Rise of the Mobile Strategist
Antenna has a thought-provoking infographic on The Rise of the Mobile Strategist. 74% of businesses have a mobile role to fill while 1 in 3 have taken on a mobile strategist.
Mobile strategy, more specifically mobile strategy consulting, is an area I tried to get into last November. My network of contacts provided enough leads but, as one of my collegues commented, "Consulting is a difficult way to make a living".
I found it very difficult to find a balance between proving I could help companies vs solving their problems during the pre-sales activity. Compared to development, I spent a disproportionate amount of time trying to win work. In some cases, I did pre-sales work only to discover some companies had dug themselves such a large hole that I wouldn’t be of any help. Interestingly, these holes often related to past partnering that limited future direction - there’s a lesson there for anyone considering partnering to (usually) solve funding issues.
Companies tended to be either…
- Needing and wanting help
- As a said above, beyond help due to past decisions
- Blind to the need for mobile strategy consulting but nonetheless needing it
- Internally conflicted (between departments) but too proud or too disfunctional to ask for help
