PeopleMatter

But They Can Help Your Business

Level pictures or your productivity…smartphones can do it all. Well, almost.

“Smartphones make our lives easier in countless ways, but unfortunately when it comes to curing acne, there’s no app for that,” said FTC Chairman, Jon Leibowitz.

You might have seen (or even bought) an iPhone app with acne-fighting superpowers. Shockingly, this is completely false. And now the FTC is “popping” those two companies’ zany zit claims. Sorry, teenagers—high school will be just as awkward with or without your 99-cent “AcnePwner” app.

If you’ve moved past puberty, however, smartphones DO have superpowers...for your service-industry business.

Txt UR Boss?! OMG!

Like it or not, texting is here in a big way. More text messages fly around the earth every day than the number of people actually living on it. Eighty percent of 18-29 year-olds have texted in the past 24 hours, and there’s a good chance just as many slept with their cell phone last night. In the time it takes you to make a phone call or type an email, your employees have discussed last night’s game, where they’re going for lunch and what David’s Facebook status really means…all in 140 characters or less.

Use the one thing your tech-savvy team won’t leave the house without to your business advantage. Eighty-six percent of Gen Yers own a mobile phone. Even scarier? One-third of 11-year-olds do. Is your business prepared to leverage mobile technology to maximize your upcoming workforces’ talents?

If those stats don’t have you scrambling for SMS, or if you take a “friends, not managers” stance on mobile communication for your workplace, consider this: our ‘2011 HR Tech’ survey found that:

• Incorporating mobile and other electronic scheduling methods (website, email, online talent management system), increases labor management efficiency by more than 30 percent.
• Adopting a mobile shift-request method increases overall scheduling satisfaction by 20 percent.
• One out of four respondents manage employee feedback and communication via mobile.
• Mobile is the easiest feedback and communication method.
• Companies “get it.” Ninety-five percent of companies that include mobile feedback and communication options believe employee feedback is beneficial.
• Offering mobile and electronic platforms reduces turnover by one-third.

Can you hear us now?

The App Opp

It doesn’t get much more practical than a light saber app. You never know when you might meet a storm trooper in the subway.

But for those times when you (and your mobile-social ‘Force’) aren’t wielding off the Evil Empire, there’s a much more useful business application for smartphone applications. Apps can help you schedule, train and engage your team.

Create your own or use a system that can provide them for you. Your workforce is likely already familiar with how to use smartphone apps (the industry is on track to hit $17.5B and 50B downloads by the end of the year). A scheduling app is an easy way for employees to keep track of their shifts, so they can focus on delivering better service at work…instead of whether or not they’re supposed to be at work.

Two-thirds of people believe doubling the amount of info and apps on their phone would make them more productive at work. Give your people what they’re asking for with a training app. Employees get learning on the go, on their own time, and you get more productivity (and poems):

Train on a train.
Take a test on a plane.
Paper manuals are such a pain.

Our last piece of app-vice: Jump in bed with your employees. One-third of smartphone owners use apps before getting out of bed. ServSafe training before breakfast? It’s possible with apps and the right talent management system.

Use technology and tools that make your employees lives easier. Turns out it can make yours easier, too.

It’s a Camera! It’s a Computer! It’s…Super Smartphone!

Everything that people used to do tethered to a desktop, they’re now doing on their phone. Mobile technology offers some incredible business opportunities if you take advantage of it. Get ahead of your competition and in front of your customers with more innovative mobile uses like these:

Smartphone is the new:

• Cash Register—1.5 billion people will transfer money via mobile by 2014
• Pop-Up Ad—Mobile advertising grew 41 percent in 2009
• Shopping Cart—Mobile shopping industry will reach $119 billion by 2015
• Website—In 100 days, Marriott generated $1.25 million from its mobile website
• Scanner—Mobile barcode scanning rose 700 percent in 2010
• Room Key—Hotel doors will open via phone in the future

How will you use mobile to revolutionize your business?

Cell to Sell

Disclaimer: Mobile business applications do not cure acne, hangovers or horrible bosses. But they can help you recruit, retain, develop and engage a tech-savvy team. Learn more about the mobile-social revolution, or see how we can help you leverage the cell to sell.

Happy Mobile’ing,
The PeopleMatter Institute

P.S. We promise we didn’t make up those statistics. Sources include our ‘2011 HR Tech’ report, our Mobile-Social eBook data and this Mobile Inc. article.