Radish Blog

What’s Mobile Got to Do With It?

Your success that is. Going mobile could be the most significant technology trend your company has ever experienced.  Does your company have a mobile strategy? Have you updated and implemented it? If so, read and learn about gaining further competitive edge.  If not, wake up now or you will be left behind as your stakeholders – customers, partners, employees, and prospects – use mobile as their communications standard of choice.

The mobile communications market has exploded. 

  • Comscore reports that a total of 234 million people age 13 and older in the U.S. used mobile devices in December 2009 with a projected growth rate of 3% year on year.
  • Canalys reports that there were over 166M smartphones shipped worldwide in 2009 and over 143M shipped in 2008, with a year to year growth of 16.2%.
  • A recent Nielson study shows that 28 percent of U.S. wireless subscribers now have smartphones, up from 21 percent in 2009’s fourth quarter. Smartphone adoption is expected to increase even more dramatically in 2011 with over 50% of all U.S. wireless subscribers projected to be using a smartphone by the end of next year.”

 

Mobile is the Standard.  Mobile device transactions are quickly becoming the communications standard of choiceIncreasingly people are using only mobile devices for their business communications.  Whether they want to receive customer support, access complex information, shop from a catalog of products, or complete financial transactions, users want to do so with a full understanding of their options.  People insist that their mobile device transactions be as quick, efficient, and understandable as doing business in person.

Key Mobile Trends. 

Morgan Stanley reports that:

  • Major technology trends tend to last 10 years.  We have moved from mainframe computing in the 1960’s, mini-computing in the 70’s, personal computing in the 80’s, desktop internet computing in the 90’s, and now to mobile computing in the 2000’s.
  • The number of mobile internet users will be larger than then the number of desktop internet users by end of 2013. 
  • ‘Social media and mobile’ is very rapidly emerging as a game changing communications / commerce platform.
  • Mobile is revolutionizing commerce with constant product improvements, location based services, instant local and online price comparisons, invitation-only time sensitive selective discounts, and immediate gratification with immediate content and digital delivery.
  • Mobile coupons have potential to generate retail store traffic and sales.
  • Branded mobile apps can drive incremental store traffic and purchases.

 

Mobile Challenges.  And yet with the move to more mobile internet computing, there still are difficulties.  The abandonment rates on mobile shopping as reported by Web Analytics, for example, are as high as 72 percent December 2009 to January 2010, with an average between 50 and 60 percent over the past two years.  What is the real cost to an Internet Retailer for those abandoned contacts?  DoubleClick estimates that shopping cart abandonment results in $4.51 of lost revenue for every $1.00 of revenue made from sales.

Practical Pointers.

  1. Know your market. Make sure you are serving your mobile stakeholders.
  2. Develop and implement a corporate mobile strategy that allows you to serve these mobile stakeholders.
  3. Minimally launch a mobile website.
  4. Consider other ways to support your targeted mobile market such as offering a mobile application and improved mobile communications that allows simultaneous seeing and hearing of information.

 

Radish Systems Case Study.

Radish Systems is helping businesses communicate more effectively with smart mobile device users.  Our ChoiceView solution overcomes the mobile challenges and allows your business to transform your communications with seamless voice and visual information exchange.  What’s that you ask?  Stay tuned.  Good news is coming soon.

Theresa Szczurek

Theresa Szczurek oversees all business operations. As co-founder, Chief Operating Officer, and Chief Planning Officer of RCS, Szczurek was key in transforming the start-up into a thriving firm that sold for over $40 million.

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