5 Tech Trends You Can't Afford To Ignore - INC. Repost

5 Tech Trends You Can't Afford To Ignore - INC. Repost

Valley was aflutter this week with Mary Meeker's bold new report on Internet trends. Here's what you missed.

 

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When Mary Meeker speaks, the Valley listens. This week, Meeker, a general partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (the venture firm founded in 1972 that's invested in pretty much every major tech company of the last quarter century) unveiled her 88-page analysis of Web, mobile, technology, and societal trends. Here, we've excerpted the most important elements of the report, especially trends that may affect small business and startups.
 

1) You should care about China. And India. And Indonesia.

Emerging markets have always played a key role in expansion, but the Internet has magnified this principle. Here, Meeker outlines the role of international Internet adoption. As you can see, it's huge. From 2008 to 2012, China added 282 million Internet users, bringing their total number of users close to double the population of the United States.

2) Your mobile strategy may be the most important part of your business. 

In 2008, only about $0.7 billion was made on mobile. By the end of 2012, the mobile market will have ballooned to a staggering $19 billion, split 67 percent between apps and 33 percent ads. According to Meeker, when looking at the average time users spend on on media, people spend about ten percent of their "media time" on mobile--but just 1 percent of ad spend is spent on mobile. In other words, despite current user adoption, there's still plenty of room for growth. Another fact to note: In India, mobile Internet traffic surpassed desktop Internet traffic in May, 2012.

 

3) Don't forget about Android users.

Meeker is bullish on Android as a platform. According to her calculations, iPhone adoption has exploded in the last four years, but Android phone adoption "has ramped even faster – nearly 6x iPhone."
 
4) If you sell a product, you'd be crazy not to focus your e-commerce on mobile and tablet apps.

This chart pretty much speaks for itself: By 2012, about a quarter of all Internet shopping traffic on Black Friday were made on either mobile or a tablet.

5) Tech start-ups are leading the charge.

Meeker has a lengthy section "reimagining" what the world will look like--going from desktops to tablets, cash to cashless, maps to navigation systems, etc. Of course, like any good venture capitalist, Meeker found a way here to plug a few of Kleiner's portfolio companies, including Gumroad (e-payments), Quirky (product design), Evernote (note taking), DocuSign (electronic signatures), and Square (mobile payments).

Beyond Best Practice, Our Top 10 Series On Building A Mobile Website

Do you already have a website?  Do you know if it provides a good experience to the mobile user?  In this 10 part series we will give you quick tips, tools and resources you can utilize to ensure your website is optimized for the user on the move because that is where all the money is going.

Are you a product retailer?

Are you a product distributor?  

Are you in health care?

Are you in finance?

Do you run a service business? 

Do you have a business?

if the answer is YES to any of the above you need to be mobile.  Do you know the real estate term location, location, location?  Well for business its now mobile, mobile, mobile. Mobile web use is exploding. By 2015, more Americans will access the web via mobile than desktop. Building a mobile-friendly site is essential for businesses to prepare for the mobile movement.

Need more reasons:

• 4 BILLION mobile subscribers across the world
• Users take action on mobile-friendly sites. 1 in 5 website visits lead to an immediate call to the business
• 43% of people willing to give up beer vs smartphone
• 22% of mobile purchasing spent on office supplies, products and technology
• The average online research to offline purchase conversion rate for auto parts is 85%.

Test if your website is mobile friendly, then schedule a consltation to find out how BeyondKey will help you take advantage of this mobile revolution. Below is a sneak peek into our best selling course mobilizing your current website which we will cover over hte next few weeks right here on the BeyondBlog.

• Simple navigation.
• Be thumb friendly.
• Design for visibility.
• Make it accessible.
• Make it easy to convert.
• Make it local.
• Make it seamless.
• Keep it quick.
• use mobile site redirects.
• Listen, learn and repeat.

For a FREE one-on-one consultation to assess your mobile options please email me direct at jd.meints@beyondkey.com or visit http://m.beyondkey.com/Mobile-Application-Development.html.

Hangout With BeyondKey: Top 10 Myths About Sharepoint

In 2013 our goal is to connect with the Insurance community to discuss leading edge technology that will help your company become more efficient and profitable.  Beginning February 21st we will be hosting an online user group conference call with different leading experts on the 3rd Thursday of every month.

RSVP by CLICKING HERE.

In each user group conference we will discuss current leading technology that you can implement now to deliver bottom line results to your business.  The goal is to make these user group calls extremely useful so I am asking asking our top clients to submit topics they would like discussed.

To submit your topics visit our new user voice group forum at http://beyondkey.uservoice.com and start the conversation.

SharePoint 101 Infographic: At a glance why it will help your business in 2013

If you have not heard of BeyondKey Systems thats OK its not too late to find out why we guarantee our development, partner with our clients and work the way you need.  We have significant experience across several major global vertical markets and I myself will be your primary GO TO GUY here in North America.

Contact me direct and lets us start with a small project, gain your trust and go from there.

We are so good you will think we are in the corner office! 

__________________________________________________________

JD Meints

VP Business Development

jd.meints@beyondkey.com 

Growing Smart By Outsourcing, a Step-By-Step Guide

If we take a close look at our everyday life, we will realize some of the most important work related to our domestic life is regularly outsourced.   Plumbing, carpentry, housekeeping and several additional household activities are regularly being outsourced.

Outsourcing has been around since the dawn of time but has most recently taken a giant leap forward with our “World is Flat” culture aided by communication technology.  Some of the most important questions small, medium sized business (SMB) owners and managers struggle with is should we outsource? Should we use existing personnel?  Should we hire new personnel? 
The correct answer is that you do what will provide the largest opportunity for scale able growth leading to an increase in profit margin.
What are the primary reasons that companies outsource?

Outsourcing has been around since the dawn of time but has most recently taken a giant leap forward with our “World is Flat” culture aided by communication technology. Some of the most important questions small, medium sized business (SMB) owners and managers struggle with is should we outsource? Should we use existing personnel? Should we hire new personnel?

The correct answer is that you do what will provide the largest opportunity for scale able growth leading to an increase in profit margin. What are the primary reasons that companies outsource?

In our first article in our series I am going to begin with defining the current state of successful outsourcing. Lets start with defining the historic stages of outsourcing:

The correct answer is that you do what will provide the largest opportunity for scale able growth leading to an increase in profit margin. What are the primary reasons that companies outsource?

To successfully outsource in 2012 and beyond you need a combination of onshore project managers with tthe best talent pool of low cost engineers to get any project done on time and on budget.

Outsourcing software development is here to stay as an IT trend which has evolved, grown, matured and is living up to and outgrowing its potential. Especially with companies that wish to cut costs while gaining access to world-class software engineers, it is no more an option but a smart decision.

Subscribe to our blog to receive an update next week where we continue our step-by-step guide on how the everyday SMB can successfully outsource. Next Week: How to perform a value analysis to decide which activities you should outsource.