The increase in mobile device usage among consumers has resulted in network challenges for businesses of all types and sizes.

“For businesses which require users to access their services through web applications, such as retailers and financial institutions – mobile devices put a real strain on their network, particularly on bandwidth consumed – a direct result of how heavy a page is being served,” says Prakash Sinha, VP of ADC Solutions, Radware.

“Slower page loads unfortunately results in decreased customer loyalty and satisfaction and directly impacts revenue. Companies can no longer ignore mobile device users and must adapt their business strategy to place a greater priority on ensuring security, availability and low latency for applications.”

According to Sinha, “Studies have proven that downtime and web access issues – even by a few seconds – can result in a significant annual revenue loss for businesses. It is no longer optional for businesses to address network strain from mobile usage.”

According to Radware, here are five immediate actions that companies can take to prepare their websites and applications for mobile device access:

1. Visibility into Application Performance

80-90% of end-user response time is spent on the front-end of an application or mobile site. Engineers need to take this into account during development to ensure that applications are both responsive and well maintained - gaining visibility to user experience and becoming proactive in optimizing it.

2. Automated Web Performance Optimization Technology

Faster page load times directly impact sales and conversions. Businesses should invest in technology solutions that have the ability to automate acceleration of web content such as a mobile browser cache that offers site owners the ability to configure persistent, reliable storage for caching objects from their site on mobile devices, enabling significant acceleration also for mobile users.

3. Application Certification

Certification templates for applications result in quicker deployment while reducing IT costs and improving employee productivity.

4. Denial of Service (DoS) Protection

Increased web access demands tighter security. Typical victims of DoS attacks are online businesses and service providers, and often result in revenue loss or increased network costs. It’s critical for businesses to utilize technology to protect against both application and network-level attacks.

5. Application Delivery Controllers (ADCs)

Asymmetric and symmetric deployment of ADCs will address many of the challenges listed above – while reducing downtime, managing web traffic (particularly during high-peak times) and improving overall Quality of Service (QoS).

“Many businesses currently operate under the misconception that their in-house development team or investment in a WAN optimization technology can sufficiently address the challenges that mobile devices bring to their network – but oftentimes, it’s not enough,” Sinha concludes. “An investment in the right technology solutions will result in increased productivity for network administrators on the back-end – resulting in an overall higher performance. Businesses will ultimately save money – reducing or eliminating on-going manual processes that require time-intensive and costly work from in-house IT personnel.”