When you wake up in the morning what is the first thing you do? What is the second thing you do? How about the third? By this stage it is likely that you have checked your phone. In fact Deloitte’s research finds that 53% of smartphone users check their phones within five minutes of waking.
Let’s take a look at some more mobile statistics that you cannot ignore:

• comScore’s research states smartphone usage is up by 394% and tablet usage is up by an incredible 1,721% -combined they account for 60% of time spent on the internet
• OfCom report that smartphones overtake laptops as UK internet users’ number one device – two hours online on our smartphones every day; twice as long as laptops and PCs

It is clear that mobile devices are heavily entrenched into our every day lives, but why is this important to you business strategy? What if I told you that mobile accounts for 44.8% of ad impressions, 50% of clicks, 46% of spend and 43% of conversions in the UK alone? Or, that more than 40% of customers have turned to a competitor’s site after a bad mobile experience? Still not convinced? Let’s talk sales then – more than 40% of ecommerce sales are now mobile. Furthermore, all these figures are growing at an exponential rate.
It is blatantly obvious – if you cannot reach your audience through mobile and are not providing an acceptable mobile experience, you are losing customers and sales. Don’t panic! The action here is not to react to mobility, rather, take a more thoughtful approach.
By realizing mobility is not just an IT initiative, but a business initiative that requires a deep understanding of your business objectives and a purposeful response, your company is already on the pathway to success.
Let’s put this into action on a (very) high level. Let’s say one of your business objectives is to improve customer engagement. On a mobile side, for instance, if you had an app, you may want to send out push notifications to keep your customers up to date on your latest offers and encourage click-throughs.
Or let’s say employee agility is a key business objective, your mobile initiative here could be to deploy cloud mobile services so that your employees can work anytime, any place. Furthermore, cloud capabilities offer cost savings while increasing IT agility, which translates to business agility.
Are you starting to see the relationship? A successful mobile strategy is built on defining the business objectives for your mobility initiatives. Ultimately, your mobile strategy and business strategy should go hand in hand. Both should be carefully planned and integrated, requiring buy in across the whole organization.
Is your mobile strategy aligned to your business strategy? Here are some questions you should now be asking yourself to help get you going:

• What are the company’s business objectives?
• How can mobile initiatives help the company map out and achieve business objectives?
• Is there a mobile strategy? Who owns this?
• What is the company looking to implement for mobile externally (for customers)?
• What is the company looking to implement for mobile internally (for the workforce)?
• What is the best mobile environment to reach the target audience? (Usually this is mobile site or mobile app).

Channel Mobile from Channel Tools can help you navigate the mobile world to ensure you benefit by adding mobile strategy to your business strategy. Find out how you could generate increased revenue and improve customer engagement with us today. Wherever you are on your mobile journey we are here to help you.
 
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