Make your mobile offering stand out

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How can a business make its mobile offering stand out from the crowd and, more importantly, beat the competition? What does it take to become successful and why do consumers seem to embrace certain offerings when most fall by the roadside?

NETCB's CEO Cobus Burgers said that the user experience is one key differentiator, how people feel and think about the effectiveness of one's offering. "Knowing how to create a great user experience involves understanding many factors, from human behaviour and interaction design to an appreciation of the technical constraints that mobile brings."

There is no doubt that mobility is the key to successful businesses in future; those who do not adopt mobility will not be able to compete in today's instant and always connected marketplace. Mobile enterprises have already enabled flexible and scalable enterprise-wide mobility, for employees and customers, using a holistic, integrated approach.

There is a massive difference between organisations that simply use mobile devices and mobile enterprises. Most organisations simply use mobile devices and typically support a few mobile initiatives, such as bring-your-own-device (BYOD), mobile expense management, remote email access, or mobile-enabled key business applications.

Little integration

These initiatives are usually discrete and often have little integration with each other or with legacy data and applications. By taking an integrated approach that aligns mobility initiatives with each other and with business models, goals and objectives, organisations are able to provide instant access to business-critical data and applications for a variety of devices, while still maintaining high levels of security.

Mobile enterprises utilise cloud technology as an element in their approach to providing scalable, on-demand infrastructure that makes true mobility possible across the entire mobile IT stack. They use business analytics that draw data from both traditional sources and social business interactions, including analytics from mobile transactions and contextual data, allowing them to fine-tune everything from relevant employee applications to customer service and marketing initiatives.

Burgers said that becoming a mobile enterprise may be the best choice for any organisation. "Mobile enterprise works because it meets employee demands and increases productivity. Mobile access has become a virtual prerequisite for top-performing employees, and the consumerisation of IT is a trend that virtually every organisation needs to address."

Employees will use the same devices

Whether the organisation likes it or not, employees will use the same devices and communication or collaboration tools they rely on in their personal lives for their business lives, too. Enabling smartphone and tablet access, social media, video calling and conferencing and instant file sharing, along with mobile access to business-to-employee information such as announcements, also have benefits for the business.

He said the mobile revolution not only offers consumers new ways of doing things, but also provides companies with opportunities to be innovative and creative. "These are all vital elements in building a mobile brand and establishing differentiation from the competition. Breaking new ground by introducing functionality and features that take advantage of the opportunities mobile brings should be aspirations that are inherent in any forward-thinking mobile strategy."

These innovations must tightly align with business objectives while at the same time addressing a real customer need or benefit and should never be technology for technology's sake. The goal is to enhance the user experience by making it more convenient and efficient for the user to get their task done.

"It must address the 'What's in it for me?' factor. Innovative apps often use native device features like location and direction services based on the GPS and compass technology, creating augmented reality applications that make use of video camera or motion detection for interaction," he explained.

"Knowing what competitors are doing helps to differentiate your offering from theirs, but also it's crucial to look outside of your industry. Look past your competition to draw inspiration and seed ideas that surprise and delight your audience.

"Comparing the best mobile experiences around while keeping an eye on what your customer needs helps you to stay ahead. Just be aware of the continually developing context of the modern, mobile, always on and socially connected lifestyle," he said.

Catalyst for change

The catalyst for change can come from any direction: advances in technology, new industry trends, differing business requirements and last, but not least, feedback from your users. Having the ability to respond to such changes and make improvements to your mobile proposition is a critical factor in an age in which consumer expectations are higher than ever.

"Listen to your users and be able to respond quickly to their feedback and their needs. Keep them happy and engaged by creating an agile deployment strategy, introducing new features as they become ready," concluded Burgers.