campus from January 2016 to July 2016.

For the exclusive use of L. Nguyen, 2016. The Weather Company: Creating Consumer Apps that Leverage Big Data BAB168 / NOVEMBER 2015

2012.2 Citing declining ratings and evidence of an increasing number of individuals more frequently using their smartphones to check the weather, DIRECTV blacked out TWC to DIRECTV’s 20 million subscribers, which represented one-fifth of TWC’s total audience.3 In a January 2014 email statement to SNL Kagan Media and Communications, DIRECTV Chief Content Office Dan York said, “Consumers understand there are now a variety of other ways to get weather coverage, free of reality show clutter and that TWC does not have an exclusive on weather coverage – the weather belongs to everyone.”4 A few months later, DIRECTV reinstated TWC because of consumer preferences, but the company clearly needed more innovative approaches to serving up its weather data. The OutSider app, TWC’s first lifestylerelated weather app, helped answer that call. As Huff laced up his running shoes and headed to the elevator, he imagined how he could make the weather data more valuable to TWC’s running customers by delivering information that both interested and benefitted them. According to Huff, “OutSider is much more than an app, it is a way to learn about how the weather affects a person’s body chemistry. Whether one runs four or twenty-four miles, all runners are affected by the weather. People understand it’s not the best time to run when the newscaster is saying it’s 90 and humid, be careful, stay indoors. However, when it’s 82 degrees, with 90% humidity, it can be just as dangerous outside.”5 In addition to the temperature, the sun, and the rain, air quality and pollen levels affected everyone greatly. With the app released, Huff pondered his next move. Should he continue to develop OutSider further and if so, what features should be added to make it a go-to running app? Consumers ed several apps, but they used few on a regular basis. Should he target other outdoor enthusiast segments? Or, should he persist down the learning path, studying the run analytics and marketing what Huff calls biometrics insights (see Exhibit 1 for definition) to other organizations? But right now, the RWI of 10 was all he could think about. The Weather Channel slogan, “It’s Amazing Out There,” could not be more apropos. Time for a run.

The Weather Company TWC represented the most well-known name in the weather business. Three divisions comprised the company: TV, digital, which included website and mobile, and professional services which sold data services, software, and hardware to TV stations, retailers, airlines, and energy traders. During his keynote address at the 2014 annual Association of Business Information and Media Companies, The Weather Company COO, Chris Walters, remarked, “digital and specialized business information products, not television, are two of the biggest drivers of growth for The Weather Company, parent of The Weather Channel. Today, b-to-b products represent 10 percent of revenue. In the next three years, that percentage will double, J. J. McCorvey, “A Storm Brews Over Weather,” Fast Company, February 2014, http://www.fastcompany.com/3023354/weather-channel-a-storm-brews-over-weather, accessed July 2014. 3 Rodney Ho, “Big Storm Brewing for Weather TV: Weather Channel Fight with DirectTV just One Challenge. Network Convinced Snow Proves its Worth,” The Atlanta Journal – Constitution, February 02, 2014, http://search.proquest.com.ezproxy.babson.edu/docview/1493337386?id=36796, accessed July 2014. 4 Sarah Barry James, “Weather Channel Stuck in Eye of Carriage Fee Storm,” SNL Kagan Media & Communications Report, January 14, 2014, http://www.snl.com/InteractiveX/Article.aspx?cdid=A-2653271813608, accessed November 2014. 5 Chris Huff, telephone interview by author Ruth Gilleran, Wellesley, MA, August 21, 2014. 2

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thanks to big data and the ability to integrate into customer workflows.”6 One year earlier in January of 2013, Digital Division President Cameron Clayton stated, “The Weather Co.'s revenue from non-TV sources is now ‘not far away’ from being half of total revenue.” 7 Launched over 30 years ago in 1982 as the first 24-hour network devoted to weather programming, The Weather Channel’s 2013 audience totaled more than 100 million viewers and the network generated $350 million in annual income.8 Its popular weather website, weather.com, boasted 8 million daily visitors and was the go-to website in 2013 for obtaining weather information. 9 In fact, the website commanded an impressive 51 percent of the market share, followed by AccuWeather with just 14 percent (see Exhibit 2 for the top weather brands). TWC’s weather data came not only from the National Weather Service, which owned the radar system in the United States, but also from data TWC gathered on its own and from data supplied by 100,000 private individuals with their own weather stations. Aided by sophisticated computer models within TWC’s forecasting engine, over 200 meteorologists analyzed this data and generated highly accurate weather forecasts. The recent growing granularity of data from an increased use of weather sensors allowed for greater accuracy in TWC’s weather forecast. 10 According to the Forecast Advisor website which graded the accuracy of U.S. weather forecasting outlets, in 2013 TWC “blew away its competition” which included the National Weather Service, Accuweather, and Custom Weather.11 TWC was owned by a consortium consisting of NBC Universal and the private equity firms The Blackstone Group and Bain Capital. In 2011, The Weather Channel Companies became The Weather Company, recognizing its diversity of products and services and its broad appeal to consumers and businesses.

