Mind the app infrastructure
With a 4G network still a long way off, Lara O’Reilly’s piece on the frustration of failing to access her preferred apps and websites while recuperating in hospital, provides food for thought.
3G technology is great, but when the network was designed it did not anticipate the level of content that is rich in data which consumers now take for granted/ streaming TV programmes, and downloading music and video – or indeed the mass adoption of smartphones.
Marketers are realising that apps and websites lose their value if they fail to connect. But we strongly believe that it’s not the apps that need to adapt – it’s the infrastructure that supports them.
We’ve witnessed huge demand from high street retailers and outdoor locations for Wi-Fi to complement the 3G network. Much of this demand is coming from heads of marketing who realise that the web services they offer need to work 100% of the time, otherwise they simply backfire and annoy the customers they are supposed to win over.
We also firmly believe that WiFi will become the norm in UK hospitals (as it is in the private health sector), so we hope that patients in the future won’t be as bored or frustrated as Lara was.
Roger Matthews
Director for sales and marketing
The Cloud