Future business in association with Vodafone
MOBILE IN
MOTION
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‘People are now looking at the world through a different lens. Often the first impression a person gets of an organisation is within 10 seconds on their smartphone or tablet’
The rapid adoption of mobile devices and alwayson connectivity have become a business imperative, particularly in the areas of reaching customers and mobile working, writes Sorcha Corcoran
wo years ago founder of the world’s largest social network Facebook Mark Zuckerberg saw the trend of a complete audience shift to mobile. He called his top people into a meeting and said Facebook’s strategy needed to change and from then on it had to be a ‘mobile first’ company. This is a scenario that is becoming more and more common in Ireland as companies realise that the rapid adoption of mobile devices here is not something that can be ignored by top level management. From Facebook’s perspective, Ciaran Quilty, SMB regional director for EMEA, explains that Zuckerberg’s strategic body swerve effectively meant that every
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Irish Director Winter 2014/2015
single product review started with ‘how does this look on a mobile phone?’ before anything else. “It was a huge change affecting everything from products, engineers to infrastructure – everything had to be reengineered. We had to assume from then on that consumers were ‘always on’; in other words, always connected irrespective of the device or operating system.” Two thirds of Facebook’s US$3.2bn in revenue in quarter three of 2014 was from mobile advertising, so Zuckerberg’s judgment call appears to be paying off. Quilty illustrates the enormity of the trend globally: “Mobile is where our audience is now. Of the 1.3 billion people on Facebook, more than a billion are using it on
Winter 2014/2015 Irish Director
Future business in association with Vodafone
‘Great content will always be in demand and the power of VOD to reach users on an emotional level underlies the popularity of this format for advertisers’
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a mobile phone. When you think that there are the same amount of mobile devices in the world as toothbrushes – 6.5 billion – it’s incredible when you consider how long they’ve been around. “Renowned industry expert Mary Meeker’s internet trends report for 2014 shows that every day in the world 1.8 billion photos are shared on mobile phones and 90pc of the world’s data has been created in the past two years. The trend is unlocking so much time for everybody.” In Ireland, ComReg’s market report for the third quarter of 2014 shows there were 5.7 million mobile phone subscriptions at the end of September, which represents a mobile penetration rate of 124.9pc. From a population point of view, Quilty notes that of the 2.3 million people online in Ireland, the primary device is mobile for around 2 million of them. “Every day there are 1.5 million people on Facebook on their mobile phone in Ireland and the average person returns to Facebook 11 to 14 times a day on their mobile phone. “Mobile has been the great driver of our company’s growth in terms of the number of people using our services and
the time spent on our site has increased exponentially. The trend is fundamentally continuing. That is true not only in smartphone prevalent markets but also in developing markets where people often associate the entire internet with mobile.”
Video and mobile – a business opportunity Quilty says for Facebook the really interesting thing about mobile at the moment is that it is going to enable the next big wave of communication that is going to hit – video consumption on mobile devices. “The notion of saying ‘here’s a photo’ has changed to ‘here’s a [six-second] video’. Globally, Facebook had more than 1 billion daily video views on mobile devices last July, a volume which had grown by 50pc since May. “The rate of growth of video on mobile devices is staggering. For example, 17 million videos were created for the ALS Ice Bucket Challenge between June and September 2014, which were watched over 10 billion times. Mobile and video combined presents a great opportunity for businesses as a way to reach customers. We are seeing that coming through as a marketing trend now.”
Mobile outperforms in effectiveness study Research measuring the effectiveness of a mobile only ad campaign has shown that mobile advertising had a higher brand impact than the average scores achieved across other media. IAB Ireland’s Mobile Council commissioned a study by Red C Research on a specific mobile-only campaign for Innocent Super Smoothie range. An increase of 25pc was recorded in brand preference among those who saw the mobile ad versus those who didn’t see it. Applying Red C’S norm base for advertising evaluation, the Innocent Smoothie mobile campaign achieved a brand impact score of 80, which is higher than the norms for all other media channels. The campaign outperformed all other media on both rational and emotional impact. Adrian Acosta, chair of IAB Mobile’s Council, says the Innocent Super Smoothie campaign has clearly demonstrated that mobile advertising delivers powerful branding impact. CEO of Red C Research Richard Colwell adds: “It is expected that mobile advertising could have a good impact on the short-term rational call to action, but far more interesting is the impact that this mobile ad has had on the more long-term emotional connection with the brand, which has been shown to deliver a bigger return on advertising investment. It suggests mobile can be very effective at the heart of any
Ciaran Quilty, SMB regional director for EMEA at Facebook
Irish Director Winter 2014/2015
campaign.”
