a December 2012 presentation , Kleiner Perkins analyst Mary Meeker estimated that by the second quarter of 2013, the global installed base of smartphones and tablets will exceed the global installed base of desktop and laptop PC’s.
The explosive proliferation of mobile computing devices is fueling what Josh Bernoff, Forrester Researchsenior vice president of idea development, calls the mobile mind shift. Bernoff defines the mobile mind shift as: “A set of behaviors and mindsets in which people go forward with confidence that any desired information or service is available, on any appropriate device, in context, at their moment of need. ”
According to Forrester Research, 22% of US consumers have made the mobile mind shift in varying degrees. The consumers who have made the shift are primarily young (in their 30’s) and have relatively high annual incomes. Bernoff contends that consumers who make the mobile mind shift demand mobile utility from the companies they work with and will punish companies that don’t provide it.
The mobile mind shift creates a new set of challenges for enterprise marketers. Consumers increasingly expect to be able to find whatever information or service they want or need, whenever they have a want or need, using their communication device or devices of choice. As a result, the volume and variety of content that enterprises must create and manage has increased dramatically.
Enterprises need more content for two reasons. First content assets must be developed for more communication devices, and these devices will likely have different technical and formatting requirements. Beyond technical and formatting issues, marketers must also recognize that certain content assets will simply work better on some “screens” than others. For example, a web page that works fine on a desktop, laptop, or tablet may not work well on a smartphone simply because of screen size.
The mobile mind shift also increases content needs because consumers now expect to have easy access to more than “brand messaging.” Because consumers perform much of their product research online, they want access to detailed product information – pricing, available colors and sizes, features, available accessories, etc.
So the content challenge created by the mobile mind shift has two dimensions. The first is breadth – the need to have content that is optimized for numerous devices and platforms – and the second is depth – the need to provide detailed, current, and “rich” content regarding individual products and services.
To effectively and efficiently deliver the broad and deep content demanded by the mobile mind shift, enterprises will need to leverage a range of technologies. While the specific mix of necessary technologies will vary across enterprises, virtually all firms that sell tangible products will need robust digital asset management and product content management. The combined capabilities of these technologies enable an enterprise to deliver the content that today’s always-connected consumers demand.
This article was published before on blogs.adamsoftware.net
