In an always-connected world, people do not see mobilizing content as a concept – it is their daily reality. People use their smartphone to send email, take and upload photos to their social networks, read and comment on the news, but in the business world, it seems that going mobile with information still has a long way to go.
A recent study by AIIM reveals insightful views into the state of mobilizing content within companies. 67% of companies taking part in the study consider mobile technologies to be important or extremely important to improving their business processes, however, 76% have made no progress towards enabling their mobile strategy.
The area where companies have been directing most effort is enabling mobile access to their public-facing websites. Yet, only a third of the companies polled have a mobile-optimized website, while 10% have a mobile app, and a mere 5% check screen resolution for tablets versus smartphones. Of course, a mobile website is a good to have, but it doesn’t offer the benefits of a mobile app in terms of engaging with customers. By offering users easy access at the touch of an icon, native look-and-feel, optimized screen resolution for all devices, and updates via push notifications, a public-facing mobile app is the best way to market brands in innovative ways to engage with customers. It should be the first step in a mobile strategy.
76% of the companies polled have no mobile access at all into their ECM systems, and only 7% have a specific mobile app. Yet the benefits are enormous. Empowering field staff with mobile access to their data allows for quicker turnaround times against customer requests. When asked, 45% estimate that turnaround times could be three times faster, and the same number estimate productivity to increase by a third or more. For customer satisfaction, the ability to provide a response whilst on site or file reports immediately rather than “when I get back to the office” are huge differentiators in service.
Finally, an area often overlooked that can greatly benefit from mobile technologies is data capturing. Capturing on-the-go saves time, cuts cost and can improve processes to offer real competitive advantage. Now, this can all be achieved with a tablet. The combination of a camera, the ability to enter metadata and form fields on large and bright touch display, and a high-speed communication link (3G/4G/WiFi) is a game changer. For now, only 2% of companies have half or more of their employees using tablets, but this number is expected to rise to 33% in the next 5 years.
So you can see that there are a number of challenges in enabling your business to go mobile, but the benefits to you, your employees and customers are huge. The right mobile strategy will truly help grow your business in an innovative and powerful direction. It’s the future and it’s coming.
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