say it is the primary way they surf the Web. Mobile-enabled websites help drive this trend as they bring a streamlined view and simplifi ed navigation to touch screens. Current mobile-enabled off erings from CHS include these several options for grains marketing and energy customers and retailers. Producers delivering directly to CHS river terminals and processing plants in Iowa, Minnesota and Illinois can use a mobile version of chsag. com (m.chsag.com), which features futures updated every 10 minutes, cash bids, radar weather and forecasts, and location information. Connection is also available for CHS DPP (Dynamic Pricing Platform), an online trading app. Producer-customers of participating CHS Country Operations can access the CHS Customer Resources tool on their smartphones or tablets. They can check balances and track payments, view contracted bushels, access invoices for input purchases and follow delivered bushels to locations. Energy customers have mobile access to control rooms for CHS propane and refi ned fuels at mobileapps.chsinc.com. Propane customers can view markets and terminal prices, manage contracts and assign manifests. Refi ned fuels customers can view terminal prices, product allocation volumes and assign manifests. The CHS Hedging website takes advantage of new technology to identify whether a visitor is on a phone, tablet or desktop and automatically adjusts the view and navigation. Everything available on the desktop view is accessible from a mobile device but with a simpler interface. How Mobile? If websites are now getting more traffi c from tablets than smartphones, does that mean we’re dumping our iPhones for iPads? Recent Forrester Research predicted one-third of the U.S. adult population will own a tablet by 2014, but they’ll be shifting Web-surfi ng time away from their PCs, not their phones. People who want a mobile device aren’t necessarily choosing tablets, analysts say. While a tablet is more portable than a laptop, it isn’t small enough, yet, to be with you all the time. Further, the defi nition of a truly mobile device is continuous connectivity. Most tablets do not automatically come with a cellular data plan, but rely on unpredictable Wi-Fi network connections — an issue with mobile applications, since some will run only on a data plan. So while the share of website visits from tablets has grown about 10 times faster than the rate for smartphones within two years of market introduction, it doesn’t mean one will replace the other any time soon. “We want to get our maps out of the offi ce and into site-specifi c fi elds for producers.” Challenged to keep up with new mobile applications and fi nd the ones relevant to their customers, many businesses — CHS included — are constantly reviewing options. “We want to get our maps out of the offi ce and into site-specifi c fi elds for producers,” says Nathan Kosbau, regional CHS YieldPoint™ specialist. ”We’re actively looking at mobile solutions today, but haven’t found the right one for our producers.” Melanie Hjelm, CHS refi ned fuels marketing and information analyst, agrees it’s all about the customer. “They appreciate having more freedom to manage their businesses when and where it’s most convenient for them.” SHARE MORE and take our short poll on mobile app use at chsinc.com/c. 24 SEPTEMBER/OCTOBER 2013 CHSINC.COM