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The Malta Independent | Thursday 12 February 2015
How mobile apps are helping the public sector
Jason Deign
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magine your smart phone could record every pothole you hit while you are in your car… and then get the authorities to fix it. This sounds like science fiction, but is exactly what the citizens of Boston, Massachusetts, can do thanks to a mobile app called Street Bump. The app uses accelerometer and GPS data from mobile phones owned by volunteers to spot wherever a bump occurs in the course of a vehicle trip. Single bumps are ignored, but if a bump gets recorded several times in the
same place by different mobiles then a road crew is sent to fill in the hole. It is simple when you think about it. And this is just one of a host of new public sector-related apps that are being developed to improve the lives of citizens worldwide. Apps are growing in popularity because the mobile phone offers a couple of advantages that no other communications channel can compete with, says Ian Finley, managing vice president at Gartner. “If you think about reaching the citizens that you serve, you basically can reach almost all of them through a mobile app,” he says. “You couldn’t reach them through a PC or even a web-based solution because not everybody went on the web.” Finley estimates that delivering services via mobile can allow public sector bodies to reach more than 90% of their citizens, compared to around 30% or 40% for web-based applications. That includes hard-toreach sectors such as the very poor or elderly. The other point about mobile apps is that it allows citizen services to be delivered almost
anywhere, anytime, rather than when a user happens to be seated in front of a computer. “Now you can reach them when they get stranded on the side of the road, or they can reach you,” says Finley. “Or when they are at a town meeting or a soccer field. There is a whole bunch of new things you can do that you couldn’t in the past.” A good example is the FishHunt-FL app offered by the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission. This lets you buy a hunting or fishing license via your smartphone, so you can even pick up a permit when you are already out on the water or deep in the country. Given such obvious benefits, it perhaps seems odd that government bodies are not making even more of the trend for mobile app use. Part of the reason is that these benefits can sometimes be hard to quantify in economic terms. “Oftentimes the calculations are very soft,” Finley points out. “What is the value of higher engagement with the citizens, or data of where the streets need fixing?” Justifying the expenditure on the basis of intangible returns can be challenging given the constraints of many public sector budgets. But the good news is that authorities may not need to invest in app development at all. They can just provide the data,
and let the private sector do the developing. “By publishing information and accepting information from the outside, the government creates the opportunity for somebody to create, say, an application that helps you figure out when the bus is going to arrive,” says Finley. This is what has happened with the New York subway. The New York City Transit Authority provides basic data on the service and app developers have come up with a range of products to help you catch your train. The Singapore Land Transport Authority has similarly made taxi data available to developers, spawning a number of apps that can help you get around the city. In both cases, users get a choice of services and the authority saves development cash. What other public sector service areas could be ripe for development in future? Finley says it makes sense to look for things you use regularly, say each day or each week, such as transport or public health services. Things you might want to do while on the move is another potentially rich seam for app developers working with public sector data. The best example of this is perhaps with first responders, where situational awareness is critical for the safety and effectiveness of people arriving on scene. Those entering potentially life-threatening situations could benefit from information being pushed via
apps to their mobile devices, and even more so if the information is coming from Internet of Everything-linked sensors in the vicinity of an incident. Under such circumstances, a public sector app might not just be handy. It could save lives.
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are forced to switch channels to get the assistance they need, this fractures the brand experience and makes consumers far more likely to abandon shopping carts - and what’s more, they’ll often abandon the brand entirely. Losing shoppers due to a poor mobile experience is a real risk for retailers in 2015.” The study “Mobile Spend in 2015” shows mobile has a growing influence on how shoppers feel about a brand in general, and that perception translates
into their buying behaviour as a whole. Key findings include: • Customer care is key to growing adoption and making mobile apps sticky: Without good care consumers grow frustrated and many will even abandon a retailer entirely, not just the retailer’s app. When shoppers need help, they expect to get it immediately and effortlessly. If forced to stop what they’re doing and leave the app to get help, 1 out of 4
shoppers will be likely to not make a purchase with the brand at all. • Showrooming is rampant, but preventable: 27% of shoppers prefer to do mobile shopping in the actual store where they are shopping, but 26% browse mobile while in a competitor’s store. Retailers can thwart showrooming at their brick and mortar locations by providing better care in–app care than their competitors. • App recommendations can help boost the bottom line: 23% of respondents said in–app recommendations would drive them to add more items to their cart and 33% said they would spend more time in the app. • The majority of shoppers have needed assistance in mobile apps: 81% of shoppers have needed assistance in a mobile app but only 12% used their mobile phone to get it. Why? It’s not available. Of those surveyed, almost half
Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Manager at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
said they actively dislike leaving the app to get help. • Mobile is more sedentary than expected, and happens in the home: Much of the mobile app experience happens in the comfortable, unrushed environment of the home, with 85% of shoppers preferring to shop there via mobile, even if other devices are close. • Deals and discounts still rule, but they don’t have to dominate: There are other ways to help brand image and increase repeat customers. 54% of shoppers said coupons and discounts would increase desire to be a repeat customer, but easier product comparisons (34%), the ability to get help (25%), and more ways to pay (29%) also help increase repeat business. The Contact Solutions shopping habits survey was conducted via online survey during November of 2014 with more than 1,800 adults representative of the US consumer population.
