Mobile disruption is changing the way we live, and increasingly the way that we work.
Connecting through a five-inch screen has become an ubiquitous practice – with our chosen device always there to guide, inform, save time and free us up to get on with our day.
We know that Australians are ahead of the game when it comes to working on the go, with 77% adopting mobile technology. Aussies lead the way, when compared to their US, UK and Canadian counterparts, and our recent global research show Australian small business owners are also app savvy, with 74% using at least one mobile or web-based app to run their business.
Adoption is key
A decade ago, people were still debating whether they needed a smartphone, and over that time we have seen user habits change dramatically to a point where nearly 30% of mobile users don’t even use their phone to make regular calls anymore1. This highlights how far we have come in just under ten years, and it won’t stop there.
We know a major pain point for small business owners is organising receipts and invoices: think the shoebox under the bed, the purple folder, the yellow envelope; everyone has a ‘system’ for logging their paperwork. Intuit research shows that educating small business owners on the benefits of mobile and the power of the Cloud – accessing business information via a mobile device – is giving back, on average, around seven working weeks of productive time per year.
Businesses that transition to mobile are experiencing that ‘aha’ moment: the realisation that it allows and enables self-employed and small business owners to spend more time focusing on driving their passion, minimising admin and letting them spend more time on the things they love.
Mobile intelligence
Within today’s mobile society, business owners are adapting to working from ‘non-traditional’ workspaces. These include their motor vehicles (49%), client worksites (35%), holiday locations (33%), and coffee shops (33%). As more and more business owners run their operation on the go, the future of technology, and in particular mobile, becomes increasingly more important.
Founder and CEO of Amazon, Jeff Bezos said recently that the emergence of artificial intelligence and machine learning is “gigantic”. Amazon have over 1,000 people dedicated to voice and machine learning because they understand it is critical to the future of Cloud, and the next step in the evolution of mobile.
Rapidly evolving artificial intelligence technology is spawning entire new industries and will fundamentally change existing business models making those ‘non-traditional’ workspaces accessible for any budding entrepreneur.
No one starts a business to spend their life doing admin. You started a cake shop to make and sell cakes, not to spend hours lost in spreadsheets. Global connectivity, mobile innovation, and smart machines are just some of the drivers reshaping how we work.
Nicolette Maury is Vice President and Country Manager of Intuit Australia, responsible for leading Intuit’s rapidly expanding presence in Australia.
