Mobile a revenue generator for SMEs

Mobile a revenue generator for SMEs

With m-commerce, even payments and transactions can be facilitated. The issues of physical presence at an outlet, access to the Internet, etc. are fast getting eliminated, giving consumers the opportunity to transact anytime, anywhere

Tuesday, January 17, 2012

BANGALORE, INDIA: India is the second largest and one of the fastest growing mobile markets in the world. On the global front, according to Microsoft Tag, of the 4 billion cell phones in the world, 1.08 billion are smart phones and more than 50 per cent of local searches are done on mobile devices.

Efficient Frontier estimates that 22 per cent of all searches in 2012 will be on mobile phones and it is predicted that in 2014 mobile Internet will overtake desktop usage.

The above data is a glimpse of what we can expect in the future. It is time SMEs look at Mobile not just as a communication tool, but as the revenue generator. Touted as the next generation of e-commerce, mobile commerce (m-commerce) enables users to access Internet without the need to find a place to plug in.

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With m-commerce, even payments and transactions can be facilitated. The issues of physical presence at an outlet, access to the Internet, amongst others are fast getting eliminated, giving consumers the opportunity to transact anytime, anywhere.

It is time for SMEs to consider m-commerce options closely. Agreed that m-commerce in India is in its initial stage, but is surely showing signs of a healthy growth. Today m-commerce makes it possible to buy your favourite movie tickets, booking air or train tickets for your next holiday or even doing bank transactions.

The reasons for its growth can be traced back to technological innovations and changing aspects of the socio-cultural behaviour in today's world.

SMEs need to identify this opportunity and should look at offering their products and services for the mobile users. Of course, there are challenges to address before entering this space.

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We have to accept those challenges and move towards achieving the goal. For that matter, when e-commerce was introduced a few years back, the same challenges existed and even today it exists. However, these challenges have not stopped this segment to grow over 500 per cent since 2007 in India.

©CIOL Bureau