Able-One Blog

2015 was another red-hot year for mobile technology. 

The number of mobile devices has now surpassed the global human population. More than ever, consumers are interacting with businesses using their mobile devices before going through any other channel. "Millennials are changing the mobile landscape," Steven French, Global Vice President from Amdocs said, "the group is projected to have a purchasing power of $2.45 trillion by 2015 and prefers mobile as their number-one way to be reached and interact”.

However, Millenials are not the only age group to put under the magnifying glass. Research indicates that 72% of Baby Boomers with an income over $75,000 have a smartphone. It’s a grave mistake for any company trying to market its revamped mobile business to dismiss the 50+ age group. 

It is true that Baby Boomers have slower adoption rates; however, they also control 70% of disposable income in the United States and spend nearly $7 billion per year online on consumer purchases. On average, Boomers spend 19 hours a week online and 71% use a social networking site daily. Furthermore, recent research shows that boomers are quickly closing the gap between themselves and Millennials with regards to new technology adoption as their technical prowess continues to advance. 

Becoming Mobile-First

As “mobile-first” becomes the norm for every age group, consumers from all demographics are able to quickly understand each other when referencing products and services that have captured their interest. Whether it’s via face-to-face interaction, email, a text message, a Dropbox shared folder or an Instagram direct message, the language is clear and the smartphone is the sharing tool of choice. This trend of convergence and mobile is accelerating quickly, and the question becomes: which businesses will be able to successfully market & monetize their mobile arm? 

Heather Cox, the Chief Client Officer at Citigroup reflects on how these trends are affecting every way that she shapes her customers experience and overall marketing strategy. Mobile has forced her business to adapt to a new marketing approach that has shifted from just selling to providing a personalized buying experience  centered on each consumer’s own habits, preferences and constraints. Cox explains: "The whole element of moving the position from sell to buy is something we're going to be working on over the course of 2015 and beyond: how to engage customers with products and services very differently … the notion of the marketing funnel fundamentally changes. It becomes much more about a lifecycle, that circular notion of over time — how do we catch people, using data, and actually help them in the moment".

Adopting Mobile in Business

Businesses in 2016 will have to realize that, through mobile, customers data is organized in a way that gives each business immense information and power over how to reach their customers. Each business can now use the mobile platform to offer new products and services on a rolling-basis, while automating and keeping track of how each consumer shift their spending choices based on financial and non-financial constraints. 

Businesses that have resisted the switch to mobile now have no choice. More than just a matter of increasing customer interaction, a business must enable its employees to work anywhere, anytime with a mobile platform that increases productivity and efficiency. For instance, a fully-enabled mobile sales force will prove to be crucial for each sales representative to automate their information gathering process, showcase presentations, utilize the power of images and video to entice customers, and access pertinent product and company information to close a sale. 

Businesses must therefore look at the future of mobile through a two-pronged approach: continuous customer interaction and equipping their workforce to capitalize on this new era. Both strategies can be tackled by making sure that every part of the business' buying and selling process is accessible through mobile. 

Mobile-Centric Customer Experiences

40% of users will choose another result when searching for a product or service if the first one is not mobile-friendly. Mobile users who find your business online have a conversion percentage nearly three times higher than the same search done on a desktop or laptop. Why? Mobile users are on the go. When you’re browsing, you grab the laptop and start researching or just satisfying curiosity for products or services. When you grab your smartphone to search, you have a specific intent in mind, whether it be food, clothing or an oil change for your car. Mobile searchers are buyers, assuming you can meet their needs.

In the coming months, companies that aren't already mobile-centric will start to cross the divide to increasingly screen-agnostic mobile platforms, allowing employees to keep working, no matter what devices they're using. Laptop/desktop applications will begin to emulate their mobile counterparts as mobile continues to become the business tool of choice. 

After a day of working in the field, interacting with customers and holding meetings, a sales representative will arrive at the office and seek to access information on his or her laptop/desktop interface that closely resembles the information gathered that day on his or her mobile device. 

