Mobile reached a tipping point in 2014 as it solidified its position as one of the most disruptive technologies for businesses in decades. Not since the advent of the Internet has a technology forced businesses to rethink completely how they win, serve, and retain customers.
 
Forrester believes that, in the future, the new competitive battleground will be the mobile moment. Why? Consumers expect to engage with brands to get any information or service they desire immediately and in context. Today, 18% of US online consumers have this expectation, while 30% are in the midst of a transition to this mobile mind shift. This revolution is taking place quickly across the globe: Forrester forecasts that 42% of the total population globally will own a smartphone by the end of 2015.
 
Forrester believes that, in 2015, the gap will increase between marketing leaders and eBusiness professionals who will re-engineer their business to deliver valuable mobile moments and the majority of executives who will continue to take a myopic approach by considering mobile just as another digital channel.
 
Together, with my colleague Julie Ask, we expect new mobile trends to shape the market in 2015. In particular, we predict that:
 
  • Mobile will fuel a massive business technology agenda arms race. eBusiness and Marketing leaders are putting pressure on competitors by elevating customer expectations based on innovative ways to win, serve, and retain customers in their mobile moments. As a result, mobile will be the catalyst for unprecedented digital transformation initiatives. Industry leaders will spend and orchestrate massive investments in the tens to hundreds of millions of dollars in systems and processes to engage consumers effectively on mobile devices. For example, The Home Depot has announced that it will spend $1.5 billion to improve its supply chain and other back-end systems related to mobile ordering. Hilton Worldwide is investing $550 million to transform the customer experience and better serve its guests in their mobile moments.
  • Re-engineering organizations and processes for mobile will take priority for an elite few. Mobile can change your entire business — not just your digital business — but few firms can make the transformation because digital professionals with mobile expertise sit midorganization, in siloes, without the power to effect change beyond a digital business. Only 7% percent of enterprises surveyed had an organization in place to enable the use of mobile to transform customer experiences throughout the entire business, and at the most, we expect to see 25% of companies do so in 2015.
 
We are also making calls on what to expect in 2015 regarding mobile business models, innovation, apps, advertising, content marketing, wallets, wearables, and privacy.
If you want to know more about these trends, you can either download the full report or contact us. Do you disagree with the above statements? In your opinion, what will happen in 2015?