TWC Revenue Streams Like most media sites, TWC employed an advertising-based revenue model. Consumer ads were displayed alongside TWC’s weather data, regardless of where the data was served up— on TV, its website, or its mobile app. TWC’s CEO David Kenny was no stranger to advertising. As a former CEO of Digitas, a global marketing and technology firm, he knew better than most how radical the coming changes were. As he explained in a New York Times interview, Matt Kinsman,“ABM Annual Keynote: How The Weather Channel Saves and Makes Money for B-to-B Markets,” May 6, 2014, http://blog.siia.net/index.php/2014/05/abm-annual-keynote-how-the-weather-channel-saves-andmakes-money-for-b-to-b-markets/, accessed June 2015. 7 Todd Spangler, “Nearly Half of Weather Co.’s Revenue Comes From Digital Division,” Multichannel New, January 15, 2013, http://www.multichannel.com/news/mobile/nearly-half-weather-cos-revenue-comes-digitaldivision/306174, accessed June 2015. 8 J.J. McCorvey. 9 John Swansburg, "It's Ugly Out there," New York, Mar 10 2014, http://nymag.com/daily/intelligencer/2014/03/can-the-weather-channel-survive-its-competitiors.html, accessed July 2014. 10 Kim S. Nash, “Big Data from Above. CIO, May 24, 2013, http://www.cio.com/article/2385814/big-data/how-toprofit-from-the-ultimate-big-data-source-the-weather.html?nsdr=true&page=3, accessed July 2014. 11 Rueben Fischer-Baum and Dennis Mersereau, “What Parts of the Country Get the Worst Weather Predictions?” The Vane, May 2, 2014, http://thevane.gawker.com/what-parts-of-the-country-get-the-worst-weather-predict1568905474, accessed October 2014. 6

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“platforms like his were working directly with companies to develop advertising campaigns, especially on mobile devices, essentially bying ad agencies.”12 A second revenue stream for TWC was the weather data and the expert analysis it marketed to corporate clients. The Professional Services arm of TWC helped its corporate clients profit from its weather forecasts by enabling them to anticipate the impact of weather on their bottom line. Blue chip customers included national retailers, global airliners, automobile manufacturers, emergency services, utilities, insurers, and media giants. Two clients, Home Depot and American Airlines, incorporated weather data into their buying decisions so they could more accurately predict what products or services would be needed when and where. 13 Starting with the release of iOS8, Apple incorporated The Weather Channel data, replacing Yahoo Weather. At the 2014 International Consumer Electronics Show, General Motors announced plans to include The Weather Channel app within its OnStar concierge dashboard screen.14 With the current emphasis of mining big data to make more fact-based decisions, as well as the availability of modern tools to process this data, the company was betting its future on the Digital and Professional Services divisions. Both divisions were headed up by Cameron Clayton, President of Product and Technology.

