BlackBerry
With a wide range of features from email, instant messaging to social networking, BlackBerry has attracted patronage by business users globally.
Experts say the device has become an ideal way to stay connected to everything that matters, whether business or private.
The general consensus is that the device has a way of meeting users‘ mobile business needs.
Therefore, experts agree that it can fit effortlessly into the Information Technology infrastructure of any business, whether small or large scale.
A lot of business owners in Nigeria are already using BlackBerry smartphones to improve their operations and stay ahead of competition.
The Chief Software Architect, HiiT Plc, Mr. Wale Shobajo, says there are about three million BlackBerry users in Nigeria and the number is still growing, but he laments that many of them simply make calls, send and receive e-mails as well as instant messages on the devices.
He argues that Small and Medium Scale Enterprises can use the device to boost their businesses while they stay connected to their contacts.
According to Shobajo, a BlackBerry application developed by HiiT originally for political campaigns could be used by SMEs to market, advertise and push companyies’ information to all BlackBerry users in Nigeria at very low cost.
He says, ”The application was developed to deliver rich contents to BlackBerry users by combining graphics, text, audio and video elements.”
The concept, according to him, is similar to bulk SMS, where messages are sent to a large number of subscribers, but the difference is in its capacity for very rich contents (graphics, text, audio and video).
He adds that SMEs could benefit from the application and save costs by plugging unto it and distributing messages (adverts, promo, and marketing info) free of charge to BlackBerry users.
According to him, SMEs will only pay for subscribing to the applications while they send messages as many times as possible without paying.
He says, ”For SMEs, the way to go about it is to provide us with the content you wish to send to your subscribers, we package the application for you, host it and then you can begin to send the messages to BlackBerry users. We have our database of BlackBerry users in Nigeria. Although, you have to build your database with time, through social media like Facebook and Twitter; it is possible to sell our database to interested SMEs.”
Shobajo added that the BlackBerry application could boost mobile advertising, especially to high end targets.
He says, “When it comes to mobile advertising, most SMEs are concentrating on bulk SMS, but there are other ways to advertise on the mobile medium, this software is an example of application-based mobile advertising that could contain information that the SMEs want to publish in different format from graphics to video. And because of the viral nature, each recipient of the message can also forward it to its contact list.”
Shobajo, however, adds that the company is working on making the application adaptable to other phone users.
Speaking in the same vein, the Executive Director, Leo Entertainment Productions, Mr. Dexter Olaoti, notes that the BlackBerry applications will add excitement to mobile advertising by offering more values beyond the ordinary bulk SMS.
Olaoti, who spoke on the benefits of mobile advert and marketing, says, ”Through SMS, SMEs can reach the target customer in the most cost effective manner and it is highly beneficial for the startup companies that are short of financial sources. Since most new business cannot afford to spend huge amount of money on advertising and promotion of the business, adopting the SMS adverts platform may be the lifeline. However, an application that offers richer content and access to high end BlackBerry users is value adding.”
According to him, bulk SMS application can help small businesses save time, money and resources which are the three important factors for any startup company.
Olaoti says, ”Sending SMS in large numbers is now easier with the assistance offered through bulk SMS software and this also helps to save time, which is really important in today‘s highly competitive business world. In spite of having excellent product or service, many small businesses are unable to compete due to small budgets and a good SMS based mobile advertising/ marketing can make an impact.”
Olaoti and Shobajo agree that application-based SMS combining graphics with video as well audio will help SME save advertising and marketing cost by over 60 per cent.
Source:http://www.punchng.com
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