Today, mobile applications are an indispensable part of enterprise growth strategies but this was not the case a few years ago. Before mobility became mainstream, going mobile meant no more than access to emails, contacts and, if Internet connectivity was good, a fair bit of web browsing too. But then came the palm-size magic box or the smartphone that changed enterprise mobility for good. It has redefined the way enterprises interact and engage with technology for business innovation, productivity, and growth. So, in this blog, we take a closer look at the ever-evolving enterprise mobility landscape and the trends that are driving enterprise mobility today.
Customer Facing to Employee Touching
There is not a single business aspect left untouched or directly/ indirectly impacted by enterprise mobility. Whether it’s about improving customer retention and loyalty, building stronger supply chains or enhancing employee productivity, mobility is now the centerpiece of business decision-making. The trend is expected to explode as IoT (internet-connected devices) becomes mainstream in the next few years.
How is Mobility Driving Customer Experience?
Mobility is transforming the way enterprises interact and engage with existing and potential customers. Mobile apps are a perfect tool for enterprises to transcend traditional channels and engage with their target audience in ways unimaginable before. Here are some of the primary highlights of customer-facing mobility trends:
- Create customer journeys that complement business goals and objectives
- Identify customer needs and priorities
- Create efficient KPIs for performance monitoring
- Reach new potential markets
- Create new revenue streams
- Improve customer retention and loyalty
How is Mobility Enhancing Workforce Productivity?
A study reveals that over 80% of the employees access work emails after work hours if they have enterprise mobility apps. And this is just one among the many stats that cement the growing importance of mobile apps in enhancing workforce productivity.
Enterprise mobility apps offer an exceedingly easy way for enterprise employees to communicate, coordinate and collaborate irrespective of their time zone and locations. Furthermore, like cloud computing, AI and ML become mainstream, enterprise mobility apps are embracing these technologies to improve their functional and technical capabilities. Here are some of the key ways in which 21st-century enterprise mobility apps are transforming employee productivity.
- Using AR and VR capabilities for employee training
- Gathering, modeling and analyzing process/workflow data for insights
- Authorize unhindered yet secure access to business-critical data
- Foster seamless connectivity and coordination among remote employees
- Identify and create workflows that put the customer’s first and increase ROI
Enterprise mobility has made it much easier and cost-effective for enterprises to target new markets. Mobility apps offer enterprises with a proactive global workforce that is well equipped to study new emerging markets and identify areas of potential growth. As per research firm Strategy Analytics, by 2022 1.87 billion people will be mobile employees accounting for nearly 43% of the global workforce.
Is Technology The Only Reason Driving Enterprise Mobility?
A mobile workforce is not a new concept. Mobility has been around for some time but its adoption rate has simply exploded in the past few years. Technology is one of the key reasons behind this intense increase in mobility popularity but it is not the only reason. There are several factors at play behind enterprise mobility rising popularity. These include:
- An aging global population (especially in countries like China, Germany, and Australia)
- A growing need to import talent to fill the skill gap across developed and developing economies
- Align work culture in line with the expectations and demands of the millennial workforce
As one technology expert once said, “The primary goal of technological advancement should be to increase people’s efficiency so that everyone has more leisure time.” Nothing can be truer for enterprise mobility, which is transforming work culture for the better. However, this is easier said than done. In fact, poor adoption has been the most common reason for enterprise mobility strategy failures.
For most enterprises, the greatest challenge is to manage the overheads and yet create a mobility roadmap that is efficient, easy-to-adopt and cost-effective. Pratham Software is a leading enterprise mobility solution provider. Our end-to-end mobility solutions are tailored to seamless connected devices, applications, people, workflows and processes.
