There was a time where having a web site
was a nice-to-have. It really meant
nothing more than a place to put your business contact information, and a brief
statement about what you offered. With
the consumer-backed popularity explosion of smart phones and tablet computing
in recent years, a new market channel has been born, and along with it a 24/7
information stream. There are an
infinite number of possibilities for mobile applications. Within this blog post, I only explore the
risks associated with your enterprise ignoring this mechanism in the consumer’s
never ending search for knowledge.
In an article published on December 15,
2013 by Business
Insider, “By the end of 2013, global smartphone penetration will have
exploded from 5% of the global population in 2009, to 22%. That’s an increase of nearly 1.3 billion
smartphones in four years.” They go on
to recognize that tablets have endured a faster adoption rate in half of the
time of smart phones. Trailing behind
both of these technologies is the PC. It
is my opinion that because of such hardware adoption rates, the Internet is now
accessible outside of the average homeowner’s house or business office, making
it geographically and demographically limitless.
Upon the release of the first enterprise
mobile applications, they were being considered as the “new corporate website”
for those who insisted they were on the leading edge of their industry. The applications exponentially increased in
popularity soon after, as the level of effort for internal operations now
required much less effort, and essentially became timeless. Take for instance, tasks such as emailing
and/or phoning a Project Manager to receive an update on specific tasks. If the PM is not sitting behind their
keyboard or waiting for your call at the time of your inquiry, who knows the
length of time for a response. Now the data can be viewed in real-time through
integrated project management applications.
Or perhaps a quick view of your network nodes to ensure everything is up
and functioning properly during a monthly scheduled change window. Mobile applications have obviously provided a
unique touch-point to unlimited data.
With the advent of mobile applications
however, comes a new technology requirement in their creation. The development of these applications
typically always involves the efforts of a programmer and can be expensive and
time-consuming. Not to mention the
requirement to keep content fresh, and keep your audience constantly engaged
through technology updates and new features as they become available. Furthermore, unless you limit the scope of
your audience to a specific hardware technology, a mobile app must be made for
each device being considered, Android, iPhone, Windows, etc.
Although the list of cons above, are not to
be seen as insignificant, I do believe the pros far out-weigh them. Given that the majority of the population has
gravitated towards smartphone technology, mobile apps keep your brand prominent
as the devices are always at hand. Users
tend to spend more time on apps rather than websites, most likely because of
their unlimited availability in that mobile devices will follow you everywhere. Unless you have specific data transfer
requirements, mobile applications are available off-line. This can be a huge positive should your
website ever be compromised due to unwanted activity, or simply a failure of some
kind. Once a customer downloads and
installs your application, you now have “an in” or a conduit to that individual
via their device. You can push
information at anytime to the application, and chances are whenever someone
sees an update to an existing application, curiosity will get the better of
them as they launch it to see what is new.
Applications are seen as a cheaper alternative to the cost of printing
and mailing out brochures, catalogs, or glossy data sheets. And of course, finally, the environmentally
friendly aspect in that mobile apps create less need for paper based hard
copies.
Websites are limited in what they can do,
and whom you can target. Mobile apps
present themselves in a data-without-boundaries method, in turn offering you
and your customer a more immersive experience.
Backed with creative thinking and proactive interactivity, mobile apps
go a long way in improving upon your business goals.
I’m Mike M.
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