Winter 2014/2015 Irish Director
Future business in association with Vodafone
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‘Mobile has been the great driver of our company’s growth in terms of the number of people using our services and the time spent on our site has increased exponentially’
On 11 December 2014, Interactive Advertising Bureau (IAB) Ireland launched new research tracking Irish users’ consumption and attitudes towards video on demand (VOD) in Ireland. VOD refers to streamed, downloaded video content online on any device. The research was conducted by Nielsen Ireland on behalf of IAB Ireland. It shows that 28pc of those surveyed watch VOD content daily, on a variety of devices. Engagement with VOD is strongest amongst 1624 year olds (50pc watch daily). Free advertising-funded platforms are the most popular method of accessing content (90pc).
Companies in Ireland embracing mobile
Key indicators – mobile adoption in Irish business • • •
90pc of businesses are now using smartphones for work
55pc year-on-year (to end quarter three 2014)
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Enterprise data users increased by 31pc in the last quarter
where it can add value
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65pc of Vodafone customers are using smartphones as part of a
bring your own device or choose your own device policy
52pc are using tablets Nearly 90pc are using mobile data and usage has increased by
70pc of Irish businesses are freely embracing new technology
Source: Vodafone research Businesses ranging from small local retailers to large banks and professional services organisations in Ireland are incorporating mobile technologies into their strategies and seeing concrete results:
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Permanent TSB mobilised its website in January 2013; within
18 months, 145,000 customers were using this service on a monthly basis. Its customers login roughly three to four times per month via their desktop but they login via their mobile device over 19 times per month
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Estate agents Sherry Fitzgerald has regained two hours per
employee they were losing in travel time by embracing mobile technology
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Ruth Monaghan, owner of Dublin florists Apashionata, views
Facebook as her online shopping window and sees a two times increase in footfall into her shop following targeted ad campaigns on Facebook
Irish Director Winter 2014/2015
Acceptance of advertising in and around VOD content is strong (74pc) with half of those surveyed happy to watch advertising in order to view free content. Just over a quarter of respondents visited a brand’s website/ physical location after exposure to advertising in VOD content, 24pc have searched for a brand/product on the internet, 10pc have bought the brand and 19pc have amplified the message about the brand via word of mouth. “This Nielsen study confirms the high level of VOD consumption and engagement in the Irish market. The research illustrates how VOD complements TV campaigns in delivering harder to reach audiences,” says Maeve O’Meara, marketing manager, IAB Ireland. “Great content will always be in demand and the power of VOD to reach users on an emotional level underlies the popularity of this format for advertisers. VOD advertising spend grew by 75pc in the first half of 2014 – we look forward to further strong growth for VOD in 2015 and beyond.”