Internet of Things

Furthermore, apps are increasingly becoming experiences that live across multiple endpoints, from wearables to phones, tablets, and web applications. As this trend proceeds in 2016, offerings that can seamlessly transfer between these states as you move from one device to the next will have a huge advantage.

In 2016, mobility will peak with new facets that will enable handsets to link to a plethora of gadgets, vehicles and personal electronic equipment. Moreover, by 2020, the number of devices connected to the Internet is expected to exceed 40 billion. As Larry Page, co-founder of Google Inc. observed: “We are no longer in a mobile first world, we are in a mobile-only world”.

To learn more about how your company can integrate these mobile trends into your IT strategy to stay on top of the competition, contact us today for a free consultation.

By Grant Sojnocki, President, Able-One Systems

In recent years “going green” and “green business” have been commonly heard buzz words.

At Able-One Systems we made it such a priority that one of our six solution areas is termed “Green Data Centre”. Although it is something that most people realize the importance of, many of our clients are asking “at what point does it make business sense?”

Generally speaking, people want to do what they can to positively impact the environment, but still need to prioritize the needs of their business. That being said, with the many advances in green technology, we are beginning to see many truly strong business cases for “green” investment both in the data centre and in many other areas.

Although the business cases can be strong on their own, when you consider the additional financial incentives that are currently available such as those offered by the Independent Electricity System Operator (IESO) in Ontario, it is apparent that there is no better time than now to consider your green options.

Why go green?

• ROI and payback periods have become more compelling than ever
• Improved public image; customers are beginning to favour green companies
• Current government incentive programs such as those offered by the IESO that make it easy and affordable to assess and implement

The IESO has aggressive mandates around energy consumption and utilization over the next several years, and their strategy for hitting their targets is largely attributed to conservation. Over the next 5 years, they are providing $1.9 billion through programs designed to incent businesses to reduce their energy consumption. It is important that you take the time to understand these programs and their specific requirements, or work with a firm who specializes in this area, as (like many government programs) they can be a challenge to navigate. However, it is well worth that effort as some of these programs will fund up to 100% of your costs! How do you like that for a return on investment?

Energy Programs

The programs are:

1. Audit
2. Retrofit
3. Process & Systems
4. Metering

The program that is most utilized among our clients is the process and systems assessment. The reason being is that it includes a 100% government funded study (up to $50,000) to assess your current systems and processes; in addition to up to 70% of capital costs for energy efficiency upgrades. Upon completion of the assessment you receive a stamped and approved engineering study detailing the benefits of implementing various policies or upgrading certain equipment.

Currently, there is no obligation for you to implement anything in the document but will allow you to effectively evaluate your options and potential for savings. Able-One Systems, through a partnership with a speciality engineering firm, offers a free site walkthrough in order to predetermine whether our clients would qualify for a fully funded assessment.

If you would like more information on these programs you can visit our page on energy assessments and download the PowerPoint. Also please feel free to reach out to me directly at Grant.Sojnocki@ableone.com.

Mobile adoption has grown for years and in 2014 overtook desktop/laptop as the top source of digital consumption. Consumer use is also heavily influencing businesses’ mobile adoption and deployment strategies.  One of the areas that is most impacted by the move to mobile are sales teams. There are significant opportunities and benefits of this shift.

Businesses have realized that they need to support this move to mobile. Research by TechValidate shows that 43% of companies now rank mobility as their top business functionality. From the same study, 79% of companies surveyed said they have to integrate their applications into existing technology, with the majority of businesses having to ensure that their new applications integrate with up to 15 different existing systems. This means that an organization’s legacy systems on old servers, IBM Power Systems and others will need to be modernized to support mobile devices.

There are many opportunities for sales teams to take advantage of the move towards mobile.

1. Supporting the Sale

There are many situations where your sales team may be working out of the office.  Mobile devices and tablets are a great way to support the sales process improving demos, presentations and sharing of images.  The use of tablets also enhances a customer’s experience in situations where they come to a company’s location, such as at automotive dealers, restaurants and financial institutions.