Consumer Apps Ideation Process To address the dramatic shift to mobile, The Weather Company’s Digital Division was tasked with leveraging the company’s big data to obtain new customers, establish more binding relationships with existing ones, and increase advertising revenue. For a 30-year-old company with 1,300 employees, this new products group resembled a start-up. In the summer of 2012, Huff invited all company employees to a hackathon, a marathon session where software designers and programmers developed an application prototype in a condensed period of time. As Huff explained, “between the over 200 meteorologists, weather scientists, and technologists, there are a lot of engineering-minded folks walking the halls.” When the group gathered on day one, they were given deliberately broad instructions, “build some weather-related working software that our customers will love.”15 Specifically, Huff was targeting one super- group—the outdoor enthusiasts. Some employees came with ideas they were hoping to implement, while others, for example programmers, were eager to construct a prototype. After forming teams and brainstorming, they spent the next day and a half developing the idea and building out the software. On day three, the teams were given three minutes to present their concept to a of judges consisting of the VP of Engineering, the VP of Product, the President of the Digital Products group, and an on-camera meteorologist. The judging criteria included whether the prototype solved a problem the company wanted to help solve, whether it was innovative, and whether it functioned. Several ideas emerged from the hackathon, but the one that garnered the most Tanzina Vega, “Advertising mega merger driven by the rise of Big Data,” The Global Edition of the New York Times, July 30, 2013, p. 15. 13 Kim S. Nash. 14 Jeff Bennett, “Car Makers at Consumer Electronics show Tout Ways to Plug Autos into the Web; Moves Raise Worries among Highway Safety Regulators,” Wall Street Journal (Online) January 5, 2014, http://www.wsj.com/articles/SB10001424052702304887104579302880279339184, accessed July 2014. 15 Chris Huff, telephone interview by author Ruth Gilleran, Wellesley, MA, August 21, 2014. 12

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enthusiasm was a weather-centric app for cyclists. TWC later pivoted the idea to focus on running. Similar to how Red Bull created a series of gaming apps rather than an app focused on its energy drink, TWC sought out an entirely new experience for its customers. By building a running app, when the OutSider pressed the Run button, he or she was engaging with the TWC brand.16

The OutSider App When work on OutSider began, most of the running apps on the market were fairly utilitarian. s had running statistics they could share with their social network, but the apps did not provide insights as to why their runs were better on some days than others. The apps lacked any indication of the plausible reason for the runner’s time. The weather data provided one explanation. Besides being a motivating force to nudge people off the couch when good running conditions prevailed, a major benefit of the OutSider app was its planning aid. OutSider provided accurate and real-time weather forecasts, allowing s to plan better—when to run, what to wear, and how to hydrate. While a few of the popular running apps, like Runtastic, provided current weather data, none provided highly accurate detailed weather forecasts, a fact that TWC hoped to capitalize on (see Exhibit 3 for a features list of the popular running apps). When the app opened, it displayed the current weather based on the runner’s latitude and longitude as detected by the GPS on his or her smart phone. Even the app background photo was based on location. The runner in New York might see skyscrapers while the Vermont runner would be looking at rolling hills. s entered profile data, including typical run distance, gender, age, height, weight, and body type. Through a series of slide bars, they specified how their runs were affected by air quality, humidity, temperature, rain, and wind. This information altered the RWI, an indication of how well the runner would perform and therefore enjoy his or her run. Upon pressing the Plan a Run button, the runner was presented with hourly run conditions for the next three days and morning and evening conditions for the next ten. This was especially important when the runner was visiting a location where he or she was unfamiliar with the weather patterns. According to Huff, the planning aspect of the app was one of its major differentiators, “If you can pinpoint in advance the best times to run, you can more easily convert people into runners.”17 For example, runners often think, “I need to get three runs in this week, so I’ll wait for better weather.” The temperature may be good, but the humidity could be high, which s cannot see by looking at temperature alone. The planning data allowed runners to change their running clothes, hydrate more, or postpone their runs to later in the day. To further aid planning, the app included videos. An information symbol was right below the RWI; pressing the button displayed short articles and TWC videos addressing the condition associated with the current RWI. For example, according to Huff, “If it’s a five because of the heat, then you’ll see something about a hydration strategy.”18

S. Gupta, “For Mobile Devices, Think Apps, Not Ads.” Harvard Business Review, 91, no. 3 (2013): 70-75. Chris Huff, telephone interview by author Ruth Gilleran, Wellesley, MA, August 21, 2014. 18 Ibid. 16 17

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To track their run, s pressed the Let’s Run button and selected a run type—basic, distance, timed, or heart rate. While running, the weather data refreshed every 1 km or five minutes. Historical performance could be viewed on the Run History menu, and the runner had the option to share this data with friends and family via Facebook. The app also connected to the Wahoo fitness heart rate monitor, which provided information on the runner’s heart rate, cadence, and speed. In an attempt to improve the runner’s state of mind and hence their run statistics, the OutSider app also integrated with the Google app Songza, suggesting playlists based on local weather conditions (see Exhibit 4 for images of the OutSider app).

