Understanding how mobile impacts on SMEs
16 Sep 2009
In this fast-changing and highly competitive business environment, the usage of mobile technology is constantly impacting on the way small and medium enterprises (SMEs) operate. But with 44% of SMEs staff being total novices in basic mobile use, the spotlight now falls on the efforts (if any) cellphone designers and providers are making to enhance consumer education and provide relatively ease-to-use products.
“Struggling to find”
“It is not that cellphones have not met people's needs, but it is the people who are struggling to find their way into using efficiently the given applications on their cellphones,” World Wide Worx MD Arthur Goldstuck told delegates attending the Mobility 2009 press launch held yesterday, Wednesday, 15 September 2009, in Illovo, Johannesburg.
“Therefore, cellphone designers should consider providing easy-to-use and quality products, which research shows have become key to mobile businesses,” he said.
Deon Liebenberg, Research in Motion (RIM) regional director for sub-Saharan Africa, said, “As a company matures, it is beginning to think about using a technology that enhances its communication system and adds value to its business.”
RIM is the Canadian-based company behind the Blackberry solution.
Five phases
Liebenberg cited five phases - connecting, communicating, interacting, transacting and transforming - believed to be vital steps of a business' evolution of mobility.
Connecting, communicating (email), interacting (social networking for example), transacting (approval processes, intranet applications, expense reports) and transforming (building new ways to do things that leverage company investment in mobility) constitute the maturation process, through which an SME can reach a tipping point for success, which is set to differentiate it from competitors.
“Communicating is a key to success of any business, and the secrets of being successful with customers are availability (80%), regular communication (70%), order fulfillment (69%), sales support (56%) and guarantees (53%),” Goldstuck said, citing figures from Mobility 2009, an ongoing research being conducted by World Wide Worx, in partnership with First National Bank (FNB) and RIM.
Use of mobile technologies
The Mobility 2009 study is being conducted in four phases, with the first three looking at the use of mobile technologies by SMEs, corporations, and consumers' mobile usage, and the final phase exploring the mobile Internet.
The findings, of what is believed to be the ‘largest survey yet' of mobile technology use in South Africa, will be released at the end of September 2009.
Furthermore, the research found out that 69% of the staff move out of the office on a daily basis, making the use of a mobile phone an important organisational and managerial tool for staying in touch with consumers and colleagues. It is therefore believed that this trend shows that the use of mobile technology makes a dramatic difference on how communication enhances a business's productivity.
Helps
At least 56% of ‘mobile workers' say that a cellphone helps them to be always available right away if there is an emergency, while half of them say mobile technology helps to be informed and to keep up to date with what is happening in the office.
So the easier the better is the philosophy of many decision makers. Mobility 2009 research shows that 80% of SMEs wish to be supplied with ease of use devices, while 79% want quality stuff, 61% want reputation of brand and 64% will go for price.
For more:
- World Wide Worx: www.worldwideworx.co.za
- Twitter Search: MobilityZA
About Issa Sikiti da Silva
Issa Sikiti da Silva is a winner of the 2010 SADC Media Awards (print category). He freelances for various media outlets, local and foreign, and has travelled extensively across Africa. His work has been published both in French and English. He used to contribute to Bizcommunity.com as a senior news writer.
