Despite being ubiquitous in Africa, mobile phones are often neglected by businesses as a marketing platform — possibly due to their complexity — according to a report in ITWebAfrica.

Mobility is usually an afterthought for many businesses in Africa, says Lindsay Britz, marketing manager at Magic Software SA, in an ITWebAfrica report.

“Smart businesses understand they must capitalize on the mobile revolution by ensuring that their corporate sites are mobile friendly,” Britz said. “It appears, however that not many companies in South Africa and Africa have taken mobility into consideration when compiling their corporate and marketing strategies.”

Companies need to have solutions that are easily reachable through mobile devices as smartphone and tablet adoption continue to grow on the continent, Britz said. Optimizing company websites for mobile devices is imperative to improve customer loyalty.

The complexity of mobilization may be hindering businesses in Africa. Mobility solutions might vary from company to company, she said.

“Mobility incorporates all aspects of the mobile experience ranging from mobi-sites or
websites optimized for mobile, mobile or digital marketing, consumer applications for the
everyday person, and enterprise applications for employees and customers,” she said.

There are 2.1 billion people in the world who access the web through mobile broadband, according to the International Telecommunication Union (ITU), ITWebAfrica reports. Feature phones will still be key in driving the African economy by 2015, research indicates.