Effective mobile strategies reduce risk and help accelerate business revenue and profitability through increased efficiency. A great mobile strategy may lower operating costs by reducing operational shortcomings such as lag time within a sales cycle, production time between sales and delivery, cumbersome document management and approval routing processes, and improved communication among business groups apart from other use cases. Coupled with improvements to the operations side of business, mobility creates a new means of collecting valuable employee and/or consumer data for various types of decision making, automation, product management, marketing, and other engagement needs.
Oil, China, and our Cyclical Economy
With oil’s most drastic plunge since the 1990s, China’s bubble burst, and lingering issues following Europe’s sovereign debt crisis, Investopedia analysts note that recent economic patterns indicate weaknesses that are very similar to what presented immediately prior to the last recession. With that said, any economics professor will tell you that recessions are typical in the ebb and flow of the macroeconomic cycle and as a business, you should prepare for and expect a level of success on both ends of the economic spectrum over time.
Where Things Stand
As things stand it is difficult for many of us to reflect back on a period not less than a decade ago when we experienced the Great Recession which amounted to the most expansive market downturn since the Great Depression. In periods like this, many companies react like a “deer in the headlights,” as though they were unaware of what was coming, and focus on short term cost savings as a means of getting by. Short-sighted thinking and planning does little to support longer-term strategic initiatives and fortunately over the past decade the advance of technology, specifically mobile technology, offers a lot when it comes to empowering executives with the tools necessary for staying on top of their game even when the market is down. This means working with a partner that is capable of devising mobile technology strategies that can scale and are capable of catering to both the good and bad times.
Three Themes That Protect Profit Margin & Reduce Operational Risk:
- Development of platforms & utilization of services focusing on end users that facilitate quick decision making
- Prioritization of projects and tactics that tend to capture and retain high value customers/clients
- Implementation of operational savings initiatives that produce ROI without affecting long-term ability to scale
How Mobile Apps and Solutions Feed Into This
Customer Retention
- The estimated cost of acquiring a new customer is 4-5x higher than retaining a current client
- Under pressure, customers change buying patterns, often abandoning brand loyalty for cost savings
- Effective data collection and analytics help businesses calculate the value of customers at reduced pricing, also improving customer satisfaction
- Mobile solutions as part of a greater strategy more rapidly identify high value targets and how to retain and maximize their value
Drive Operational Efficiency & Productivity
- Mobility yields an improved workflow via access to contextually-relevant information to those in a service and decision making capacity
- Mobile data capture provides real-time visibility into key information streams, improving supply chain relationships and asset tracking
- Faster task management: workflows can be centrally assigned, optimized, and pushed to necessary field resources
- Businesses are able to move from paper to apps for transaction processing, data capture, and data exchange with the back-office
Steps Forward
Developing a business mobile strategy and positioning your business for all economic climates is extremely necessary for long-term success. At 7T, we have the knowledge and experience to smoothly guide you through the process and we’re pleased to help our clients find considerable value from technology.
Based in Dallas, 7T maintains regional offices located in Chicago and Houston. To discuss your development project, contact the team at 7T today!
