apps

Mobile means different things depending on how you run look at your business. You may rephrase the question a few different ways depending on how you view your business:

Can your clients access information about you with their mobile devices? This is Mobile Presence. The top question on the list is does your website supporting mobile browsing?
Are you engaging with your customers through their mobile devices? This is Mobile Marketing. A simple approach might be email or text messaging (aka SMS) of promotions.
Are you and your staff able to do work without being on-premise? This is Mobile Workforce. When you are not in the building: how do you access business data? How do you handle phone calls? Are there processes that you want to accessible remotely?

Some solutions you should consider are enabling your website for mobile devices, Mobile apps, a platform for mobile marketing or mobile communications, and cloud-hosted VoIP.

Mobile responsive website:

The text on the page is generally larger and easier to read. Content is formatted optimally for the browsing device’s screen. Also, navigation is condensed to use less screen space.
Users will get the same content independent of device they used. This provides users a centralized place to access information about your business.
Since the content must fit a varied of screens, this is not as personable as an app on your client’s device. Also, gaps in network coverage can impede access.

Native mobile application:

Apps are designed and optimized for a specific set of functions. Many apps can function independent of network connectivity. You can do things with an app that you can’t do from a webpage.
Mobile apps tend to have better performance than web-based apps. Also, users tend to feel more comfortable with apps on their own device.
Apps may need updated when there is a major device OS release. Adding new features to an app requires release cycle.
Having a set of apps over one large app will reduce app complexity, improve stability, and help prevent exceeding the limited memory capacity of older mobile devices.

Mobile mar-comm platform:

This will expand your marketing strategy with a mobile device centric coupon, loyalty or messaging capability. You may also link this with your current social media platforms.
This enables you to interact with your customers in ways they prefer. Having a multi-channel content keeps you engaged with your customers.
Some staff training will be needed to handle new modes of customer interaction and content flow.

Cloud-hosted VoIP:

A primary feature is: no special on-premise hardware, i.e. there is no capital expense for PBX hardware. Also, you can leverage your existing data connection versus dedicated lines. Another key feature is you can use your choice of device: dedicated phone, web-app, or app for smartphone, tablet or computer.
This means you are not tied to a physical location, you can have one contact number and work from multiple locations. This makes your organization extensible, quickly adding or removing both staff and locations.
You will need to test your network for suitability and be sure to test the service for quality and feature set before you commit to it.

There is a lot of talk now about the Internet of Things. Yes, that is the next wave, but many small businesses have yet to fully take advantage of the benefits that the current Mobile and Cloud Computing waves have to offer.

Web eCommerce sites are nice. You get to control all aspects of the branding and buying experience, but this comes at the price of having to get buyers to your store’s site.

What buyers want is to be able to buy on the spot. First can buttons that could be easily added to websites. PayPal and Shopify both provide these. The latest development comes from Shopify with Buyable Pins for Pinterest.

Shopify and Pinterest worked together to let customers buy your products without leaving the Pinterest app. Any product from your Shopify store that gets pinned in Pinterest will automatically become a Buyable Pin. The great thing about this for you is that it is another channel for your products without a lot of extra effort.

Shopify is currently the only way for small and medium-sized businesses to sell using Buyable Pins on Pinterest. Customers can checkout right on Pinterest. When a customer is ready to make the final purchase, they can now checkout using a credit card or Apple Pay without having to leave the Pinterest app.

To sell products on Pinterest, all you need to do is add the new Pinterest sales channel to your Shopify account. This will automatically enable Buyable Pins for all of your products found on Pinterest. There’s no additional cost to list or sell products using this new Shopify channel. You can measure customer engagement, track the number of Pins, repins, and orders using the Pinterest Channel Dashboard in your Shopify Administration console.

Reach new shoppers by selling on Pinterest with “Buy It” buttons. Optimized for the mobile experience, Pinners can now choose to purchase an item they love without leaving the site. Learn more about how Shopify has partnered with Pinterest so that you can truly sell anywhere.

Try Shopify for Free today.

The March 14th Business and Community Showcase in Lake Zurich had over 1200 visitors. The theme for the Stratus Concept booth took its cue from the date 3.14.15 aka – Ultimate Pi Day. I gave away Pi tattoos and wore my once in a century tee shirt.

On a serious note, I demonstrated the iOS and Android Mainstreet Resources app that was developed for Mainstreet Organization of Realtors and was just launched in February.

I also talked about my Cloud Infrastructure as a Service and played videos about Office-in-the-Cloud and Desktop-as-a-Service.

If we met there, thanks for attending.