Why Your mHealth Brand Needs a Mobile Strategist

The more I think about marketing in a mobile-centric world like mHealth the more certain I am that a mobile strategist is an essential part of the equation.

I have written about Why mHealth Companies need a mobile strategy in a previous blog. But looking forward mHealth companies, especially, need a mobile strategist… not just a strategy. As the leaders in mobile technology, mHealth brands are at the pinnacle of mobile innovation and ideas. The marketplace is going to become more and more about mobile and to stay ahead of your competitors, you’ll need to stay agile and adaptable, especially when it comes to your mobile strategy.

According to a recent article on Forbes.com, over 1,000 CIOs were surveyed by Vanson Bourne showing that U.S. companies plan to spend an average of nearly $1 million on mobile initiatives over the next year. The number of mobile projects companies are planning is increasing too – at the beginning of 2012 companies were managing an average of four to five mobile initiatives across various departments, and planning to add three to four new mobile undertakings in the second half of the year.

Should you consider designating a mobile strategist at your mHealth firm? Here are nine reasons from Forbes.com that you might want to consider:

Why You Need an mHealth Mobile Strategist

Business Moves at Mobile Speed
According to Cisco, by 2016, there will be 10 billion Internet-enabled devices globally and smartphone traffic will grow 50 times the size it is today. Mobility is no longer a nice to have — it’s a critical requirement of doing business and staying competitive.

BYOD is the New Reality
Globally, BYOD is catching on. Enterprises around the world are making the decision to support employee-selected devices. However, maintaining security, control and visibility into devices and data has become a primary concern for CIOs.

Multiple Mobile Initiatives Cause Major Fragmentation
Make it one person’s day job. With enterprises currently managing multiple mobile projects and new ones being added at a rapid clip, mobile is too often put into silos at most organizations.

A Mobile Strategist is an Objective Voice of Reason for the Increasingly Mobile Business
Maintaining the delicate balance between addressing user needs and IT capabilities can be difficult for any company. Let your mobile strategist be a hub between all department spokes to ensure that mobile initiatives truly reflect business need – and the technology is in place to support it as well.

Mobile is No Longer a “One and Done”
Today, a single mobile app alone cannot fulfill all business objectives and needs. Mobile initiatives require strategic planning, budgeting, research, prototyping and testing, as well as consistent updating. Mobile undertakings need to be iterative and agile, rather than tactical one-off projects with a beginning and an end.

Time is of the Essence
Every day a competitor has an engaging app on the market and your company does not is a day of lost revenue. Companies have a need for speed in rapidly iterating and refining mobile initiatives to stay current, incorporate feedback from users, and make adjustments based on data from analytics.

Poor Design is the Silent Killer
Ensuring mobile projects are easy to use will help improve efficiency and productivity gains, as well as profitability. A mobile strategist can ensure that intuitive UI design, ease of use and strong feature/functionality are built in to mobile projects from day one.

Mobile Adoption is a Major Concern
Despite the investment of both money and time companies are making in mobile, 75 percent of employees are not adopting internally-facing mobile apps. Even worse, only one in five companies has seen customer-facing mobile initiatives adopted by ‘the majority’ of their target market.

App Discoverability is the New Challenge
The work is far from over once an app is published. Today there are more than one million apps in the Apple App Store and Google Play. With Internet traffic increasing over smartphones and tablets, enterprises must take care to ensure their apps are discoverable quickly.

These factors combined have created an environment that has made it crucial for enterprises to evaluate their mobile strategy and who is tasked with leading that strategy today and tomorrow. As the mobile channel continues to grow we expect to see this strategic role take flight in a big way.