Smart matter: Mobile is the gateway drug to enterprise and brand success

Caterpillar makes massive 100-ton bulldozers. And Caterpillar also makes apps for your 5-ounce smartphone.

Why?

Mobile is a gateway to what I call smart matter.

Smart matter is the result of adding three things — chips, sensors, and radios — to all products and environments. Simply put, we’re “smartifying” everything … connecting everything and every thing, giving potentially all matter the ability to sense, to act, to control itself, to be controlled by humans, and to impact its environment.

When matter is smart, it’s worth more.

Which is precisely why Caterpillar is investing in mobile, and has over 350,000 mobile-app-using customers, as we learned in TUNE’s enterprise and brand-focused Unicorn Dinosaurs report.

When bulldozers are smart, they’re worth more.

Owners can request service and support easier and quicker. And that’s just the beginning. Imagine an augmented reality mode which teaches owners and mechanics how to service and repair their machinery. Imagine a remote find and remote start/stop capability that enables anti-theft features and the ability to warm up the machine before you arrive at the job site.

A little farther out: imagine remote control ability, like a massive 200,000 pound drone.

Even in the here and now, however, the benefits are massive. App-using customers are valuable customers that you can communicate with and learn from. Sign-in app using customers are doubly valuable, as enterprises and brands can tailor experiences, products, and services to known preferences.

Ultimate, mobile is the gateway drug to high-value customers.

See how the top Fortune 1000 brands and enterprises are doing exactly this — and what results they’re achieving — in our free report.

Author

Before acting as a mobile economist for TUNE, John built the VB Insight research team at VentureBeat and managed teams creating software for partners like Intel and Disney. In addition, he led technical teams, built social sites and mobile apps, and consulted on mobile, social, and IoT. In 2014, he was named to Folio's top 100 of the media industry's "most innovative entrepreneurs and market shaker-uppers." John lives in British Columbia, Canada with his family, where he coaches baseball and hockey, though not at the same time.