How SMBs with Mobile/Cloud strategies see better results?
By Rick Dhatt on 07-05-2014
Technology adoption is a primary asset for accelerated growth especially for Small and Medium sized Businesses (SMBs). In recent times the most omnipotent technology penetration has been the mobile form factor and businesses located in countries such as US and Canada with high density network and communication carriers have benefitted largely from the ‘always-on’ connectivity which is unique to mobile computing technology and devices.
Rapid adoption of mobile strategies the requirement
The choice now for SMBs is no longer on whether or not to move to mobile-based business processes but the question of rapidity of deployment of mobile business strategies, based on following developments:
- Devices with higher performance, backed by more effective 3G/4G networks bring in higher productivity.
- Increased availability of mobile apps drives higher mobile adoption.
- Interaction between employees as well as external audience is optimized by mobile access as well as interaction.
According to statistics by leading research organization for SMBs, the number of current business users already implementing mobile devices is 81%, while 19% expect to adopt mobile business functions within the year.
More information by the organization includes the following:
- 1.4 times higher revenue increase for business apps
- 1.25 times higher revenue growth for external apps
But there are concerns which business face with mobile access based process:
- security issues
- costs of transition
- complexity of management multi-device access
- thin knowledge base of in-house IT expertise
According to ComScore, a leading internet technology company with seminal studies on consumer behaviour on digital devices in its latest findings shares thus: “About 33 per cent of total time spent online came from the devices other than computers. It means, one minute out of every three minutes spent online is on the devices like smart phones and tablets other than PCs.”
As SMBs are now inundated with information on mobile business process and the advantages of virtual or cloud-based strategies which will drive growth, the decision-making process to engage with the best-fit partner has become more challenging than the cloud and mobile platform technology itself.
Challenges mobile/cloud strategy partner will have to deliver
The challenges which a mobile/cloud strategy partner will have to resolve for any SMB looking at the above are as follows:
- directly interact with business processes at employee and customer level
- address and integrate resources as well as financial management
- establish mobile solution ROI
Top reasons why mobile and cloud solutions will empower your business
SMBs which have moved to the new digitalized platform of business processes on the cloud and mobile are as follows:
- Enhance employee productivity by nearly 59%
- Provide access points for employees and quality information by 59%
- Remote work operations enhanced by 57%
- Customer services optimized by 28%
- Business processing possible even when out of the office enhanced by 25%
- Direct impact on sales increase by 23%
The current phase of mobile and cloud adoption by SMBs has been through the use of Apps, as the platform for mainstream business productivity. Typical business processes which SMBs now engage on via cloud and mobile devices and find highest growth traction are:
- Accessing company email
- Synchronizing calendar
- Contact Information
- GPS or navigation and mapping
- Localized services
- Web-based conferencing
- Documentation processes
- Management of documents
- Sharing services
Current mobile industry adoption studies indicate that there are two distinct standards evolving for mobile device management with external management and intra-organization mobile platform.
Nearly 41% of SMBs who were part of the studies have already adopted mobile device management. Another 27% are planning to move to device management within the year.
Additionally, 27% of them are proposing that they will use mobile platform for development, with another 25% planning to implement it within the year.
Most business are using off-the shelf mobile apps, while a sizeable section of them are already engaged in using current business applications by certain vendors.
Social media sharing, CRM use reservations, queuing, marketing, building and managing shipment are some of the other status where this is in use.
Additionally, it is critical for mobile and cloud based business processes in SMBs to find and deploy the decision maker in the entire set-up. As mobile strategies and cloud based strategies become the norm than the exception newer roles for decision making in the new scenario are indeed a requirement.
Experts Speak
Considering the multiple options available in terms of cloud and mobile service providers, SMBs need to choose partners which deliver customized solutions.
The concerns for every SMB should be that the partner who will support its business services on the cloud or the mobile is beyond being a qualified service player has the expertise in its niche, to pre-guess on business requirements and address them effectively, by way of adaptive business apps which integrate or work seamlessly with existing business structures of the SMB.
Moving to a diametrically different platform with most of the current processes non-cohesive would not only prove to be technical glitz for the SMB but a rich recipe for disaster!
The current breed of partners in this industry range from the customized and individual consultancy based providers to the enterprise and large organization catering service providers as well.
Services these partners provide range from online App stores, such as the kind offered by SAP store directed for industry specific processes, customer or client-facing business apps, besides analytic apps which are free-form and are easy to scale.
For those SMBs with a larger picture of mobile or cloud platform adoption, there are service partners who can deliver full service platform itself. There is special focus by most providers on building backend agnostic features which ensure optimized productivity..
Mobile and Cloud partners’ delivery goals need to be as follows:
- Focus and develop a business strategy for your mobile or cloud use
- Based on above strategy provide end-to-end services in identifying and using mobile apps which achieve SMBs business goals
- Optimize productivity by agnostic backend solutions
- Design and implement management solutions for the mobile or cloud
Deliver on behind-the-scenes monitoring and management of mobile solutions as well as infrastructure.
Reference Links
1. http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/press/2012/mar12/03-28smbcloudpr.aspx
2. http://www.fiercetelecom.com/story/windstream-serves-enhanced-cloud-partner-strategy-enhances-smb-reach/2014-02-27
3. http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/feature/Small-businesses-drop-data-centers-for-advantages-of-cloud-computing
4. http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/essentialguide/Expect-the-unexpected-with-a-solid-cloud-DR-strategy
5. http://www.techweekeurope.co.uk/news/small-businesses-mobile-122495
