Page 33 - Optus Future of Business Report 2013

32
optus Future of Business
Mobile growth shows great
potential to engage customers
The mobile channel and its supporting
apps ecosystem is emerging as a
meaningful way for organisations and
consumers to interact, the research
suggests. Although mobile contributes
negligible amounts to organisational
functions today, businesses expect it
to account for approximately a quarter
of sales, transactions and customer
support volumes in three to five years,
representing a three to five-fold increase.
Of the organisations surveyed, nearly
half have a mobile channel to engage
customers today, and 82% expect to
use mobile in three to five years. In
over a third of cases, organisations are
providing mobile channels because they
think customers expect it of them.
Businesses also rank mobile as one of
the three most important channels for
marketing, sales and product/service
delivery in that time. Finance and real
estate services are today most likely to
have a mobile presence, such as an app
or mobile-optimised website, although
transport, information media and telco
and government also expect to increase
usage in the future. The primary
motivators for organisations to have a
mobile channel are improving customer
experience, being seen as innovative
and meeting customer expectations.
At the moment, 12% of consumers use
mobile to interact with organisations,
largely to access organisations’ websites
from their mobile device. However,
38% express a desire for organisations
to offer mobile channels in three to
five years, especially for construction,
education, telco and media services.
Time saving is the main benefit
identified by 26% of consumers, while
64% of businesses point to providing
an easier and more convenient channel
for customers. As the second most
given answer, organisation availability
is important to 47% of businesses, but
being simple and easy to use filled this
spot for 24% of consumers. Rounding
out the top three customer benefits,
43% of businesses say mobile makes it
easier for customers to find information
while 23% of consumers say it is more
convenient than other channels.
MOBILE CHANNEL CONTRIBUTION TO FUNCTIONS
NOW (%) 3–5 YRS (%)
MARKETINGPRODUCTS
AND SERVICES
VOLUME
OF SALES VOLUME OF
TRANSACTIONS VOLUME OFCUSTOMERSUPPORT
8 28 5 22 5 26 5 25
20% 17% 21% 20%
TOP 3 CITED CUSTOMER BENEFITS
(%)
EASE AND
CONVENIENCE
FOR CUSTOMERS
EASIER FOR
CUSTOMERS TO
RESEARCH OR
FIND INFORMATION
64
26
47 43
24 23
24/7 AVAILABILITY
OF THE
ORGANISATION
IT SAVES
TIME SIMPLE AND
EASY TO USE
IT IS MORE
CONVENIENT
THAN OTHER
CHANNELS
BUSINESS
CONSUMER
MOBILE
MOBILE
38% of consumers express a desire
for organisations to offer mobile
channels in three to five years.