Page 14 - index

RESEARCH, ANALYSIS & TRENDS

Forrester’s mobile trend

predictions for marketers in 2014

According to Forrester Research’s recent annual mobile  Competitive advantage in mobile will shift from
trends report, there will be more than two billion experience design to big data and analytics:
smartphones globally this year. Besides that, the firm Most companies have focused on designing the first
not only predicts that mobile is becoming the new digital version of their apps and mobile websites, but just a
hub, but the bridge to the physical world, too. few are delivering the differentiated experiences
that are possible with smart apps connected to cus-
These are stalwart reasons why mobile devices will im- tomer relationship management (CRM) and IT sys-
pact much more than just the digital operations and ra- tems. In 2014, companies will release refreshed
ther transform entire business processes, from sales mobile apps, gather data from usage, develop in-
and marketing to workforce and internal practices. Thus, sights, and then use those insights both to create
2014 is therefore expected to be the year that compa- relevance for their customers and to improve upon
nies increase investments to transform their businesses mobile services, from core apps to messaging.
with mobile as a focal point.
 Mobile contextual data will offer deep customer
insights — beyond mobile: Companies will move
However, marketers must leverage current context and beyond using mobile analytics to understand con-
insights to evolve their ability to serve customers in their sumers in digital environments to understand them
mobile moments, Forrester advises. In addition, the firm in physical environments as well. Information lay-
expects that static experiences will fall flat and that com- ered on top of gained data via mobile devices, such
panies will therefore ramp up usage of the cloud’s com- as location, creates phenomenal insights about a
puting power to design next-generation smart apps, and customer’s environment and allows predicting future
urgently warns marketers not to run the risk of focusing behaviors of consumers via powerful algorithms,
too much energy and budget on increased experimenta- bridging offline and online behaviors, external open
tion with edgy devices to the detriment of core mobile data, and third-party data sources.
strategies.
 Audience size in Asia will elevate the region’s
role in mobile services innovation: During 2014,
In any case, Forrester believes Asia will inspire innova- China will pass the 500 million smartphones mark
tion, since India and China are the largest and fastest and have almost as many smartphones as the US
growing mobile phone and smartphone markets in the and Western Europe combined. Moreover, like most
world, the company is convinced that non-Asian compa- Southeast Asian and emerging countries, China
nies can learn especially from China how to reach a doesn’t have the established infrastructure within
mobile-first audience on slow networks and feature the enterprise which chains too many companies to
phones. their legacy policies, processes, or platforms. The
combined newness of the Internet and mobile
The quintessence of the report is, however, Forrester’s makes everyone an entrepreneur. All of these ele-
speculations on what will and won’t happen in the mo- ments taken together will enable businesses in Chi-
bile marketing industry and we would like to take the na — and, to a lesser extent, in India — to learn
opportunity to summarize for you at least quickly what is more quickly what customers want and to evolve
expected to take place so that you can adjust your pro- their services faster to meet those desires.
cesses and platforms to the constantly changing busi-  Mobile advertising will start maturing. Brand ad-
ness environment. Take a look at what’s expected to vertisers have long been hesitant to invest in mobile
happen: due to the lack of maturity of the mobile ad ecosys-
tem, the absence of rich-media ad units, and meas-
 The intersection of mobile with the physical urement complexity due to the primarily cookieless
world will emerge as a top priority, as mobile environment. In 2014, Forrester expects new mobile
brings the Internet to the physical world and enhanc- -centric ad formats to emerge, more effective mo-
es, rather than displaces, other media. It means that bile video inventory to grow, and more mobile ad
customers are bringing Internet prices and promo- network inventory to shift to the exchanges.
tions into physical retail locations. In the past, many
retailers ran their store operations and online busi- If you want to get advice on how to take action or read
nesses separately. While they operated some ele- in detail what Forrester expects NOT to happen in
ments consistently, product selection, pricing, and 2014, get the Predictions 2014: Mobile Trends For
promotions often vary across channels. These silos Marketers. ◊

become harder to maintain due to the colocation of By Daniela La Marca
the channels.
14 Asian eMarketing April 2014 - Mobile Marketing