Mobile transformation; the impact

Mobile is catalyst for transformation

Mobile is not a device, but a way of working. So the job in hand it not to simply make every website and app you have available on a mobile device. This transformation to mobile is going to be long, hard and expensive. And not many companies are well advanced as the recent survey of 500 companies with more than 1000 employees by Constellation Research has discovered. The results are published in a report, Strategic Impact of Mobile Transformation.  Their summary of which is:

1. Mobile transformation is top of mind for most organizations: 82% of organizations reported having dedicated teams for mobile transformation. From an industry point of view, education had the lowest rate, with only 68 percent of organizations reporting they have dedicated mobile teams in place, while not surprisingly high-tech companies led the way with 91 percent.
2. Mobile is not a device but an effective way of working: When people talk about mobile computing, thoughts usually turn to smartphones and tablets. While devices do play a role, mobile describes the larger topic of how people work in motion. Increasingly, more time is being spent away from the confines of a traditional office/desk environment, and working in short bursts while between other tasks is becoming more common. Sometimes, these “on-demand moments” could be as simple as glancing down at an email, but they could also be participating in a customer meeting or collaborating on a project while working at a coffee shop.
3. Mobile provides a starting point for digital transformation: The top priority (50% of responses) for mobile usage with employees was improving communications, yet only 36% of responses indicated they are currently doing this well. The top priority (59% of responses) for mobile usage with customers was improving customer support, yet only 46% of responses indicated they are currently doing this well. Clearly a gap exists between the importance organizations see in mobile transformation and how effective they have been thus far in completing it.

 Transformation starts with “reinventing the business”

The phrase “Digital Disruption” is very apt. Cloud, social, big data and of course mobile are reinventing almost every industry with whole new business models emerging. But it is also setting radically different customer, employee and partner expectations. The Tempkin Experience Ratings survey, which is a large-scale customer experience (CX) benchmark, has been conducted each year since 2010. This is the first year CX has dropped and the results are in this report: 2015 Temkin Experience Ratings.  The results of the survey can be summarised as:

Keeping up with your mediocre peers may no longer be a viable strategy. As consumer discontent rises, there will be more opportunities for your competitors (or entirely new competition) to radically improve their CX and steal your customers. CX isn’t keeping up with customer expectations.

So now is the time to start looking at your entire business operation from a customer journey (Outside-In) perspective. What are you trying to achieve? What is the best CX? How do you eliminate the friction in the operations?

Process analysis approach

This is pure process analysis. It is best conducted in live workshops with the key stakeholders – provided they approach the workshop with an open mind and are prepared to let go of the past.  Whilst the workshops can be extremely effective, they are expensive when you consider the time and effort getting such a senior group of people together for a day.

Preparation is key, and we have prepared a brief guide on how to run a senior level workshop. This is based on years of conducting workshops in over 1000 companies in every industry. It works. It gets engagement and amazing results.

In fact I ran a workshop recently with a major engineering construction firm. In the room we had 12 battle-hardened VPs who were responsible for delivering multi-billion dollar projects with years of experience in the firm. It was difficult not to be slightly intimidated as the facilitator. But the day was perfectly positioned by the project sponsor. I thought the workshop went well. But it clearly went better than I expected as the CEO sent me an email from one of the attendees who said “this was the most valuable day I have spent with the company”. High praise indeed – for the approach, process. Not me.

Bottom line

Digital Disruption is driving radical business transformation

Mobile transformation is at the heart of that transformation.

Start with the customer perspective and take a process approach.