Mobile strategy becomes a priority for business

Mobile phones are almost as important as PCs for engaging with customers according to the results of a survey released by enterprise mobile specialist OpenMarket.

The study of 167 business leaders in the USA carried out by Forrester Consulting showed that 74 percent now think that mobiles are an important channel for customers, partners and employees, as against 79 percent for PCs.

It's hardly surprising then that 63 percent of enterprises now think that customer engagement is the key factor in developing their mobile strategy. In fact engagement rates much higher than customer satisfaction (38 percent) and revenue generation (27 percent) in driving mobile use.

The tools used in developing mobile strategy are still led by SMS, 70 percent of those surveyed using it to communicate with their customers, with the use of QR codes following on 60 percent.

Of the companies surveyed 63 percent are spending less than $5 million a year on their mobile strategy. The report questions whether this is enough to sustain ongoing projects. It also finds that only four in ten companies are using in-house staff to build mobile solutions with the rest seeking technology partnerships.

A copy of the report's whitepaper is available on OpenMarket's website and you can see a handy infographic summary below.