Impact of Mobile Devices on Businesses
Managing a business while being on the go means a difficult feat. You have inventories to manage, employees to be monitored, suppliers and deals that need to be closed and sales that need to be made quickly and efficiently. However, these business essentials are now being met by the help of one of the driving force in today’s tech era, the mobile phones.There is no denying that mobile devices have become a part of our everyday lives and created a significant impact on places of businesses and work. A few decades ago, the world hasn’t heard yet of the internet and mobile telephony. The business landscape is far more different. There is no mobile marketing and communication is hard as there are no services like email to convey your message in an instant. Today, there is interconnection in the world of businesses and people are sharing huge amounts of information across hundreds of miles with a simple touch of a button.
Businesses can now leverage the power of the internet and mobile phones to help their brand grow.
Here are some impacts created by mobile devices on businesses.
1. Communication
Contact between you as an employer and employees have improved significantly because of mobile devices. A businessman who travels frequently can still get hold of his/her staff and can respond to any queries or concerns raised by clients and suppliers in a timely manner wherever he may be.
Whenever employees need important information or a quick decision, mobile phones makes it easier for them to reach the right person. This ability to have a constant contact and the convenience of having business application in a small device you can carry around e.g. email, social media and internet apps, speeds up decision making thus simplifying business communications.
Mobile phones make it possible also for business management to communicate with employees as well as clientele via quick text updates, decreasing the risk of misunderstanding. Time that should have been spent on person-to-person or group meetings can also be allocated to other productive task.
2. Improved financial business systems
As most financial institutions have now apps for smartphones to facilitate online transactions and mobile banking services, mobile phones have become a vital component for businesses for banking and payments. Management companies like PayPal provide innovation like card readers that can be attached to a cell phone to process payments.
Through mobile phones, one can also have the ability to transfer cash payments while it also offers direct mobile billing schemes. Enabling also your customer to pay by phone and not needing to pull out cash or credit card can help improve sales and customer satisfaction.
3. Marketing
As 45.12 percent of the world’s population owns a smartphone, you can tailor your business marketing strategies to the one that can best resonate those in the said demographics. You could use email marketing, online product sales or advertise using search engines depending on which method suits your company best.
Marketing in general has been known to cost massive portions and mobile phones are now regarded as the ultimate alternative. In lieu of the telemarketing strategy which uses expensive multiple-line phone systems, nothing beat the ease of sending personalized and targeted messages to customers.
4. Customer care and after sales support service
As marketing trends now tend to lean on customer interaction, businesses have now been investing time and effort in customer care and after sales services by providing a number of ways a customer can get in touch with them. Mobile phones answer this need by allowing customers to get in touch with any business using their phone. Instant communication can now help customer resolved their issues in real-time. These efforts are also seen as businesses put up active social media pages, mobile-friendly websites and call centers to answer queries real time.
Your business can also create user friendly apps that show a potential customer a storefront of your products and services that provide convenient shopping cart and payment method. GPS-enabled apps make it simple for customers to find your business as well. This helps not only in improving conversion rates but also grow the company’s reputation.
5. Efficiency
Apps and software e.g Skype, Dropbox, Evernote have already made mobile-friendly versions of their products in order for you to focus on your businesses easily. These apps can be downloaded for you to stay track on what is going on with your team. These definitely makes your life easier as you run your business with just a single click on your phone.
6. Collaboration
As the era turns to teleconferences or video or web conferences as a mean to collaborate with team members worldwide, mobile devices have the facility to support such innovations. Mobile phones make it possible for employees to join project group brainstorming, sales conferences or management committee meetings and contribute as if they were present.
7. Productivity
The significance of mobile phones in conducting your business has rapidly increased as it certainly became one of the best way to connect with consumers, employees and suppliers. Data management such as inventories, financials, payrolls and customer data can now be easily accessed through mobile devices. This allows a business to glean as much productivity from its employees and assets.
8. BYODs
In the rise of Bring Your Own Device (BYOD), many businesses have adopted said policy that allows employees to use their own devices like cell phones, laptop or tables. This benefits the company by saving money on not having to buy each employee specific devices. This also yields better result as employees tend to boost productivity by using their familiar devices and the one they are comfortable with. Since employees carry their cell phone with them, you as employer can keep staff in the loop for any necessary information that needs instant reaction.
Final thoughts
The ability to access Internet with mobile phones has enable employers, employees, suppliers and consumers stay connected and communicate effectively. This enabled also the company to improve their services and offerings as well the use of company assets in a minimal cost but producing great results.About the Author Bio
John Ocampos is an Opera Singer by profession and a member of the Philippine Tenors. Ever since, Digital Marketing has always been his forte. He is the Founder of SEO-Guru, and the Managing Director of Tech Hacker. John is also the Strategic SEO and Influencer Marketing Manager of Softvire Australia - the leading software eCommerce company in Australia and Softvire New Zealand.