iPad apps. Audio Memos - The Voice Recorder. Box for iPhone and iPad. HootSuite for Twitter & Facebook. Research Article. How Small Businesses Are Using Mobile [INFOGRAPHIC] Small and medium-sized businesses rely heavily on mobile technologies. In fact, our smartphones and other mobile devices have become so critical to day-to-day operations that a majority of small companies around the U.S. say they couldn't run their companies without mobile technologies.
These businesses are using mobile apps like Square and Foursquare for a wide range of specific tasks, from processing payments to conducting marketing campaigns. In more general terms, SMBs say that using mobile technologies helps them gain a competitive advantage, increase productivity and efficiency, and allow their employees to work remotely — something that might lead to 50% of the SMB workforce working from home or remotely by next year. In addition to using mobile apps, many SMBs are making their own. Mashable has a ton of resources for businesses wanting to make apps. This infographic comes to us via Intuit and design shop Column Five. Click image to see larger version. 10 Ways to Improve Your Business with Mobile Technology. A recent study shows how reliant small businesses have become on mobile technology.
The 2013 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll says 85 percent of small businesses now use some kind of smartphone. And 80 percent of small firms founded less than two years ago use tablets, the survey also showed. Customers are becoming more mobile too. The International Data Corporation, a global marketing intelligence firm, says the number of smartphones shipped now outpaces the number of “regular” cell phones worldwide. Tablets are on the increase with customers too. Add Mobile Payment Options for Customer Convenience ~ USA Today Uyen Nguyen owner of Lemongrass Truck, a growing food truck business, reckons her budding company would be nowhere at all without mobile technology. Arm Your Sales Team With Mobile Tools ~Tweak Your Biz Zoe Maldonado, blogger at TechBreach, writes about the tools of the modern sales force.
Use QR Codes to Engage Customers in the Mobile Space ~ Right Hand Planning. 4 Mobile Technologies That Will Change How You Do Business in 2014. Small business owners, get ready.
In 2014, new mobile gear will help you connect with customers, sell your product and stay productive wherever you are. In other words, these four burgeoning mobile technologies are primed to change how you do business in the new year. Phablets If you don’t already own a megasized smartphone/tablet hybrid — often called phablets — you might by the end of 2014. Over the past two years, smartphones have been getting bigger and bigger. True mobile multitasking Mobile operating systems such as Android and iOS were designed to display one app on-screen at once. Smartwatches The first big smartwatches launched in 2013, but 2014 could be the year they hit the mainstream. Tablet/laptop hybrids It’s the return of the netbook. 12 Smart E-Commerce Strategies to Help Grow Your Business.
Your plans for the New Year call for growing your company’s revenue in 2014, but where will your increased sales come from — a larger salesforce, new markets, or product innovation?
The likely source of new customers will be e-commerce. Just look at the evidence: this past holiday season Black Friday was a bust while Cyber Monday hit the ball out of the park! In the eMarketer latest forecast for U.S. retail e-commerce and mcommerce sales for the full year, it is estimated that U.S. e-commerce will have generated $262.3 billion in sales for 2013, an increase of 16.4 percent year over year and slightly higher than the 16.2 percent increase last year. By 2017 eMarketer estimates that there will be $440 billion in sales for a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 13.8 percent. Here are 12 e-commerce strategies you should plan to implement in 2014: Mobile Image Recognition to Revolutionize Ecommerce? Mobile image recognition technology identifies objects like shoes, handbags, and golf clubs in images, videos, or directly through a tablet or smartphone’s image sensor.
The technology may make a new form of mobile commerce possible in just the next few years, allowing shoppers to see products in use or on another person and instantly buy those items from a mobile application. Imagine walking on a busy street in San Francisco or Boston. You see a fashionable person wearing a attractive suit or carrying a beautiful handbag that you’d like to have for yourself. You pull out your iPhone 7 — this technology might take a few years — and a mobile image recognition (MIR) app instantly identifies the suit or handbag, offers prices from three or four online retailers, and provides a one-touch “buy now” button for you to complete the purchase.
Current State of Mobile Image Recognition Technology One could think of it as “showrooming” everywhere. MIR May Offer Limited Results.