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The Malta Independent | Thursday 2 July 2015
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The Malta Independent | Thursday 2 July 2015
Roderick Spiteri
Roderick Spiteri is Marketing and Communications Manager at MITA and editor of Malta Independent ICT feature
The Malta Independent ICT Feature
J
ust last week Malta was ranked on top of the eGovernment scoreboard amongst 33 countries. Through the Public Services Online project, MITA together with a number of partners is trying to encourage more citizens and businesses to start using
more government services online. This week we also look at one of the side-effects that mobile penetration is having on the way we shop. A recent study found that the majority of us are using our mobile devices to assist us in our shopping; either before the actual
shopping or even at the store. Is the use of mobile devices also affecting our personal relationships? A new study by AVG found that the majority of children think that their parents check their mobile devices too often and a third of them feel unimportant when their parents
get distracted by their phones. All ICT Features are available on www.mita.gov.mt/ictfeature
Increasing the use of eGovernment services through local councils 85% of millennial parents use mobile to help them shop in-store
Kids competing with mobile phones for parents’ attention
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obile phones are gaining an increasing share in the battle for parental attention, with a third of children, surveyed for a recent study, saying their parents spent equal or less time with them, than on their devices. The research, conducted by AVG Technologies N.V., an online security company, examined children’s perceptions of their parents’ mobile device use, and uncovered some worrying trends. Hinting at ongoing digital intrusion upon family life, over 50% of the children questioned, felt that their parents checked their devices too often (54%); and their biggest grievance, when given a list of possible, bad device habits, was that their parents allowed themselves to be distracted by their device during conversations (36%) – something that made a third of the complainants feel unimportant (32%). When asked about their device use, half of all parents agreed that it was too frequent (52%), and many also worried about how this looked to the younger generation.
Almost a third (28%) felt that they didn’t set a good example for their children with their device use. “With our kids picking up mobile devices at an increasingly younger age, it is really important that we set good habits within the home, early on,” said Tony Anscombe, Senior Security Evangelist at AVG Technologies. “Children take their cues from us for everything else, so it is only natural that they should do the same with device use. It can be hard to step away from your device at home; but with a quarter of parents telling us that they wished their child used their device less (25%), they need to lead by example and consider how their behaviour might be making their child feel.” In a country by country comparison, Brazilian parents topped the survey for device use, with 87% of children stating their parents used mobile devices too much. More worryingly, 59% of Brazilian parents admitted to using the phone while driving – interestingly, 56% of children in Brazil also said they would confiscate a parent’s device, if they could.
85% of all millennial parents are using smartphones to help them shop at brick-and-mortar retail locations. Moms (86%) were slightly more likely to use their mobile devices than dads (84%) to prepare for or help them during shopping trips. This was found in a study conducted by Retale (www.retale.com), a location-based mobile platform connecting millions of shoppers with retailers. Moms and dads use mobile differently when shopping While mobile is nearly equally ubiquitous for millennial mom and dad shoppers, how each group uses their devices varied. For example, while a majority of dads (53%) say they use smartphones primarily to check product reviews, checking product reviews was the task moms did least (42%). Additionally, moms (66%) cited searching for coupons or deals as the top task they use their mobile device for, but checking deals and coupons ranked only the fifth most popular task among millennial dad shoppers (49%). Here is a full look at how moms and dads use their mobile devices for shopping: Dads Checking product reviews (53%) Comparing prices (52%)
Finding nearby store locations (50%) Checking store hours (49%) Searching for coupons or deals (49%) Researching products (47%) Accessing saved coupons (44%) Creating shopping lists (42%) Moms Searching for coupons or deals (66%) Accessing saved coupons (62%) Comparing prices (62%) Checking store hours (57%) Creating shopping lists (54%) Finding nearby store locations (54%) Researching products (48%) Checking product reviews (42%) “Millennial moms and dads use their mobile devices to support brick-and-mortar shopping in different ways,” said Pat Dermody, President of Retale. “However, despite varying preferences, it is clear that to meet the demands of both groups, retailers and retail service providers must lean heavily on mobile to compel online-to-offline engagement and sales.” Moms more likely to research deals and coupons last-minute 83% of millennial mom shoppers surveyed said they wait until the day before, day of or while they are in-store before checking for deals and coupons versus 71% of dads. Relatedly, millennial dads (28%) were 11% more likely to search for deals or coupons at
least a week in advance of visiting a retailer. Millennial parents likely to purchase when pushed deals near or in stores A majority of both moms (76%) and dads (64%) are likely to make a purchase with a coupon or deal they receive to their smartphone while in or near a retail location. Furthermore, of these groups, 45% of moms and 32% of dads said they are very likely to make a purchase. Millennial moms are 12% more likely to make a purchase when pushed deals in or near a store than dads. Moms more driven to shop by deals Of those surveyed, 40% of millennial moms compared to 22% of millennial dads said that they never shop without a deal, while both (53% of dads and 52% of moms) said that they will take advantage of deals on occasion. Alternatively, dads care less about deals with 19% stating that they either rarely or never use deals, compared to only 5% of moms. “Deals remain a huge driving factor in making a transaction happen,” added Dermody. “Shoppers are always connected and always on, and retailers must use every channel to their advantage to get them through the door and through the checkout line.”
MITA has recently hosted a seminar for local council officials on how technology can be used to support their work in servicing the public. The seminar was part of the Public Services Online project which aims at enhancing knowledge and take-up of eGovernment services. Local council officials were addressed by Hon. Stefan Buontempo - Parliamentary Secretary for Local Government and Hon. Jose Herrera Parliamentary Secretary for Competitiveness and Economic Growth. The Public Services Online project is co-financed through the European Social Funds and is being coordinated by MITA together with other stakeholders including CDRT, various Ministries and Digitaliseringsstyrelsen (the Danish Government Digital Agency). Local councils play a very important role in their respective localities as more often than not they act as the first port of call for many citizens. MITA’s Executive Chairman, Mr Tony Sultana said that local councils can also positively influence the take-up of eGovernment services by guiding citizens to these services that are easy, efficient and convenient. “This is why as part of this project, 100 local council officials from various localities in Malta and Gozo are currently undergoing training aimed at providing them with the necessary tools
nounced that financial support will be given to a number of local councils to enhance their ICT facilities by purchasing new computers that will be made available
and information to be in a better position to guide and encourage citizens to use online services,” explained Mr Sultana. “This seminar comes at a time when just two days ago the European Commission issued its Benchmarking Report on eGovernment which placed Malta as the leader amongst 33 countries. However, the report also shows there is room for improvement regarding the take-up of these services,” said Mr. Sultana. As part of the project a market research was conducted to find the reasons that are negatively impacting the take-up of e-services by citizens. The third component of the Public Services Online project is a promotional campaign to raise awareness about the different e-services available.
Hon Buontempo said that such initiatives simplify work and reduce bureaucracy and also empower local council officials as they can offer a more effective service to residents. “Technology can help consumers in getting served more efficiently and thus time and resources can be allocated for other work required by the local council,” said Hon Buontempo. Hon Herrera emphasized that through eGovernment it is possible to strengthen democracy and facilitate ease of access for various government services. “Government wants to increase the participation of citizens and businesses and wants them to interact more with all levels of Government. We believe that we can achieve this through eGovernment.” Hon Herrera also an-
for the public. For more information about the Public Services Online Project, visit www.gov.mt