Building A Business Case for Mobile: Some Interesting Trends

While the necessity of a mobile channel used to be considered a nice-to-have, it is quickly becoming a necessity. Here are some recent stats to help drive your business case.

First let's look at Mobile Subscriptions versus traditional information consumption devices:

Mobile subscriptions are on track to hit 5 Billion worldwide this year. That means more people will have access to data through their mobile device than through TV and PCs combined.

Here are some other interesting drivers:

• Data surpassed voice in mobile traffic in December of 2009 – Ericsson
• Data traffic globally grew 280% during each of the last two years and is expected to double annually over the next five years - Ericsson
• Mobile search increased by over 400% in the last 12 months – Google

These stats show that people are starting to look to their mobile devices less as voice devices and more as data consumption devices (i.e. PCs). Google's latest stat about mobile search increasing 400% in the last 12 months demonstrates the trend that folks are going to their mobile devices FIRST to find information. Where we used to think of the cell phone as the 'third screen' people use to find answers, behind TV and the PC, it is quickly becoming people's 'first screen'.

Some may argue most phones out there aren't mobile web or app friendly. Take a look at web/app-friendly smartphone adoption in the US:

Smartphones are on track to eclipse basic/feature phones by next year in the US. That means more people are going to be able to access the mobile web and mobile apps than ever before and will look to those channels to provide them information about your business.

Are you a B2B company? Consider this:

• The world's mobile worker population will pass the one billion mark this year and grow to nearly 1.2 billion people – more than a third of the world's workforce by 2013 – Gartner
• The United States has the highest percentage of mobile workers in its workforce, with 72.2% of the workforce mobile in 2008. The U.S. will remain the most highly concentrated market for mobile workers with 75.5% of the workforce, or 119.7 million workers, being mobile in 2013 – IDC

With the acceleration of mobile internet and mobile applications, there is strong recognition that mobility isn’t just mobile email. It’s about anything and everything needed to support doing business on the go.

Are you ready? Now is not the time to stick your head in the sand. It's not expensive to get your website "mobile friendly" if you're working with the right vendor. And building an iPhone, Blackberry or Android app can definitely give you a competitive advantage for your savvy mobile customers.