Context-Aware Computing

Gartner defines context-aware computing as the concept of leveraging information about the end user to improve the quality of the interaction. Context-aware computing is about improving the user experience for customers, business partners and employees by using the information about a person or object’s environment, activities, connections and preferences to anticipate the user’s needs and proactively serve up the most appropriate content, product or service. Enterprises can leverage context-aware computing to better target prospects, increase customer intimacy, and enhance associate productivity and collaboration. From a software perspective, context is information that is relevant to the functioning of a software process, but is not essential to it. In the absence of this additional information, the software is still operational, although the results of the software’s actions are not as targeted or refined.