Think fast - what is the one device in your life that you absolutely cannot do without?

If you're anything like the majority of Americans, the answer is your smartphone. It's become such a critical part of our lives that there are now studies about smartphone addiction and the psychological changes that occur in our brains from using our favorite devices too much.  And the younger the age demographic, the greater the dependance on smartphone usage becomes, which has given rise to two classifications of people in the workforce today; "Mobile-First" and "Mobile-Only". 

The Mobile-First group is comprised of individuals who always reach for their mobile device to accomplish a task before any other device (like a laptop, tablet, etc.).  Most employees in the 25 - 34 age range fall within this group.  The Mobile-Only group all but refuses to use any device but their smartphone - for every task - business or personal.  This group is largely 18 - 24 years old and are being followed by an even more mobile-focused teen generation.

What does that mean for advertising agencies?  

A March 2017 PRSA study showed that agencies are surprisingly slow at adopting new technologies like mobile. It's not because smartphone usage isn't critical to the success of their jobs - in fact it's quite the opposite - clients today consider the ability to reach their agency people whenever they need to as a fundamental part of the agreement. If they wanted to be ignored or frustrated trying to reach people, they'd simply keep the work in-house! 

Mobile productivity research from Azzurri found that over 90% of IT leaders said that device access leads to greater productivity and 95% said further mobile productivity gains are possible. Research from the Boston Consulting Group states; "Small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) that are mobile leaders are winning. Typically, the 25% of SMEs that use mobile services more intensively see their revenue growing up to two times faster than their peers."

"They're winning because they can do more, more often, in more places than those tethered to their desks." states Ellen Coulter, President of Advantage Software. "They're able to react faster to market conditions and ask more of their technology in helping them do so. We have a large number of small and mid-size agencies as customers and they've been instrumental in helping us craft the mobile capability of the AQUA system into what it is today."

And that capability is pretty impressive. AQUA's mobile app allows users to access all the core capabilities of the AQUA ERP system including:

• checking, approving and updating the status of assignments and tasks
• entering and approving time
• entering and approving expenses 

Because the Project Management, Accounting and Media systems are all integrated within AQUA, the actions you take on your smartphone resonate throughout the system; so taking a photo of your business lunch receipt loads it into your expense report which flows straight into the Accounting system.

"Progressive agencies are using mobile technology to change employee behavior and improve productivity." states Brent Shedd, CEO of Record Integrity, a Silicon Valley startup that creates employee-centric mobile applications. "The impact can be astounding both to the bottom-line and to employee morale."

Advantage has partnered with Record Integrity to offer its customers the RecordTime app, which enables employees to enter their time into their timesheets by simply speaking to their smartphone.  Their entries are pulled into the AQUA system with the simple touch of a button. "It's an elegant solution to an intransigent problem." says Shedd. "Advantage is always trying to provide the latest technologies, processes and solutions to their customers and for a company that's been in business for over 30 years - that's truly extraordinary."

If you haven't had the chance to experience Advantage's integrated solution or would like to see what it's like to work with a company that is always striving to keep you ahead in the game, schedule a Demo by clicking below or shoot us an email at Sales@gotoadvantage.com  We'd love to hear from you!