Business 2012 this year saw the UK’s best and most innovative businesses gather in London for a three day event of exhibitions, speakers and seminars.  The speakers this year gave us plenty of food for thought, with Sunday’s keynote, Richard Branson, dominating discussions and press coverage. The whole event was filled with interesting seminars on how to set up your own business, with legal and marketing workshops.  Yet, there was one seminar that particularly stuck out for me that I wish to look at in further detail.

The third day of the event saw Chris William from First 4 Apps take to the stage, to present a seminar entitled: ‘Why Businesses cannot afford to ignore mobile internet in 2012’.  It is, of course, unsurprising that an event focused on helping people to grow their businesses should place a spotlight on mobile technology.  As Chris highlighted, smart phones will shortly outsell PCs and laptops and 20 percent of online traffic comes from mobile phones.  With 15 million smart phone users, it would make no sense for a business to eliminate itself from the mobile phone market, instantly losing out on this potential customer base.

Of course, utilising mobile technology within your growth business could mean a number of things.  For a micro business, perhaps a local decorating firm, this could mean using a mobile phone as a point of sale, either via an NFC capability or a mobile payments application.  For a larger business, perhaps an independent retailer, this might be a mobile friendly website.  All of these mobile internet technologies increase a business’s ability to capitalise on this ripe market, allowing better engagement with customers and as a result, the potential to increase revenues.

Seminars like this should be compulsory for the UK’s entrepreneurs and business owners.  The payments landscape is ever-changing and so critical to driving business revenue.  Mobile phone applications, in particular, have the potential to generate strong revenue; they are unique to the business and the easier they are to use, the more likely customers are to make payments. 

2012 is set to be a year of economic stagnation, but this does not mean your business needs to stand still.  Innovate, adopt mobile and stay ahead of the game.