Over the last twenty years, the number of cell-phone subscriptions almost equals the amount of people on Earth, standing at almost 7 billion. When enterprises entered the market, paper was the primary way of recording and processing data. This function was taken over by desktop computers and eventually, by laptops. While laptops added the benefit of portability, they were still far away from connecting the employees instantly to one another and to the company’s overarching projects. The laptop still had to be switched on and placed on a fixed space for easy use. Mobiles entered the market and entered people’s lives, wearing the benefit of moment-to-moment intimacy. Space and time ceased to be conditions for staying connected. Apart from personal use, mobile apps are becoming a must-have for enterprises. In what way can mobile apps benefit enterprises?
With mobile apps, members of your enterprise can reach systems and data from any place and time. Since enterprises have concrete security rules, the applications must sync appropriately with these regulations. Once such a secure platform has been set up on the app, confidential and sensitive data can be shared and discussed without worry of data theft or misuse. ERP applications were the initial steps towards mobilizing enterprise. With mobile apps, the mobility of company is strengthened and it begins to rope in the entire workforce. On the surface, the primary work might seem like checking out mails immediately. If you dig deeper, mails are mostly a secondary priority- the most important service of mobile apps is being able to share news, data and ideas instantly, thus creating space for greater creativity and increased employees’ engagement.
Bring down cost of business: There are two main ways in which the business expenses are brought down with enterprise mobile apps. Firstly, the employees lay out greater involvement by working on projects and tasks whenever they desire to- this leads to higher efficiency and therefore, saves time and money. Secondly, once mobile apps begin carrying out the major business functions, papers will be rarely used. Paper records will find their substitutes in mobile forms. Live data will move through the matrix of company systems with mobile apps.
Elevate customer experience and satisfaction: While having an online store with a blog is an essential today, what differentiates an enterprise is the way in which it responds to the queries and feedback of customers. Most importantly, how fast do they respond? With enterprise mobile apps, the employees can immediately check responses and cater to them in real-time. The presence of instant support creates a rich user experience leading to high customer satisfaction and eventually, sales and revenue.
Ward off competition: In the battleground of business, every innovation adds scores to the company, eroding a little of charm belonging to the others. Companies that seek to rise to the top can employ business technology to pool in their human resources optimally. This can be efficiently done through enterprise mobile apps. Enterprises which do not rope in the mobile technology to revamp their working atmosphere today will soon be stuck in a playground with spears and arrows while the opponents are Transformers.
Push up employee engagement: When your company is literally within a hand’s reach- with few clicks bringing you access to your cabin/desk, then the inclination towards checking in and handling tasks increases. Statistics read that about 65% of decision-makers in an enterprise check their mails on mobile device and also that 2016 will see a major optimization of enterprise applications for mobility. This implies that mobile devices, which were previously only utilized for personal communication, have become the meeting point of personal and professional lives- with employees consistently checking up on their work.
Keep away delays in decision-making process: When decisions are made in a company, the involvement of all the core members along with the affected parties is required. Earlier, this was only possible through face-to-face meetings. Text mails could not fulfill the amount of clarity that was required to meet the demands of complex decisions. With enterprise mobile apps, audio and video conferences can be held without issues of having to meet at a physical location. For this reason, decisions which do not necessarily require a physical meeting can be easily dealt with.
The testimony to above benefits of enterprise mobile apps is given by predictions that reveal that by 2017, IT companies would be spending about 25% of their software budget on mobile app development, deployment and management. The most significant factor in building an enterprise mobile app is the platform chosen. Not only should the employees and the target audience be capable of accessing required tools anytime and anywhere, the platform must bring together security rules like single sign-in, a responsive dashboard that represents the complete status of company and bridge tools to connect to clients easily.