Leaping into mobile without a clear strategy in place or pursuing the wrong technology can have far-reaching consequences on a brand’s reputation or a company’s communications. Brittany Golob investigates

 A 100-page document lands on your desk. It’s full of information about your business that you need to know – stock charts, sustainability reporting, spending analyses. But you’re due at the airport in an hour and the nicely- bound 100-page tome is not going to make the cut into your hand luggage. Your iPad, however, is another story.

Corporate stakeholders and investors are a busy, on-the-move breed. In the old days, that is, two years ago, a board meeting may have involved individualised stacks of paperwork and annual reports may have been delivered in the form of a massive, printed document. Since the mobile boom began in 2010, however, companies have shifted internal communications online and onto apps for use by stakeholders and employees alike.

“For stakeholders to be able to immediately look into your business and get up-to-the-minute information on where your business is, that’s an incredibly powerful thing and that only comes from mobile devices,” Simon Lee, CEO of Locassa, an app and mobile development company, says. Whereas mobile was once given the same treatment as social media, in a ‘we must do social’ way, companies are now approaching mobile with a definitive strategy in place.

ASDA’s head of corporate communications, Dominic Burch shared his views on mobile at last month’s Social Media World Forum. “Stop thinking about websites,” he says. “They’re dead – just think about the content and getting that right for mobile. For us, everything is mobile-first from a content perspective. If it doesn’t work on mobile – go home. If the video doesn’t load, the content doesn’t look right of the photos are too big – if I can’t see it on my mobile devices it’s a waste of time.”

However, strategy is often derailed by the alluring assortment of technology available for use. Deciding to create a native app, a mobile-optimised website or HTML5 technology can cloud objective judgement. Successful mobile strategy first addresses how mobile best serves a company’s content and audience before the appropriate technology is selected.

“Companies need to think about which content information tools and services are best suited to mobile and then what is the best way to deliver that,” Rob Evans, founder of The App Business, says.

Understanding the audience is key to determining which technology will be used when going mobile. A company must know that its leadership uses iPads before investing in app development or that its employees have smartphones and desire enhanced communication with the company before developing a mobile intranet. Additionally, the type of content that is to be displayed – be that stock charts, employee feedback or news stories – should complement the native app, mobile website or HTML5 inlay.

The first beneficiaries of the jump to mobile were those 100-page annual report tomes, now accessed in an interactive, selective and compelling manner. The once-prolific printed documents have been produced in app form for years now – Lee points to a Boston investment bank that he developed a Blackberry app for back in 2005. But there remain unforeseen technical difficulties that lie out of the control of the app producer and can impact strategy.

Apple must approve all iOS apps before they go live, a negative attribute of native apps. Recently, Danish pharmaceutical company Novo Nordisk’s annual report app was delayed by the approval process. In ceding control of an important business function to an external service provider, even one as trusted as Apple, external actors can create internal crises within companies.

Yet annual reports are not the only documents that populate shareholder apps. A plethora of financial, communications and informational content proliferates on native apps.

Companies like Unilever and Aviva have lead the charge into the manna-lined promised land of native apps. Apps address stakeholders’ needs through the use of interactive content, such as real-time charts, responsive pdfs and individualised data. “It puts better information into the hands of shareholders,” Mark Mason, CEO of Mubaloo, says. “We’ve done apps for people in board meetings where historically they’ve produced reams of paper.That’s all much slicker now.” With constant access to changing stock prices and financial data, it is easier than ever for leaders to make decisions based on realtime data.

But, constant information can meet the fate of single voice in a crowded room and become nothing more than background noise. “It’s about intelligent use of information not just more information,” Rob Smith strategy director at Blue Leaf, a consultancy that specialises in mobile strategy, says. Constant information can lead to knee-jerk reactions in place of responsible decision-making, he says.

While those at the top of the pyramid are benefiting from mobile in board meetings, staff and employees throughout the chain are also experiencing a move toward mobile.

Remote staff can be drawn into their companies’ mobile networks via devices and apps. Salespeople and on-the-road staff can have constant access to pricing and necessary information to better serve customers. For internal communicators managing location-based but non-desk-bound staff, mobile has been an Olympian boon.

Developer Andrew Petherick, whose PressApp system bolts onto internal apps to better engage employees, says apps “help companies make sure staff are the first to know in a creative and innovative way. It’s a simple and engaging way of engaging with non-desk-bound staff.”

In much the same way that stakeholders can access realtime financial data, employees can interact with companies more efficiently. Both the corporate messaging and employee feedback processes have been streamlined by mobile. Not only can staff be engaged more directly, but apps become content management systems for internal communicators.

From an internal perspective, apps can be a boon to business practice. But corporate mobile strategy must also take into account a business’ external apps, which pose a host of problems in forming strategy. In this case, content, moreso than audience, drives mobile strategy, thus pushing many companies toward HTML5 or web-based products.

Retailers may develop native apps to improve the shopping experience for their customers, but Apple’s restrictive 30% fee on every purpose has sparked a move toward what Lee calls a “halfway house” – a native platform with integrated HTML5 content or a web-based purchasing option.

“That has driven most retailers toward mobile web and HTML5,” Smith says. “The experience that they can provide as a retailer is pretty good actually. App developers are always saying it’s not as slick as native apps, but for online retail it doesn’t need to be.” Content that does not engage with a mobile device’s hardware – cameras, email, etc. – is not inhibited by a web-based technology in the same way a stakeholder app would be.

If a company chooses the wrong technology, the reputational effects can be overwhelming. “You can’t underestimate the damage that you can do to your brand when you put something out that doesn’t represent the quality of your business,” Lee says. Poorly implemented mobile strategy can adversely impact reputation if the branded app or mobile web outlet falls short on quality.

“The best question to start with is which content information tools and services are best suited to mobile and then what is the best way to deliver it,” Evans says.

Mobile strategy has moved beyond the ‘we must do mobile’ stage as companies address communications requirements with native apps, responsive websites or technological solutions. Mobile strategy, however, is not based on technology. Technology is merely the tool that companies can employ to best present the content it has available to the relevant audiences via the relevant platforms.