On Tuesday, Cisco released its 2011 Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update. Admittedly, a lot of the information in this report is for communications technology professionals. But don't let that turn you off. There are some interesting implications here for professional services firms and the future of their websites.
Here are two key findings and my takeaways.
This year, video on mobile devices will account for over 50 percent of mobile data use. That means a lot of people are watching web video on ultra-portable devices, such as smartphones and iPads. And the amount of web video consumption is expected to grow furiously over the next three years. If you aren't using video on your site today, you better start planning for it. In a year or two, you'll be very late to the party.
Mobile data traffic almost tripled and smartphone usage doubled in 2010. That's amazing growth on both counts, and it points directly at the soaring popularity of smartphones and tablets. It's time to start thinking about optimizing your website for all these mobile visitors. Even though modern mobile web browsers are far better than their predecessors at rendering web pages, the text can be difficult to read on a tiny 3- or 4-inch screen. You can vastly improve your visitor's experience by creating a mobile version of your website that makes reading and navigating more efficient and pleasurable.
The way people use the Web is evolving in a hurry. Advantage goes to those who recognize the opportunities exposed by winds of change. Are you up to the challenge?
