U.S. and UK Businesses to Double Mobile Project Spend in Next 18 Months
U.S. and UK businesses are embracing mobile at an unprecedented rate, with average current investments of $422K rising to $926K in the next year and a half, and a third of companies planning to launch four or more mobile projects in the next 12-18 months. But frustrations around the cost, complexity, management and timescale of those projects are growing too, according to the Mobile Business Forecast 2012 released today by Antenna Software, which commissioned Vanson Bourne to poll 1,000 CIOs and business unit leaders in the U.S. and UK.
The Mobile Business Forecast 2012 reveals that UK and U.S. companies are working with an average of three separate mobile solutions vendors simultaneously, highlighting the general inability of suppliers to address multiple aspects of the mobile value chain. The report shows that companies undertaking concurrent development are likely to see their mobile business strategies become increasingly fragmented, hampered by redundant technologies, and difficult to manage.
The release of the Mobile Business Forecast 2012 coincides with the launch of AMPchromaT, Antenna's cloud-based, mobile business suite, which allows companies to design, build, deploy and manage every type of mobile asset, including native and hybrid web-apps, mobile websites, and corporate app stores, from a single web-based console. The first mobile management solution of its kind that addresses the full mobile lifecycle, AMPchroma keeps the costs of 'going mobile' to a minimum by eliminating infrastructure investments and the redundant operating costs associated with disparate mobile projects. The suite has been designed to support a holistic approach to mobile management - helping CIOs unify their mobile business strategies, allowing IT departments to oversee and secure the channel, and empower individual departments to achieve their own mobile ambitions.
Jim Hemmer, CEO of Antenna, commented: "Mobile devices are now so ubiquitous that a business without a mobile strategy is a business without a strategy. Investment in mobile is growing at a meteoric rate, and that's partly due to companies thinking beyond the app and beyond the idea that mobile is only critical when it comes to consumer engagement. Of course, the challenges and strains of joining the mobile revolution are still too much for many businesses to handle. Only when companies can quickly, securely and cost-effectively mobilize themselves whenever, wherever, and however they need to, will we see them unlocking the true potential of the mobile channel."
"Mobile technology has changed the way that people interact, and the implications for business are equally profound," said Eugene Signorini, Senior Vice President of Research for Yankee Group. "The question today is how companies seize the opportunities afforded to them by mobility while still maintaining control and visibility. Today an organization must consider the entire mobile experience and approach enterprise mobility in a holistic, unified fashion to satisfy both employees and customers and drive new revenues and growth."
Frustrations for CIOs and business unit leaders
The Mobile Business Forecast 2012 showed that 45 percent of IT and business decision makers in the UK and U.S. are dissatisfied with the speed at which the mobile projects they commission get to market. In addition, 42 percent of respondents attested to being frequently dissatisfied with the eventual cost of the solutions deployed. The report revealed that, on average, projects commissioned by U.S. and UK companies take over six months to come to fruition, with one in 10 taking a year or more to complete.
"Most businesses need to move fast and effectively if they're going to compete in today's tough economic climate," continued Hemmer, "but until now, that need has simply not been met in the mobile space.
AMPchroma allows technical and non-technical users alike to deploy any kind of mobile project quickly, and because the whole suite is hosted in the cloud, it can be done in an extremely collaborative, flexible and cost-effective manner, increasing productivity, visibility, and engagement in the process."
For more information, visit www.antennasoftware.com.
