Mobile as a “Channel” is a Flawed Strategy

Desktop internet usage has been flat the past few years as reported in a WSJ article this past November.  However in a world where global internet users AND usage is skyrocketing, that means in aggregate desktop usage is set to decline, and potentially rapidly.  Ten more years of smartphone evolution and adoption, to say nothing of wearable technology, will further erode, if not effectively kill, desktop internet.*  WSJ published a comScore report last week that desktop internet may have peaked in ’15, specifically that the past four months have seen YoY declines.  Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends report from ’15 that wildly predicted mobile dominance and economic explosion is directionally correct.  
PC internet isn’t going away this year or next but if you’re not organizing your strategy and mindset where a majority of digital consumption is going, you’re setting yourself up for trouble.  This is particularly true of organizations that think of “mobile” as a channel.   Nearly every business I have worked with in the past year (retailers, online media, marketing software) have “mobile” teams, typically armed with a pittance of overall resources and lacking alignment with the overall product roadmap.  Companies, leaders specifically, do this because they want to “figure mobile out” but don’t want it to distract from the core business.  The irony though is that at just the time a business should be de-prioritizing product development on the obsolete channel (PC) and invest in the growth one, many can’t make the necessary shift.  

Why? Because for most the vast majority of their revenue comes from PC users.  Mobile is growing but they’re not making the same revenue from those users or that product.  It’s a classic catch 22.    

What’s the Right Approach?  Mobile can’t just be a part of your plan, it must be a core of the plan; across product roadmap and go to market; and in most cases should be given preferable treatment when compromises come, such as UX decisions are concerned. 

This sets the tone across the team (organization) that mobile isn’t something managed by a side team, or as something another group of people are responsible for, everybody is accountable.  If your business still looks at mobile as a channel, pound your fist on the table today to change that.  Otherwise companies looking at this holistically will overtake your market position. 

*PC’s aren’t going away, those of us in white collar occupations will certainly continue to use them professionally, however the percentage of digital content consumption / usage on mobile devices will continue to grow to the point that  makes PC’s nearly extinct for businesses tied to delivering digital content or services.   

You can read this and other musings at my blog.