As new technologies emerge, it seems we have an amazing ability to incorporate them into our daily lives and quickly forget what it was like before they came along. But every so often a statistic or piece of research comes along to remind us just how big an impact technology is having on our lives.
A recent infographic from PC Housing provides just such a reminder.
The infographic focuses on the use of mobile devices amongst business travelers and provides amazing – you might even say shocking – data on just how reliant we are becoming on the “computers that we carry around with us”.
Among the more surprising items was the fact that business travelers carry with them an average of three devices while traveling, with the most common combination being a laptop, tablet and smartphone. One in five check their Facebook account before even getting out of bed, while almost two-thirds said they would feel “disoriented, distraught or lonely” without the use of their smart phone for one week. Indeed, business travelers are hyper-connected to their devices, checking their smart phones alone an incredible 34 times per day.
While this portrait of mobile use is interesting on its own, the important point is that these numbers give us a glimpse into where our customers are headed, and it forces us to look closely at how ready we are for this change.
Do we have a mobile-optimized web presence? Should we consider creating an app to reach more customers or communicate with current customers?
One thing is clear, the trend toward mobile isn’t going to change, and as marketers we need to have answers to these questions – and fast – to continue to reach customers successfully.
What Next:
Sign up to be part of our beta program for pbSmart™ Mobile, a new and easy way to create your very own mobile website.
What about you? Do any of these statistics surprise you? Have you incorporated mobile into your marketing mix? Please share your thoughts below!
This is a great post, Rohan. Mobile technology is definitely changing the world extremely fast, and business people need to keep up. Even projectors for presentations are getting makeovers, and no one carries around bulky laptops anymore. These statistics certainly don’t surprise me as we have a history of quickly grasping new technology. As a matter of fact, one study says that 86% of job seekers would use their cell phone to search for jobs, so we really need to start focusing on making our sites and software mobile-friendly and streamlined.
I think the key is that with this evolution towards mobile, you have to manage your presence correctly. It will not be the best solution to have every website create an app in-house. That’s why i’m a big believer in technologies that allow you to cheap and easily create a mobile app so you can stay in constant contact with your customers. The space is still very new and being defined. It’ll be interesting to see who ends up with the most market share in this heavily growing and necessary space.