In the early days of cell phones, they were used merely for talking. Today, cell phones have a myriad of applications. For many people working in the liquid waste industry, the cell phone is already being used as a daily organizer, music player, camera, GPS, and news and weather device. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg.
In the very near future, cell phones will also serve as your bank, credit card, keys, remote control and video conferencing platform, just to name a few. Clearly, today’s cell phones are much more than phones, and tomorrow’s cell phones will revolutionize the business world.
To stay ahead of the curve, small businesses need to look beyond what the cell phone is today and anticipate where it will be tomorrow. You have to ask yourself, “How is the cell phone changing my customers?” “What new service could I deliver on a mobile platform?”
If you don’t change with your customers, they won’t be your customers for much longer. Today’s technology is rapidly evolving, and you have to go beyond merely keeping up. You need to jump ahead based on what you know will happen.
Three driving forces are creating exponential technological change: 1) Cell phone processing power doubles every 18 months as it drops in price, 2) Storage capacity doubles over the same period, and 3) We get faster speeds and higher bandwidth.
With a faster processor, your cell phone can go online and perform searches faster. Phone companies are continually upgrading their network so the 3G network becomes the 4G network. Soon your cell phone will have the computing power of your current desktop computer.
We also need to look at other countries to see what they’re doing. In America, we tend to think we’re the first with technology, but that isn’t always the case (and it’s definitely not the case with cell phones). While we in the U.S. have multiple standards for cell phone technology, many other countries have one national standard so everyone’s phone works the same way. As such, they can roll out new cell phone innovations much faster than we can.
Smart businesses will start seeing the certainty of technological change of cell phones and will recognize the opportunities that lie within. The following are some current and coming cell phone uses you need to know about and adapt to:
CURRENT USES FOR CELL PHONES
Mobile travel. Currently, some airports allow you to use your cell phone as your boarding pass. You simply download your boarding pass to your phone. When you approach security, you pull up the barcode of your virtual boarding pass and swipe your cell phone under security’s scanner. You can then go through security and board your plane without a paper ticket.
Mobile media. You probably already have music on your cell phone, and you may even have television programming. But now businesses can distribute critical training and education to employees via their cell phones. So while a driver or technician wait to get to work on a jobsite, they can be accessing a safety presentation or your company’s daily announcements.
Mobile management. Need to know where your drivers are at all times? We all have triangulation or GPS as part of our cell phones. Programs such as Looped for the iPhone allow you, with permission, to bring up a map and see where your employees are located right now. Granted, this program was developed for personal use, so that friends and family could see where each other are, but there’s no reason why a business couldn’t use it to locate employees, drivers, or anyone else who spends significant work time on the road.
FUTURE USES FOR CELL PHONES
Mobile finance. In the near future, you’ll be able to do banking on your cell phone. How do we know this? Because other countries are already doing it. In Kenya, where we might assume everything is behind the times, people can use a mobile phone system to collect on bills and make money transfers.
Mobile commerce. There are places in the world where you can pay for restaurant bills, auto service, groceries, parking meters or any other item with your cell phone without using a credit card. To prevent fraud, cell phones will have biometric ID capabilities that can detect everything from the user’s fingerprint to voice pattern and facial recognition. Such measures are actually far more secure than using a credit card.
Mobile customer service. As mega stores dominate the landscape, shoppers need more access to occasional personal customer service. Imagine being in a huge warehouse store and using a cell phone to pull up a map of the layout and locate the nearest customer service person. Or, even better, imagine touching an icon on the screen to summon a customer service rep. The technology to do this exists today; it’s simply a matter of businesses applying it to this scenario or others. Think about the applications this technology might have for your business, from keeping in direct contact with customers, to finding repair parts in your own warehouse.
OPPORTUNITY IS CALLING
The possibilities for tomorrow’s cell phones are limitless. Over the next few years, cell phone apps (applications) will grow exponentially as well. Developing an app is relatively inexpensive and can work on iPhones, BlackBerries and Smart phones.
Your company and your specific segment of the industry will be able to develop internal tools or apps for your employees’ convenience. Instant access to any data while in the field could give your pumping company a distinct advantage over the competition.