The OutSider App Development Team The development of TWC’s consumer mobile apps was the responsibility of TWC’s Digital Product Group, not its centralized IT department. This group had proven that it had the skills to design and produce top selling apps. In May 2013, Apple named The Weather Channel app the second most popular iPad app and the seventh most ed iPhone app of all time. In 2014, TWC’s weather app sured 100,000,000 cumulative s. This success, however, did not necessarily translate into a successful running app. Huff reported to the president of the Digital Product Group and his development team consisted of thirty TWC employees plus 10 individuals from Mobiquity, a professional services firm that helped organizations create, design, develop, and implement mobile strategies. Since TWC had previously worked with Mobiquity to design and help develop the experience of TWC’s core weather app, the company was chosen to help create the running app. The front-end development effort was led by Mobiquity Project Manager Chris Decker. Decker was aided by the Mobiquity Experience (UX) design team consisting of three senior designers and architects led by Mike Welsh, Mobiquity’s Creative Director (see Exhibit 5 for information on Mobiquity). The UX team was focused on ensuring that the s’ interactions with and perception of the application was positive. TWC’s IT organization, headed by Chief Information and Technology Officer Bryson Koehler, was responsible for the storing and processing of the company’s weather data, as well as developing and maintaining its internal enterprise software. This group played a crucial role in the creation of the OutSider app by providing a services layer that delivered current and forecasted weather conditions to the app (see Exhibit 6 for the management team bios).

The OutSider App Development Methodology Right from the start, the development team focused on the experience. Consumers were task-oriented on their mobile devices. Even for those with the tiniest fingers, entering data or even responding to push buttons or slide bars can be a challenge. According to Welsh, “one of Mobiquity’s differentiators is its extensive, in-depth, experience team. More than the app’s features, it’s about the experience. First impressions are extremely important when it comes to mobile apps. s quickly grow wary with multi-step processes.”19 The UX team 19

Mike Welsh, interview by author Ruth Gilleran, Wellesley, MA, August 6, 2014.

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took the information from the hackathon and created storyboards and then wireframes, images representing the skeletal layout of the mobile app along with its navigation. Next, the team conducted a focus group in which five or six runners were invited to view a clickable prototype created using proto.io. After several design iterations, development began. The development team followed the agile software development method with a goal of creating a minimally viable product that they could learn from. “Agile” was an umbrella term that referred to a few different iterative software development methodologies, such as Scrum or Extreme Programming (XP). These methodologies were committed to feature-driven development and they shared the common goal of delivering small pieces of working software at set intervals, generally from two to eight weeks. Agile software development contrasted with the Waterfall methodology where all the business requirements were designed, coded, and tested before any software was released to the end . This resulted in a lengthy product release cycle that did not allow for the ability to react to changing business conditions. With The Weather Company’s commitment to continuous innovation and the entrepreneurial process, the agile software development method was the only viable option. While Mobiquity was building the front-end, Huff’s developers were securing the connections to the back-end big data weather services platform and working on the app’s core functions, such as the RWI algorithm. According to Huff, “we pulled every data element we had and said, what is that? Is that useful? And so we went down the list of all the data we had, and tried to understand how useful it would be.”20 Development of the app took place over three months, with the team initially working in two-week sprints, later shifting to one-week. Coding was done in Objective C, the main programming language used by Apple for the OS X and iOS operating systems. Quality Assurance technicians performed internal testing, and running enthusiasts from Mobiquity and TWC beta tested the app. The OutSider app was released in June of 2014, and just a few days later, Mashable referenced it in its article, “5 Can’t Miss Apps: OutSider and More.”

The Weather Company’s Big Data Platform Much of the success of the OutSider app could be attributed to the company’s big data platform and processes. When interviewed by InformationWeek, Bryson Koehler, CITO at The Weather Company remarked, “Weather is the original big data application, when mainframes first came about, one of the first applications was a weather forecasting model.” 21 The Weather Company had been dealing in “big data” long before the term was popular. Each day, TWC processed 20 terabytes of weather data, a figure that the company expected to get bigger. The data included a wide range of information, including temperature, wind speeds, rain, snow, hurricanes, earthquakes, tornadoes, barometric pressure, wave height, and more. The weather data met all three criteria of big data—volume, velocity, and variety—and therefore TWC needed a modern technology architecture to store and process it. The Weather Company employed the cloud infrastructure-as-a-service model, commissioning four Amazon Web Services availability zones: U.S. East, U.S. West, Europe, and Asia. The company chose a NoSQL environment over a SQL environment for its scalability and its ability to store and Chris Huff, telephone interview by author Ruth Gilleran, August 21, 2014. Henschen, “The Weather Company Builds a New Forecasting Platform with Basho’s Riak NOSQL Database and Amazon Web Services,” Information Week, November 25, 2013, http://www.informationweek.com/big-data/software-platforms/big-data-reshapes-weather-channelpredictions/d/d-id/1112776, accessed May 2014. 20