The Malta Independent ICT Feature
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lmost everyone has a mobile phone and most use smartphones. This has encouraged companies of all shapes and sizes to see the potential that mobile apps can deliver. Apps also have the power to transform the delivery of public services and in today’s feature we look at some examples of how the public sector of several countries are using mobile apps to provide a better and more efficient service to citizens.
The statistics about people’s behaviour whilst using online search engines (such as Google) are quite an eye-opener for businesses. 9 out of 10 people do not go beyond the second page of a search result and 7 out of 10 click on the first three results. This means that if your competitor ranks better than you, they are probably getting a lot more business than you. What if you can engage a company to tarnish your competitor’s reputation online
and have your business rank better than theirs; would you do it? The results of a recent study on this topic are shocking. Many organisations are investing in mobile apps and a new study found that whilst this is very beneficial (as that’s what customers want) it also found that unless the mobile app provides convenience then customers will not only stop using the app, but possibly also abandon the brand.
All ICT Features are available on www.mita.gov.mt/ictfeature
79% of online companies willing to sabotage competitor’s website
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Study: Mobile app spend in 2015 critical to avoiding brand damage obile shopping is growing at a rapid pace throughout the U.S., but not every app gives shoppers what they are looking for, and notoriously fickle customers won’t hesitate to abandon a brand based on a poor service perception. New research from Contact Solutions shows that consumers want convenience, but feel mobile apps are failing them when they need help. For retailers deciding on where to put their money in 2015, a seamless app experience with integrated customer service should be the first choice. “Our latest research found that the next generation of mobile apps will need convenient in–app customer care not only to stave off cart abandonment, but to build brand loyalty as well,” said John Hibel, Director of Marketing at Contact Solutions. “Even though retailers have started investing in mobile apps, shoppers are often left wanting more. When they
Roderick Spiteri
Used with the permission of http://thenetwork.cisco.com Jason Deign is a Barcelona-based business writer, journalist and author. Besides writing, he is regularly interviewed by the media and has been featured in the UK’s Daily Mail and The Guardian, among others. Notable achievements include coining the term ‘Easyjet generation’ in 2003 and being the first UK journalist to document the rise of identity theft in 2001. Jason has worked with Cisco since 2000 and became a global contributor to The Network in 2003.
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The Malta Independent | Thursday 12 February 2015
recent study has revealed that a shocking 79% of online businesses were prepared to carry out a sabotage attack on a competitor’s website. The study, carried out by SEO agency Reboot Online Marketing Ltd, was conducted by contacting 100 small business owners in London and the South East. When business owners were asked if they would be willing to engage in what is known as a ‘Negative SEO’ campaign against their top three online competitors with the explicit aim of sabotaging their sites resulting in their complete removal from Google’s search results, a massive 48% agreed outright while a further 31% were very keen and asked for further information. The study outlines a growing trend in the online battlefield which is becoming more acceptable by the day. A large portion of the workload by the company that conducted the study, Reboot Online, involves dealing with penalty recoveries. They state that up to date, they have managed over 170 penalty recovery clients. Penalties caused by, gently put, less than organic SEO practices such as comments spam, forums spam, directory spam, pingback spam,
profile spam, hijacked/injected spam and every other type of spam possible. Quite a few penalty removal enquiries were blatantly the direct result of cheap SEO. In the last six months, they have started to see a much more sinister cause: Negative SEO. Searching around the web shows a worrying increase in websites offering negative SEO type services. Some quite camouflaged in their intent while others are shamelessly and blatantly advertising it for what it is. “I was still reluctant to believe that here in the UK, company owners; entrepreneurs, family men and women, mums and dads… you and me… would be so easily swayed to this dark corner of the business universe historically occupied by swindlers, con-men and thugs carrying out sabotage aimed at weakening, disrupting or destroying a competitors business,” said Shai Aharony, Director of Reboot Online Marketing Ltd. There are still people out there that would swear blind that Negative SEO is impossible or so negligible that the typical, honest webmaster has nothing to worry about. However, negative SEO exists and it’s a growing problem especially on weaker, newer or less established sites where the authority of the site has not been estab-
lished yet. The study consisted of Reboot Online compiling a list of local businesses such as plumbers, lawyers, carpenters, Locksmiths, IT service providers, builders, accountants, cleaning companies and even skip-hire companies. They then chose the ones that have a functioning website and went as far as to check for signs that the site has had some SEO done in the past. This was done to increase the chances that the person they talk to will understand what it is they are about to offer. At that point, they had 84 contacts and each of them received an email promising them to make their top three competitors disappear from Google’s search results. The results were shocking: • 61 out of the 84 businesses (73%) replied to the email - an incredibly high reply rate to what is pretty much an unsolicited email. Out of these; • 2 - Gave the sender some welldeserved abuse while rejecting the offer. • 11 - Politely rejected the offer • 19 - Wanted more information on the service, payment or the guarantee provided. • 29 - Accepted the offer outright
and asked for payment details. So, out of the 61 respondents, a massive 48 either took the offer on or were very interested in the offer of sabotaging their competitor’s
websites. That’s an incredibly high 78.6% while only 21.3% declined. The study did not try to be scientific but merely to test the acceptance of such practices by normal businesses.