This is a scenario that will see many large companies being left in the dust if they don’t have a solid strategy in place now, and it’s already happening: we all know big businesses doing well at mobile, and big businesses doing it terribly. Enterprises need to step up their game. Unconvinced? Here are three reasons why enterprises need a mobile game plan, ASAP.
1. Enterprise apps will soon be a $100 billion revenue opportunity.
According to a report by Emergence Capital, the mobile ecosystem around enterprise apps is about to hit $100 billion, and the better your company is at mobile, the better poised it will be to take more out of that giant pie. There are already a lot of movers and shakers vying for big paydays in mobile (see the chart below), and not investing in mobile strategy now will result in your competition eating your lunch.
Right now, only an estimated 20% of over 3 billion workers globally have access to mobile technology that will help them work more efficiently. This is the untapped market that can, and will, embrace mobile apps, and this group is what makes up the $100 billion opportunity. And keep in mind, as we’ve mentioned previously, users quickly settle into the apps they most want to use with little variation over the years, so there is a big impetus to arrive on the scene first in your vertical to capture their attention. A good mobile strategy will position your enterprise to provide the right productivity app at this crucial time.
2. Millennials will be reached through mobile app marketing.
All those hipster kids growing up paying $4 for a coffee? Yeah, they’re in charge now and hold the purse-strings of our economy. If your enterprise wants to succeed, you’ll have to find a way to reach this group of people that outnumber the Baby Boomers by nearly 10 million and are rapidly taking over the workforce. And they’re not going to be marketed to by newspapers and TV ads like their parents. Their tastes are so diverse and varied, the only way to really reach this generation in any meaningful way is to get six inches from their face via the ubiquitous smartphones.
85% of Millennials own a smartphone, which actually seem low to us. Of these owners, the vast majority have performed some transaction on their devices; 74% have purchased a product on their smartphone or tablet. To earn their attention, enterprises will need to think through the utility that they provide. Sure, you might capture their attention with a smart ad campaign, but if you want sustained engagement with this audience, you’re going to have to provide a reason and purpose for them to come back, and it comes down to how useful your app is to Millennials.
If we really get down to brass tacks, your mobile app will either save or sink your business in the next five years. Traditional advertising is on its last legs and to reach today’s buyers, you need a killer app. It’s a simple yet terrifying prospect, but enterprises that figure out how to be indispensable to Millennials are going to earn their business in the long run.
3. Workers are mobile so your company needs to be too.
The number of companies focused on mobile tech for enterprises expanded by 20% in the last year. The reason these new companies are seeing a big opportunity is two-fold: 1) More and more workers are embracing a “deskless” work life, and 2) Technology is reaching more traditionally mobile workers.
In the former case, the rise of mobile devices have allowed people to work from home, in coffee shops, or on the road. We’re not bound to cubicles anymore; our devices can access everything we need anywhere, anytime. Since we’re constantly on the go, even at work, enterprise mobile apps perfectly fill that productivity need.
In the latter, traditionally on-the-move workers like nurses who are constantly making their rounds, or construction crews that travel from site to site, can be catered to with mobile apps specific to their industry and needs. Before mobile tech, these workers had to rely on pen and paper, but now they are potential tech customers if the right app is presented to them.
Does your enterprise have a mobile app strategy in place? If not, start today by evaluating your vertical and seeing who the top mobile players are. With the amount of revenue at stake, and with the erosion of non-mobile advertising, this is a dangerous time to ignore the signs and fall behind in the app race.
If you’re part of an enterprise-level company, or swiftly becoming that size, a solid mobile app game plan is essential to the success of your business. While enterprises have made great strides in launching apps for their employees and customers in the last few years, there’s still a wide gap between what is available and what is needed. This is why Gartner forecasts the“demand for mobile app development services will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organizations’ capacity to deliver them.”