21 Doug

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process large volumes of semi-structured data that included not just weather statistics, but also images and videos. The Weather Company used the open source Riak NoSQL database to store the bulk of its weather data. It also used the open source Cassandra NoSQL database to serve up weather data through its application programming interface (API) to its own apps, as well as to third-party weather-related apps. The API served the OutSider app and was available for future consumer app development projects.

Key Challenges Ahead Huff was pleased that his team had the vision and expertise to leverage the company’s big data, create exclusive content in the RWI, focus on the experience, and work with the centralized IT department to build a platform that ed not just the OutSider app, but also future apps targeting outdoor enthusiasts. Upon returning from his run, he looked over the latest OutSider reviews on the iTunes store. Realizing that TWC must work hard to secure a spot on the much-valued smartphone real estate, Huff jotted down the suggested enhancements in the reviews before heading into his staff meeting. Getting to this point was exhausting, yet exhilarating for the team. Long hours resulted in the initial release and now the team were anxious to move forward with subsequent iterations. The OutSider app’s differentiated value was the intersection of its proprietary weather forecasts and the runner’s preferences and past run performance data. As Huff and his team pushed ahead, they faced some daunting questions: 1. Now that public weather datasets were becoming available, how would TWC be able to maintain its competitive advantage with its weather-centric running app? How exclusive was the weather content? As well as location and weather, what other data could TWC incorporate into the OutSider app to make it the go-to running app and a source of advertising revenue? 2. How could TWC continue to leverage mobile apps to further monetize its significant investment in its weather data? What additional mobile use cases should they pursue? Why? 3. Should The Weather Company expend its efforts developing consumer apps, or should it focus on its professional services division, offering weather and biometeorological analytics to its business customers? Could they effectively do both?

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Exhibit 1 Definition of Biometrics According to the International Biometric Society…. “The “Biometrics” and “Biometry” have been used since early in the 20th century to refer to the field of development of statistical and mathematical methods applicable to data analysis problems in the biological sciences. Statistical methods for the analysis of data from agricultural field experiments to compare the yields of different varieties of wheat, for the analysis of data from human clinical trials evaluating the relative effectiveness of competing therapies for disease, or for the analysis of data from environmental studies on the effects of air or water pollution on the appearance of human disease in a region or country are all examples of problems that would fall under the umbrella of “Biometrics” as the term has been historically used.”

“Recently, the term “Biometrics” has also been used to refer to the emerging field of technology devoted to identification of individuals using biological traits, such as those based on retinal or iris scanning, fingerprints, or face recognition. Neither the journal “Biometrics” nor the International Biometric Society is engaged in research, marketing, or reporting related to this technology.”

Source: “Biometrics—A Journal of the International Biometric Society,” The International Biometric Society Web site, http://www.biometrics.tibs.org/, accessed May 2014.

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Exhibit 2 Top 10 Weather Web Brands By Unique Audience (U.S. Total) June 2013 Unique U.S. Visitors Rank

Website

Unique Audience

1

The Weather Channel Network

37,400,000

2

AccuWeather.com

8,440,000

3

WeatherBug

7,331,000

4

NOAA

6,997,000

5

MSN Weather

5,552,000

6

Weather Underground

4,169,000

7

Weather Central

1,765,000

8

JustWeather.com

535,000

9

World Weather Online

409,000

10

Find Weather

385,000

Source: “Today’s Forecast: Millions of Americans Check the Weather Online,” Nielsen Web site, http://www.nielsen.com/us/en/insights/news/2013/today_s-forecast--millions-of-americans-checkthe-weather-online.html, accessed June 2014.

10



OutSider (The Weather Channel) Endomondo Sports Tracker

Free

X

Free

X

X

X

X

Get Running (Couch to 5K)

$2.99

X

X

X

X

iSmoothRun Pro

$5.99

X

X

X

Map My Run by Map My Fitness Nike + Running

Free

X

X

X

Free

X

X

X

X

Runkeeper by FitnessKeeper, Inc.

