The use of mobile apps in the business world is on the rise — nearly 5 billion enterprise apps will be downloaded by the end of this year, according to one estimate. The trend is not only expected to continue, it could see a massive increase as major IT players enter the market. The highest-profile announcement for the industry has been the partnership between Apple, Inc. and IBM, which will work together to develop about 100 B2B apps, and others could follow suit.
In a recent Mobile Helix survey, more than half of respondents estimated that their organizations' productivity could grow by about 40 percent if their existing apps were mobile. Mobile apps help improve operations by boosting collaboration among teams and workers in different locations, sales and marketing by providing real-time information, and training by delivering in-context guidance.
"The enterprise world provides countless new opportunities"
In an article in the Harvard Business Review, Joe Panepinto, vice president of branding agency Jack Morton Worldwide, gives his "four C's" to define the ways mobile apps help businesses:
- Consistency: Virtually all mobile apps operate on either Android or iOS, which makes life easier for IT teams and users.
- Control: Mobile solutions ensure that all employees are working with the same information, regardless of their physical location.
- Creativity: Mobile devices have unique functionality that is constantly evolving, providing plenty of opportunities for developers to experiment.
- Credibility: People use mobile devices all the time, and companies that adopt them for their business project an image of modernity.
For software developing companies, the enterprise world provides countless new opportunities to expand their operations, fulfilling the needs of businesses across all industries.