Mobile websites a high priority for Oz businesses

Peter Dinham
Monday, 19 September 2011 19:31

Development of mobile websites is high on the agenda for Australian businesses and organisatons over the next 12 months, with increasing investment in their web presence a priority for many enterprises.

A survey by web content management solutions provider, Squiz, found that three-quarters of organisations surveyed  - or one in four organisations - say they plan to increase investment in their overall web presence by more than 50 per cent. 

The company found that 66 per cent of organisations plan to invest in overall web content management while just over half will add social media features to their web content functionality.

According to Squiz managing director, John Paul Syriatowicz, when it comes to the challenge of managing web-based content, 60 per cent of organisations currently suffer a moderate impact to their business by the inability of web sites users to find assets using search or navigation tools.

Syriatowicz  says that there is an issue for businesses, with a negative impact to some organisations from a lack of standardised metadata for managing critical information. 'Indeed, one in four organisations claim they have challenges with implementing metadata standards while the same number of respondents cannot easily determine the return on investment of their web content.'

And, according to Squiz, when it comes to deploying web sites one in four organisations are challenged by the cost involved and one in three are restrained by time and resources.

Syriatowicz says the survey also looked at cloud deployment and found that two-thirds of organisations believed that its benefits outweigh any perceived risks such as security, data sovereignty and compliance. 

'Indeed, 22 per cent of IT managers feel they are under more pressure from top management to procure cloud services although only two respondents felt that the onset of cloud computing could potentially shrink their IT team, Syriatowicz added.

Overall, Syriatowicz says that the survey suggests that the web content management market remains a buoyant sector for investment by Australian organisations despite the current economic uncertainty, and, at the same time, users now want seamless access to web content on a vast range of desktop, laptop, tablet and mobile devices - all with varying capabilities and screen sizes. 

'The survey would suggest that IT managers are playing somewhat of a catch up to mobilise content and add social media features for a workforce increasingly being characterised by BYO devices and employee demands and by customers who want a quality web service experience across all communications channels and devices.'