We’re living in a mobile world. Our everyday lives as consumers or businesspeople are saturated with mobile technologies such as tablets, smartphones, or other connected devices. Creating mobile apps and adopting mobile-first strategies to improve business operations is top-of-mind across every industry.
Keeping this in mind, you would think that mobile-first is the holy grail for business approaches—the divine entity that handsome archeologists risk their lives in obtaining. However, some believe that a focus on mobile-first may lead to silos within businesses. In fact, Forbes notes that it might even be taking businesses down the wrong path. So, do sales organizations want to go mobile-first when it comes to managing sales content?
History Repeating Itself
According to Forbes, the fast pace of businesses building new features and innovating their apps is making them forget to enhance their desktop versions. This “built for mobile” approach can cause hyper-focus in a new mobile department while letting others fall by the wayside. This is similar to what the enterprise world saw when the web was launched over fifteen years ago. In the Forbes article, Alan Trefler, the CEO of Pegasystems, mentioned when the web kicked off, companies would say, “’Hey, we set up almost a separate division or separate whole organization to run the web.’ What happens then if you overbuild in that individual channel?”
The consequence was a grave inconsistency in consumer experience; web experiences differed from call center experiences, for example. According to Trefler, companies are allowing history to repeat itself with the mobile-first approach because, unless your business is not multi-channel or multi-product, mobile is not adaptable for every business. Furthermore, adapting to a mobile-first business approach can pose security concerns, particularly with a BYOD policy because devices are now neither restricted to stay within the office nor owned by the company.
Mobile is the Name of The Game
We can’t deny the existing overwhelming impact of mobility. Everyone, business or consumer, is using a smartphone to increase productivity and business efficiency. According to Kinvey, 97% of CIOs have “high hopes” for what mobile can do for their business. The most relevant and widespread platform in businesses is now mobile, making it crucial for companies to adopt to what enterprises and people essentially can’t live without.
Forbes notes that it isn’t mobile technologies that are the issue, it’s the context in which they’re being used. They suggest companies need to adopt a model-driven architecture in which the enterprise app provides synced experiences for the client. A mobile-first business approach is difficult to apply at first, especially given that “mobile” doesn’t have a single definition: Is it an iPhone? An Android Tablet? A Wearable?
Mobile-First Content Management is Not Mobile-Only Content Management
When it comes to distributing sales collateral in-person, the mobile experience has to come first. Sales reps are, primarily, going to be showing a prospect content on a mobile device. Embracing mobile is not a question for enterprises; to compete with the modern buyer, it’s a must. While you can avoid complications by adopting a mobile-first approach, focusing on mobile to the detriment of desktop can alienate users who are faced with a different (or worse, inferior) user experience on their computers; salespeople are not always on their mobile device and need to be able to share content with a prospect who also may not be on a mobile device.
Mobile-first is always an option, but mobile-only can hinder a company’s ability to sell.
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