Free

X

X

X

X

Runtastic Pro by Runtastic Strava Runing and Cycling

Free

X

X

X

X

Free

X

X

X

X

X X

X

Detailed Weather Forecasts

Current Weather

Fitness Trackers/Heart Sensors

Gamification

Social Sharing

Song Playlist

Route Map

Audio Coach/Personal Trainer

Detailed Running Stats

Android

iOS

Cost

Exhibit 3 OutSider Competition – Popular Running Apps

X

X

X

X

X X

X X

X

X

X

X

X

X X

X

Table compiled from the following sources: John Corpuz, “10 Best Running Apps,” tom’s guide, February 12, 2015, http://www.tomsguide.com/us/best-running-apps,review-2285.html, accessed June 2015. Allyson Kazmucha, “The Best Running Apps for IPhone: RunKeeper, May My Run, iSmoothRun, and more!” iMore, June 2, 2014, http://www.imore.com/best-run-tracking-apps-iphone-runkeeper-map-my-run-runtastic-and-more, accessed July 2014.

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Exhibit 4 The OutSider App

Source: Images are screencaps of the OutSider app taken by the author. Used with permission.

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Exhibit 5 About Mobiquity “Mobiquity is a professional services firm trusted by hundreds of companies to be their mobile engagement provider. We simplify mobile. On a global scale, the trends, strategy, s, platforms, technology, development, and organizational issues of mobile are complicated. We eliminate the complexity. Our team represents the best talent in business and mobile strategy, -experience design and technology and will guide you through the process of going mobile. We push the envelope of innovation to deliver the right solution to address your business challenges or uncover business opportunities. Whether you want to increase traffic to your stores, improve the productivity and connectivity of your sales force or extend existing employee or business processes to mobile devices, we can help you build the roap and then design, build, deploy and manage enterprise mobile solutions and apps that work for your business.”

Source: “About Mobiquity,” Mobiquity company Web site, http://www.mobiquityinc.com/about, accessed May 2014.

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Exhibit 6 OutSider App Management Team Bios Chris Huff VP of Mobile App Development Chris ed The Weather Channel in 2011 to lead their Mobile and Consumer App Development group. He has over 16 years of industry experience including 11 years of SAP experience, deg, building and managing integration solutions. Prior to SAP, Chris worked at Home Depot where he managed the online team and at PriceWaterhouseCoopers as an IT logistics lead for the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta. Chris holds a Bachelor’s degree in Business from the University of Georgia and an MBA from Georgia State University. Bryson Koehler CITO Bryson ed TWC in 2012 as head of technology responsible for setting the strategic technical direction for the technology initiatives across the company’s four divisions – TV, Digital, Professional and International. Bryson oversees the technology architecture, global infrastructure, weather forecasting and big data platforms, broadcast and localization systems, software engineering and quality assurance as well as the company’s internal systems. Prior to TWC, Bryson held senior management positions with the InterContinental Hotels Group. Bryson graduated from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill with dual degrees in Communications and Political Science.

________________________________________________________________ Mobiquity Chris Decker Senior Project Manager Chris ed Mobiquity in 2013 to help its clients plan, coordinate, and implement activities pertaining to full-cycle mobile technology initiatives. He currently manages the mobile strategy assessment and direction for over 14 key customers. Prior to Mobiquity, Chris held project management roles at the Seasteading Institute, Altisource Labs, and Ricoh Business Solutions. Chris was also the founder of Trident where he coordinated project development efforts of 54 consumer good products from concept through introduction into major international markets. Chris hold a BS in Naval Architecture from the Webb Institute and an MBA from Babson College.

Mike Welsh Group Creative Director Mike ed Mobiquity in 2013 to help create experiences that will drive adoption and increase bottom-line performance by delivering on customer demand. Prior to Mobiquity, Mike served as the VP, Group Director of Experience Architecture at True Action (an eBay company) helping set the product direction for several major product brands. Prior to that, Mike spent six years at expensewatch.com as the EVP Product Strategy and Management. Mike has a BS degree in Graphic Design and Sociology from Drexel University.

Source: LinkedIn Web site, http://www.linkedin.com/, accessed July 2015.

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