THE VODAFONE
VIEW
Leo O’Leary, head of large business at Vodafone Ireland
Device penetration and the ability to be connected everywhere have brought mobility strategies to top management attention within organisations
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he rollout of 4G technology across Ireland is a critical business enabler on the back of massive mobile device proliferation in the marketplace over the past few years, according to Leo O’Leary, head of large business at Vodafone Ireland. “For the business community, there are massive benefits in terms of being connected anywhere with superfast mobile broadband access,” says O’Leary. “Technologies such as 4G enable both consumers and enterprises to use mobile technologies in ways they never have been able to before. If you put that together with the strong trend of mobile device adoption, which is showing no sign of abating, it is an exciting proposition.” Vodafone customers in Ireland currently have access to the widest 4G coverage footprint, which stretches across six cities and 438 towns and villages – covering over 83pc of the country’s population, in addition to providing 3G coverage to over 96pc of the population. By the end of December, Vodafone customers in Waterford City Cork, Dublin and Limerick will have become the first people in Ireland to have access to 4G+ technology, which provides data speeds twice as fast as existing 4G. The compelling nature of the mobile movement means that it is increasingly being discussed in Ireland’s boardrooms in the context of overall business strategy, O’Leary has observed. “Three or four years ago, mobile technology was managed at procurement level as it wasn’t seen as a business imperative. Now, organisations are realising they need to be ready for the future and examine how relevant and critical different technologies are to the business when looking ahead,” he says. “Chief technology officers and chief information officers are looking at mobile in a way they never did previously and the responsibility for mobile within organisations has moved further
up the value chain.” A management trend which O’Leary has witnessed coming much more to the fore over the past 12 months is newly dedicated roles being created within companies to manage social media strategy. “This shows a clear statement of intent that organisations are taking social media seriously and want to recruit the right skills to keep up with the competition.” The use of mobile devices by staff has also reached top management level with the arrival of ‘bring your own device’ policies over the past couple of years and more recently, ‘choose your own device’ (CYOD). Vodafone research shows that 60pc of senior business people across 80 countries believe that flexible working and enterprise mobility is cost-effective and environmentally sustainable. “Because of the proliferation of devices the need for mobile to become a key enabler for individuals to carry out their roles has become greater. With CYOD, employers are taking things to the next level, giving employees a range of mobile devices to choose from. This has become particularly important for organisations wanting to attract the right talent,” O’Leary notes. As mobile screens become more prevalent than desktops, responsive design of company websites has become critical from a business perspective and therefore also of top management interest. “People are now looking at the world through a different lens. Often the first impression a person gets of an organisation is within 10 seconds on their smartphone or tablet. “This is equally as important from a business to business point of view. For example, if a company is looking to break into new markets and is looking for a supplier, the first thing it will consider is the look and feel of that supplier online to see if it has invested in technology and is leading edge,” notes O’Leary. Winter 2014/2015 Irish Director
Future business in association with Vodafone
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Integration of digital thinking into
BUSINESS MODELS
A recently released report highlights how Irish companies need to get to grips with technologies including mobile if they are to keep up and not lose business
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rish businesses need to integrate digital thinking into their business model if they are to retain and grow their markets, according to a report published in December by BearingPoint Institute. The digital strategy report ‘Leap into the connected digital economy’ estimates that the online market is likely to constitute 20pc of the entire world market by 2030. While the report outlines the consistently strong value of physical stores, through innovative use of emerging digital technologies, businesses can offer bespoke, personalised services, resulting in new customer experiences. “The report confirms that there has definitely been a shift towards online shopping globally. However, consumers are looking for a blend of the online piece with physical shops. The growth of mobile and superfast broadband means we are all able to browse online while on the move. Consumers are now more attracted to those companies that can provide a full rounded experience and help to build largely a personalised solution,” says Michael O’Dwyer, partner at BearingPoint Ireland. THE CORPORATE PERSPECTIVE “From a corporate perspective, everybody has a smart phone and is always on and connected, which means that people within organisations tend to me more productive than they used to be. A lot of Irish companies are still buying mobile devices without having a clear idea of how to use them effectively from a work perspective.
Irish Director Winter 2014/2015
Others are making use of simple solutions, such as collating information on shop floors using a smart device. Things that used to be done on paper are now being done on smart phones. The process is worked out on the screen and companies can compare and spot trends easier and faster.” The BearingPoint Institute report highlighted how car manufacturers – through the use of integrated digital services like music streaming, automatic traffic updates and anti-theft tracking – are embracing a combination of new technologies to enhance customer experience. However, there is concern that an unwillingness to adapt to new technologies, or a general ignorance of them, may be holding back Irish businesses. The report cited Blockbuster, Kodak and EMI as businesses that had failed to adopt a meaningful digital strategy in the face of internet-born competitors, suffering considerably as a result. “Irish businesses can forge an entirely new digital environment using technologies like big data and cloud computing,” said O’Dwyer. “These are widely available and widely regarded, and can have hugely transformative effects on a business, particularly in delivering new value to customers. “Adoption of these new technologies drives up not only productivity and efficiency, but profitability. An innovative Ireland that embraces this new digital economy will not only remain relevant, but encourage business creation and attract continued foreign investment.”
Michael O’Dwyer, partner, BearingPoint Ireland
Winter 2014/2015 Irish Director