{"id":851,"date":"2014-05-08T19:01:05","date_gmt":"2014-05-09T00:01:05","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/?p=851"},"modified":"2022-06-30T09:30:59","modified_gmt":"2022-06-30T14:30:59","slug":"a-mobile-strategy-that-helps-your-business-evolve","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/flevy.com\/blog\/a-mobile-strategy-that-helps-your-business-evolve\/","title":{"rendered":"A Mobile Strategy That Helps Your Business Evolve"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"businessAn\u00a0IBM\/Oxford Economics survey<\/a>\u00a0of businesses around the world reports that 81 percent of them see mobile capabilities as changing the way they do business. Maintaining a mobile strategy is not easy, but the returns in attracting customers and increasing your employee productivity might be worth it to your company. Here are few considerations when planning your company\u2019s next step into the world of mobile services.<\/p>\n

Mobile Strategy Is Not Just About Supporting Devices<\/h2>\n

Going mobile for your customers is about creating a new user experience on their smartphones and tablets. It\u2019s about flexible schedules and work locations for your employees. It\u2019s thinking about how to deliver your product and service messages to consumers who take a few minutes at a time to view information on their mobile devices, and make purchase decisions in those few moments. Wired says that a mobile strategy is about redefining how your company does business on mobile tools.<\/p>\n

The Internal and External Impact of Mobile<\/h2>\n

CIO.com<\/a>\u00a0states that when a company implements a mobile strategy, they too often focus on the external apps used by consumers. A complete strategy incorporates your internal staff and determines how they will do their jobs with mobile devices.<\/p>\n

Your sales force can become more mobile with smartphones that access cloud-based customer management tools such as Zoho CRM. Your bookkeeping staff could be a collaboration between virtual assistants and full-time employees with software solutions like\u00a0Intuit QuickBooks<\/a>. Marketing, graphics design and social media management can collaborate on projects from anywhere with tools such as Evernote.<\/p>\n

Reducing Vulnerabilities<\/h2>\n

The challenges that come with this internal flexibility include opening your company up to potential data loss, corruption and theft. Whether you provide mobile devices for your staff or implement a bring-your-own-device (BYOD) policy, extra protection of the company\u2019s digital assets is necessary.<\/p>\n

Mobile device management (MDM)<\/a> tools help you control access by mobile devices. The primary benefits of an MDM include:<\/p>\n