14 Mobile Phone Trends Every Small Business Should Consider
Whether you own a small business and want to keep your finger on the pulse of advancing technology or you’re looking into it for other reasons, you will want to know the following 14 mobile phone trends.
1. Developing a Mobile App With a Small Business
The first thing to know is that no business is too small anymore to take an interest in developing a mobile app. More small businesses than ever are awakening to the potential such tools provide, including increased revenue and adopting a competitive edge.
2. Adding to Revenue Using Mobile Apps
Speaking of increased revenue, mobile applications have themselves become a lucrative source of revenue for many businesses. Adopting the right model can help you recoup the costs you invested in developing yours and perhaps even establish an alternate stream of income in case your business hits hard financial times.
3. Keeping Initial Investment Low with Hybrids
Creating an app for your own business does not have to be as expensive as you might think. A less expensive and quicker method of rolling out your new app to a multitude of platforms is opting for a hybrid app instead of a native one. Hybrid apps allow all-in-one compatibility across more devices, and that means not having to develop a separate app for each platform.
4. Advancing Usage Through Wearable Tech
One area worth considering for your business is wearable technology that syncs to mobile phones. As consumer interests in this area increase, so do the options for implementation. Examples may include watches that track health stats, wireless ear buds that can be worn while swimming and more.
5. Establishing Convenience With Mobile Payments
People are becoming more accustomed to using their phones for every aspect of their lives, often including mobile payments. Implementing mobile payment options in your business can open you up to a broader range of clients and customers than cash and credit card machines alone. As security improves, more people may be willing to adopt this convenient method of purchasing power.
6. Increasing Demands for Security
As mobile devices become all-encompassing storage compartments for people’s lives, security becomes a primary concern for many of those people. If you want to gain your customers’ trust and remain worthy of it, exceptional security is a must. Steps to take include implementing SSL certificates, reducing information collected on users to the bare minimum necessities and tightening up data storage practices for what you do need to collect.
7. Implementing Biometric Tools
A method of security enhancement that is being utilized more widely with time is biometrics. This type of security ties a device’s access to a specific user through things such as fingerprint, facial or voice recognition.
8. Using Personal Devices for Business
As security improves, businesses are becoming more open to allowing employees to use personal devices for accessing company digital property. In fact, many businesses encourage or require this access method because it may lower the company’s overhead costs and it also allows employees to keep using devices they’re already familiar with.
9. Enhancing Value With Augmented Reality
A fun option for fostering user engagement and enjoyment is through augmented reality. Ways your business could incorporate this type of app is to offer photo-editing resources that add humorous objects to digital photos the user snapped or fashion tools that help a person digitally “try on” clothing before committing to a purchase.
10. Stepping Up With Virtual Reality
An option that takes augmented realities to the next level is virtual reality. Users are able to experience sights and sounds in an immersive manner, even if they can’t physically travel to those places. Using VR headsets, sometimes in combination with suits, joysticks or other types of controllers, users can hike forests, visit monuments or play heart-pounding games.
11. Finding the Way With Location Tech
Another way to take advantage of mobile technology is through location services. Examples include insurance companies offering discounts to “good” drivers based on app data or apps that track expenses effortlessly by recording mileage.
12. Getting There With Transportation Apps
If you need to provide transportation to your employees, such as during business trips, options in this area are expanding. Your employee could hail a lift with ride-sharing services or even rent a vehicle with car-sharing options. Even bicycle and scooter rentals are becoming more widely available.
13. Making Homes Smarter With Mobile Connectivity
If you’re looking for other ways to break into the mobile market, smart home tech is being adopted by more people all the time. Give your products a new spin by letting your customers control or monitor them even away from home.
14. Making Access More Fluid With Artificial Intelligence
Artificial intelligence, commonly known as AI, is putting information at people’s fingertips with “assistant” apps, speech to text engines and learning tools. For example, your business may benefit from AI that interprets your customers’ trends.
Now that you know some mobile phone trends that benefit businesses in general, your next step is to consider how those trends could improve yours. Getting in on one or more of them may prove indispensable to your business’s long-term success.