When everyone and everything connects, anywhere, anytime

It was an early start for the first Amplify sessions this morning, but with coffees in hand an eager crowd filed onto the 25th floor of the AMP building to hear from one of the mobile industry’s most influential strategists, Bob Egan.

Some of the stats Bob opened with were enough to wake me up out of the Monday morning haze. According to Bob, of the 6.8 billion people on the planet, 77% own a smartphone. Wow! And a particularly scary stat, which may not come as too much of a surprise for parents, is that in 2010 the average US teen sent 3,339 text messages per month!

Bob explained the current environment as a ‘perfect storm’. Near free platforms, low cost components and high speed access is turning our world into one where mobility is starting to come first.

But what does this mean for business?

According to Bob – major disruption! We’re living in a time where connectivity is the absolute metric for business. As individuals and companies we’re measured on how we connect to systems, how we connect to each other, to our customers, employees and families.

Bob’s prediction is that businesses that don’t embrace mobility, and the demands of the younger generation, simply won’t survive.

As the digital economy migrates from web to mobile, the next major growth will be driven by anticipating the needs of the consumer. As a brand, how credible are we? Are we available to customers when they need us? Are we connected?

And the risk of not engaging with mobile is not just alienating customers. If business wants to attract and retrain good talent, the talent will demand the exposure to mobility.

Plenty of food for thought at this fascinating talk! For more insights track #Amplifyfest on Twitter, or you’ll be able to watch Bob’s full talk on his Amplify speaker page later this afternoon.
 

Blogpost by Carla Ellerby from the Amplify team @carlaroo