2. Useful Off-the-Shelf Apps

There are plenty of great free mobile sales tools that can be found in app stores such as LinkedIn, Evernote, Twitter, and integrations to your CRM.

3. Real-Time Sales Information

The biggest opportunity for many businesses and sales teams is in having their mobile devices connected directly to their legacy systems.  This would mean having real-time access to pricing, inventory, and other information that can assist in more effective customer engagement and closing a sale. This should shorten the sales cycle and lead to more sales as the data is accurate and live.

4. Faster Processing for Sales Orders

In many situations, the sales person may collect orders in paper formats and then bring them back to the office for processing. This means a delay between when they receive the order, when they get to the office and when they finally are able to input the order into the system.  Submitting the sale on a mobile device at the customer’s site can reduce product delivery time which makes for a happier customer. For the business, it means increased productivity and quicker inventory turnover.

5. Better Visibility on the Sales Process

There are many benefits of mobile data at head office for the marketing, finance and operations teams. A smartphone with a built in camera could collect what displays look like in a retail location for the marketing department.  The finance team will benefit from orders being placed in real time, versus relying on slow manual processes.  The operations team can manage inventory and the delivery process more effectively and efficently.

6. Sales Enablement

Poor preparation is one of the top 3 reasons sales are lost today. When the sales team has access to mobile technology, there is the opportunity for them to better utilize sales enablement tools. Sales enablement is a better way of training and helping your sales team with the right tools at the right time to close a sale.

If you are interested in understanding the impact of having your business applications enabled for mobile devices, please connect with us for a consultation.

The enterprise technology space is constantly evolving and reading industry news and blogs is one of the best ways to stay on top of the space. Although you may be a subject matter expert in one technology area, such as strategy or security, it’s challenging to be knowledgeable in all areas.

Here are 9 insightful and knowledgeable enterprise technology blogs that can help keep you up-to-date. Browsing these blogs on your daily commute or once a week is a simple way to stay informed on your industry.

1. CIO Online

CIO Online is the premier news site serving IT leaders, as well as the ecosystem that surrounds and interacts with them. This blog is updated on a daily basis and covers topics including big data, cloud, project management, mobile and security. 

2. Forrester Research

Forrester is known for their in-depth research reports, playbooks and insightful industry analysts. Most of these reports are paid, but they have a regularly updated blog with articles from various analysts from their team, including a blog geared towards CIOs and IT leaders.

3. TechRepublic CXO

TechRepublic blog is geared towards IT management and executives to help with bolstering their career paths and the perception of IT in the enterprise. Topics covered on this blog include software, cloud, data centres and hardware.

4. CIO Journal - Wall Street Journal

This online section of the Wall Street Journal has reporting and analysis for corporate-technology executives. Updated on a daily basis, the CIO Journal has commentary on strategy, talent management, security and more.

5. Search CIO – TechTarget

Search CIO is one of many blogs in the TechTarget network of technology sites focused on enterprise technology areas such as virtualization, disaster recovery and risk management.

6. CXO – ZDNet

ZDNet CXO is a general technology blog for CIOs, CEOs, CFOs or CMOs. CXO ZDNet is has good general articles on enterprise technology topics, but it’s less in-depth and specific compared to other blogs that are completely geared towards enterprise technology such as TechTarget above.

7. Security Intelligence – IBM

Security is one of the hottest enterprise technology topics today, partially because of the increasing number of breaches and emerging issues like BYOD. IBM’s official security blog is updated on a regular basis with articles from industry experts on nine major security topics such as infrastructure protection, data protection and mobile security.  

8. IT World Canada

IT World Canada is an online magazine that’s geared towards Canadian IT professionals about a range of enterprise technology areas and issues including privacy, green IT, cloud computing and analytics.

9. TechCrunch Enterprise

Unlike the blogs listed above which deliver analysis on enterprise technology topics, TechCrunch Enterprise delivers news on up-and-coming enterprise technology startups and new enterprise products/services. Keeping an eye on startups and disruptive products is a great way to stay on top of leading edge trends.  

What other blogs would you add to this list?

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