When you live innovation on a daily basis it can be easy to become inured to the pace of change; but sometimes a statistic hits the headlines which both gives pause for thought and highlights the seismic effects which technological improvements are having on society. One such headline has just come through from Ofcom’s 2015 Communications Market Report around the need for innovation online.
The report, which “contains data and analysis on broadcast television and radio, fixed and mobile telephony, internet take-up and consumption and post” was introduced with the simple headline, “The UK is now a smartphone society.” Perhaps this headline is hardly surprising given the number of smartphones which we see and/or use on a daily basis; but the fact that smartphones have overtaken laptops as the UKs favoured device for accessing the internet highlights a complete shift in the way in which we surf, shop, interact and demand innovation online.
Just one year ago 22% of us turned to our phones first when connecting to the internet. Now this figure has risen to 33%, with two thirds of us owning a smartphone. The knock-on effect of this can be seen by other figures within the report which reveal that of those with access to 4G, 55% shop online and bank online, 57% watch TV online and 63% correspond with instant messaging.
Figures such as these send out a strong message to all businesses. If you’re not actively looking to deliver products, services, experiences and innovation online then how does what you do resonate with online users? If your business isn’t geared up to provide agile responses to changing technologies then by the time the next Ofcom Communications Market Report comes out, who knows where your market share may be.