October 13, 2014

Businesses in Brazil Making Strong Progress toward Meeting Enterprise Mobility Priorities

Accenture study finds Brazil ahead of the rest of the world in successful mobility deployments

Brasília; Oct. 13, 2014 – Businesses in Brazil will invest more in mobility this year and next than other markets around the world, according to the Accenture Mobility Insights Report 2014, a global study of 1,475 executives – 100 of them Brazilian – in 14 countries. Of the C-level executives questioned in Brazil, one-third claimed their business would invest over US$30 million into mobile capabilities, compared to a global average of 24 percent, as they worked to build on the progress already made in meeting their consumer- and enterprise-facing mobility goals.

The convergence of social*, mobile, analytics, cloud and connected products** – grouped together as digital technologies – is predicted to increase sales in existing markets by 45 percent in Brazil, 10 points more than global expectations, and with nearly half of those questioned in Brazil placing mobility in their top two digital priorities (48 percent, compared to 43 percent on average globally), it’s clear that it is viewed as a driver of real business benefits.

“Brazil is a nation full of people who love to share and network, and increasingly, mobile devices are being used as the way to get connected,” said Renato Improta, country lead for Accenture Mobility, part of Accenture Digital in Brazil. “It’s no surprise therefore that businesses in Brazil ranked ahead of the rest of the world in terms of having social in their top digital priorities, with 27 percent having it in the top two, and a further 46 percent putting it in their top five. As connectivity improves around the country, we expect mobility to be a significant driver for the use of online tools and applications in both work and personal lives.”

Progress in targeting consumer priorities
The top consumer-facing priority for businesses in Brazil for 2014 is to develop new mobile-specific products or services, with one-third of respondents saying this was extremely important, and an additional 53 percent noting it as an important priority. Respondents also claimed that this was in the top two of consumer priorities that they have made the most progress towards, with 86 percent recording positive progress. Interestingly, only 29 percent named it as top five spending priority for the coming year, suggesting that perhaps businesses believe their work in this area is done.

“In this digital age, it could be dangerous to assume that creating one new mobile-specific product or service means that a job is finished,” continued Improta. “Consumers today expect everything to be updated and remain relevant at all times, so it’s important that whatever businesses are creating for their mobile-enabled consumers, it is flexible. It should be part of every business’s strategy to build in ongoing updates to mobile services and products, taking into account customer feedback on those offerings, performance metrics and social and technological developments.”

The second highest consumer-focused mobile priority for companies in Brazil is to open up new sales or marketing channels, cited by 85 percent of respondents. Eighty-six percent claimed to already have made good progress towards meeting this goal, and it’s also the second highest spending priority for Brazilian respondents. However, with 41 percent identifying it as a top five budgetary priority, it falls just below the global average of 44 percent prioritizing spend on this area.

Respondents in Brazil also showed a real interest in generating customer insights through mobile analytics (84 percent said it was a priority, and 36 percent named it as being extremely important), but only 10 percent suggested this would be a spending priority for them. Of all the countries taking part in the survey, more Brazilians said they had made excellent progress towards meeting this goal (29 percent compared to a global average of 16 percent). However, the overall picture shows there is still some way to go to take full advantage of all the customer data being gathered by businesses in Brazil, if it is to be analysed in such a way that actionable insights are secured that can inform business decisions, and lead to real results.

Empowerment is important for enterprises in Brazil
Within enterprises in Brazil, there were very clear priorities that emerged for how to apply mobility as an important business tool. With 83 percent naming each of them as priorities, ‘empowering workers to communicate and collaborate from any location or any device,’ and ‘improving management decision-making and approvals through on-device data access and workflow approval capabilities’ were the most important priorities for businesses in Brazil. Scoring just one percentage point less (82 percent), ‘streamlining operations through the ability to track orders, assets, or inventory from anywhere’ and ‘improving field service/customer service delivery with instant data access, capture, and processing’ were also identified as important priorities, so it’s clear that the benefits of digital technologies to improve business processes are a focus for organizations in Brazil.

“While the priorities are clear,” commented Improta, “we once again see that spending priorities don’t always match the business priorities. Only 23 percent of respondents, for example, said that spending on improving management decision making was a top five priority, while just 29 percent plan to invest in streamlining operations in the coming year. The greatest spending priority for Brazil, with 44 percent selecting it, is improving field and customer service delivery, which is perhaps because it has a clear business case, improving points on customer satisfaction. It is straight-forward capital investment expenditure in hardware and software to enable that mobile workforce.”

Significantly ahead of the rest of the world, almost all respondents in Brazil (96 percent) feel that they have effectively adopted and deployed mobile technology, compared to a global average of 77 percent. In fact, they placed the country ahead of the global average for progress made towards every enterprise priority named in the study, and this positive attitude shows that mobility and other digital technologies are being seriously considered and implemented in Brazil. Supporting this is the fact that 51 percent of respondents in Brazil said that their company’s senior leadership is highly engaged with mobility initiatives, second only to China at 56 percent, and markedly higher than the global average of 39 percent.

“Companies in Brazil are doing extremely well at using mobility and digital technologies to improve their businesses,” concluded Improta, “but there is still some progress to be made in embracing new technologies to improve productivity and investing in what’s still to come. It’s vital that businesses are ready to continually take advantage of digital tools on an ongoing basis, if they are to grow and succeed on a domestic and global stage. Strategy and planning are critical, and no-one can afford to take their eye off the ball if businesses are to reap the rewards. Brazil’s making excellent progress towards meeting its priorities, and 11 percent of businesses have even seen over 100 percent Return on Investment for their mobility implementations, but I’m looking forward to seeing where we can go from here, and how we can improve business functions, processes and customer offerings even further in the future.”

* Social – defined as: Adoption of social networking and collaborative tools by enterprises and consumers, allowing for better communication and information sharing.
** Connected Products – defined as: Smart interconnected devices with contextual interfaces that provide customized services and embedded software that enables them to collect, send and receive relevant data.

About the Mobility Insights Report
The purpose of the Accenture Mobility Insights Report 2014 was to explore how companies currently view and use digital technologies – especially mobility – to improve various aspects of their business. The survey was conducted online between December 2013 and January 2014 among a total of 1,475 executives holding C-suite titles, from companies belonging to 10 industries in 14 countries. These were mostly large companies: a third showed annual revenues of over $10,000 million, and 11 percent have sales exceeding $50,000 million.

Accenture is a global management consulting, technology services and outsourcing company, with more than 305,000 people serving clients in more than 120 countries. Combining unparalleled experience, comprehensive capabilities across all industries and business functions, and extensive research on the world’s most successful companies, Accenture collaborates with clients to help them become high-performance businesses and governments. The company generated net revenues of US$30.0 billion for the fiscal year ended Aug. 31, 2014. Its home page is www.accenture.com.

Accenture Mobility, part of Accenture Digital, plans, implements and manages mobility solutions for businesses and public organizations, including developing and implementing enterprise mobility strategies; incorporating applications and managed services; creating and delivering mCommerce solutions; and supplying credible, business ready Connected Product offerings. Accenture Mobility services are based on deep industry insights and technical expertise that help clients across all industries achieve growth, efficiency and manage a successful transformation as they adopt the tools of a digital business. Find out more by following @mobilitywise and visiting www.accenture.com/mobility.

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Contact:

Joanna Vos
Accenture
+44 (0)7500 835588
joanna.r.vos@accenture.com