ACCA Strategic Professional · Strategic Business Leader · Cloud, mobile and smart technology
Alder Bank launches a mobile app that lets customers pay bills using location-based offers from nearby merchants. The board wants to know which feature of mobile technology most directly creates a source of new competitive advantage unavailable to a traditional website. Which is it?
Location awareness combined with constant availability is the distinctive advantage. It lets Alder Bank deliver offers and services relevant to where the customer is at that moment, something a conventional website cannot do, whereas hosting cost, screen size and security claims do not create that differentiation.
- AThe app is cheaper to host than a website
- BLocation awareness and always-on access allow context-specific services to be delivered at the moment of needCorrect
- CThe app uses a smaller screen, which reduces the information shown
- DThe app removes the need for any security controls
Explanation
Mobile devices know where the user is and are carried constantly, so services can be personalised by place and time. This differs from a fixed website. Hosting cost is not the source of advantage, a small screen is a limitation, and mobile increases rather than removes security needs.
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