How to convince your boss to go mobile
The real question here should be ‘Why isn’t your company on mobile yet?’
Here’s a simple test. You’re heading out of your house. What is the first thing you reach for? Your wallet. And the second? Your mobile phone. And by the rate mobile commerce is growing, it’s only a matter of time before your mobile phone ousts your wallet.
4 out of 5 Singaporeans own a smartphone. Chances are, both you and your boss belong to that majority. Mobile is here to stay and why is your company ignoring that huge piece of revenue pie?
The common key marketing objective for almost all industries is quality lead generation. The holy grail of marketing is when you are able to reach out to individual customers personally and advertise to them only the deals they want to see. Through push notifications and iterative Content Management Systems (CMS), the information pushed gets more relevant each time to the consumer.
Ever walked past flyer distributors along Orchard Road? Notice how most people usually avoid it without even looking at the content? It all boils down to the fact that it’s invasive advertising. Why am I getting information that I did not subscribe to? That brings me to the second key point that makes mobile work: Opt-In notifications. If a consumer is interested enough to download your application, chances are that he will want to receive promotions or info about your product.
Now, looking from the operations point of view, it would make sense to employ a platform that is widely used by your staff. Imagine when you have an expense to claim, all you have to do is fire up your company’s app and take a photo of the receipt. All the unwanted admin work will be automated and both sides take joy in the ease of processing.
“Why isn’t your company on mobile yet?”
Not to worry, we know it is hard to get through to your boss without a proper presentation, so here are some tips for how you can help build your case!
1) Numbers
For every investment, there needs to be a proper evaluation of ROI. Make use of free Google Analytics (or any traffic monitor your corporate website uses) and support your case with stats of mobile users visiting your sites. When it is significant enough, this is all you’ll need to make your case to adopt a mobile-friendly solution.
2) Research
Building on how 4 out of 5 Singaporeans own a smartphone, prove the ubiquity of smartphone use in your business context (e.g. 74% of mobile users make a purchase based on a smartphone search). Then show your boss how your company risks alienating a significant and growing breed of mobile reliant consumers if your company fails to interact with its stakeholders via mobile.
3) Share a story
Reduce resistance by sharing other stories of how companies have used mobile to innovate their business. MediaCorp launched a mobile web app to help their audience get excited about an upcoming drama series – that campaign increased engagement time by 380% and brought home a Gold award at the recent 2011 PromaxBDA World Gold Awards.
4) Technology
Putting the T in Technology
Personally I think the best way to convince your boss is to impress him with the technology itself. The mobile device opens up a wide range of interaction capabilities that will provide greater engagement through your outreach – location-based services, augmented reality, indoor navigation, to name a few. Contact a few ICT vendors and find out which suit your needs best. You will not fully know the potential of mobile until you have heard it from mobile developers
5) Get a little help
If you have existing ICT vendors whom you have talked to before, you should ALWAYS get them to help you. You are trying to convince your boss for the first time to go mobile, they have been convincing different bosses to go mobile all the time. It’s a win-win situation that works for both the vendor and for you.
Hopefully this helps you to get a head start on getting your company into the mobile space! Over time we will keep updating the latest advantages of mobile on our blog, so stay tuned to stay ahead
What you see? Might not be what you get…
- “Decepticons” ATTACK…. “Autobots” TRANSFORM & MOVE OUT….
Can you spot a 3rd character icon in the above 2 icons?
Comment and post your answers…
One with the best answer will get an awesome prize!
Illustration of HTML5 WebSockets
Like any communication channels, effectiveness is the key. Here I am, introducing one of the most clever fearures of HTML5.
Introducing HTML5 WebSockets
WebSockets is a technique for two-way communication over one (TCP) socket, a type of PUSH technology. At the moment, it’s still being standardized by the W3C; however, the latest versions of Chrome and Safari have support for WebSockets.
From http://net.tutsplus.com/tutorials/javascript-ajax/start-using-html5-websockets-today/
Advantage of WebSockets
To summarize the numerous advantages of WebSockets, here’s one BIG key point.
Websockets can replace long-polling.
Here’s a simple situation to illustrate.
Context: Node A wants to ask his buddy Node B if he has 2 files.
In Long-polling, Node A takes 1kb to ask B the question and B replies with the answer and closes the connection at the cost of 1kb. That’s 2kb per transaction. Now Node B has a second file to send again and opens another transaction with Node A. Total cost of getting 2 files was 4kb.
In Websockets, Node A sends the same question to Node but the difference here is when Node B sends back file 1, it does not attached the marker to close the connection. Only when the final file is sent back then it’s tagged with the marker that closes the connection. So total data usage was only 3kb for the same amount of information.
We got featured in ST Digital Life!
Good news!
2359 Media was featured in the article, “Start-up Paradise”, in the July 13th issue of Straits Times’ Digital Life paper. Alongside with an introduction to several start-ups in Singapore, the article talks about how our co-founders, Wong Hong Ting and Zhou Wen Han, started the company and landed our first major investor, SingTel.
Read the article to find out more. 
Launched! 2359 Media New Website
Over the past two years, we have been busy developing applications for customer and improving our core product. Today, we are proud to release our new 2359 Media website, which has been revamped to suit our new logo.
The slick and refreshing outlook of the website provides a clearer navigation between various pages. A search box can also be found on the top right hand corner of the main page. The whole idea is to provide simple navigations within the whole website without cluttering the main page.
In addition, we have reshuffle the pages and information to help the users identify their required information more easily. Knowledge Centre and Media Centre have be included to share and equip users with industry knowledge that we have found and achieved.
We hope you like the new 2359 Media website!
An i(P)Ad Encounter
Following much anticipation and a string of considerably exciting iAds for the iPhone & iPod Touch; the Tron Legacy iAd, released in December 2010 for the iPad, seems pretty much set on taking iAds to the next level.
The iAd, specifically created in HD for the iPad, showcases rich graphics alongside an exciting user interface that allows you to download cool wallpaper images, listen to and purchase the movie’s official soundtrack within the ad itself, as well as use the cinema locator to find the nearest theatre showing Tron Legacy. While all these are no longer new features to us, seeing and interacting with an iAd in HD on the iPad is a completely different experience.
Prior to this, mobile ads either had a really snazzy catchphrase or featured a really eye-catching image to get you to tap on it. And while it all boiled down to how relevant users found the product to be, rich media mobile ads now have the potential to garner clicks and impressions through sheer curiosity alone. In terms of mobile ad performance, it will very soon come down to one single factor – how the ad is presented.
In lieu of this, ad creators should consider how they could gain advantage by utilising a user-friendly platform that allows them to create ads within a tight deadline that doesn’t entail a long-drawn creation process or expert technical proficiency. Thankfully, for these purposes and more, there is MobDis.
As mentioned in earlier articles, MobDis is not only easy and quick to use, it is currently undergoing an upgrade that creates apps in HTML 5, giving it the ability to work across all major platforms. This means all forms of media, e.g. maps, video, audio etc., can be embedded with full functionality for greater audience engagement as compared to conventional mobile ads.
For the technically averse, there is the option of having 2359 Media’s team of effective, competent technical staff create an app or ad to one’s liking and specifications. As far as mobile ads go, the possibilities are limitless with MobDis where the restrictions are few and far between.
In any case, reach out to the millions of mobile device users out there today. Contact 2359 Media.