apps@work

Apps@Work – The world of apps beyond Angry Birds and Words with Friends 1

Apps@work–The world of apps beyond Angry Birds and Words with Friends


Introduction–The mobile revolution has forever changed our daily experiences – how we stay in touch with friends, how we get news and entertainment, how we pass the time waiting in line or sitting on the train.

Is it any wonder, then, that it’s also transforming our experience at work?

Enterprise apps are a rapidly growing area of app development. According to Tomi Ahonen Consulting, an estimated 5 billion of the more than 100 billion app downloads forecast for 2014, will be enterprise apps.

Apple and IBM recently announced a partnership to develop more than 100 B2B focused apps for iPhones and iPads.¹ At the same time, Gartner estimates that by 2017 25% of enterprises will have an enterprise app store – a place where employees can download approved apps to their devices.

The number of enterprise apps is huge and growing quickly. This white paper explains why, and why it’s important to your business.

Joe Panepinto, PhDSVP, Senior StrategistJack Morton Worldwide

Chris PapeExecutive Creative DirectorGenuine Interactive

2

150xper day

The number of times the average person interacts with their mobile device ²


Why apps@work?–Two things – the consumerization of IT, which is essentially the fact that employees’ expectations are set by their consumer experiences (and all that entails); and the unique characteristics of apps that make them super useful to businesses with dispersed, heavily connected and increasingly mobile workforces.

For organizations that already have a mobility strategy in place, the next phase will be to start mobilizing as many internal processes as possible to allow workers to perform their core tasks (beyond email) from whichever device they have to hand, from wherever they are.

ZDNet – Enterprise Mobility in 2014: App-ocalypse Now? May 1, 2014.


The growing interest in apps@work is because it finds easy solutions for these 4-C’s–

ControlConsistencyCreativityCredibility


Most company intranets are dumping grounds of irrelevant information, and your field force is working from outdated docs. Apps offer a nice solve for this – you can send updates to a field app that keep everyone on the same digital page and working off of the same version of a document.

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Unlike the slew of browser versions, there are only two major platforms for apps (iOS and Android), so creating a consistent experience across them is a much simpler affair. Plus, in today’s bring-your-own device culture, creating for iOS and Android only is a relief for development teams, who have to worry less about the many versions of browser software that can negatively impact the experience.

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Mobile devices have key features that people are used to using that can make for interesting application in the business context. Just take cameras and GPS capabilities, for example. “If it isn’t shiny and iPad-y, they don’t want to use it,” said George Lawrie, an analyst at Forrester Research. “Just like consumer applications, business software has to be intuitive and immediately usable.” ³

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Today’s recruits – your new employees – live on their mobile devices. They’re going to judge by how well your company allows them to live on them as well. With competition for tech talent at an all time high – and mobile tech savviness a common characteristic of new employees – demonstrating that your org “gets” the new IT landscape is incredibly important.

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In the end, though, it winds up being about productivity

–Percentage productivity increase

Perc

en

t o

f re

spo

nd

en

ts

25%

20%

15%

10%

5%

0%~10% ~20% ~30% ~40% ~50% ~60% ~70% ~80% ~90%

14% 14%11%

2% 2%0%

23%

Source Mobile Helix/Vanson Bourne (July 2013)

Can you estimate the productivity increase you’d expect to see in your organization if all enterprise applications were mobilized?

50% of all enterprises in a recent survey by Mobile Helix estimate productivity increases of more than 40% of all enterprise apps were made mobile.


Where to use apps within your business?–While there’s plenty of interest and activity in creating apps for customers, there’s just as much in creating them for people within the organization.

Source Forrsights Networks and Telecommunications Survey, Q1 2012 Forrester Research, Inc.

Base 1,238 mobile technologies and services decision-makers at North American and European companies (multiple responses accepted)

What are your firm’s plans to custom-develop mobile applications for smartphones and tablets in the following categories?

Apps for use by our customers

Industry-specific applications

Business intelligence/dashboard applications for managers or sales

Productivity applications other than email

Role-specific applications (e.g., field service, marketing automation)

Collaboration

Mobile commerce applications

Social media applications

Apps for use by our business partners/suppliers (e.g.,asset tracking, resource availability)

Network systems management and alerts

Developed Planning to develop

Email/calendar

13%

11%

7%

8%

8%

8%

6%

6%

6%

4%

10%

15%

14%

12%

11%

9%

10%

11%

4%

20%

19%

18%


The two areas you can most quickly make some headway in implementing apps@work are your sales & marketing and training efforts

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We believe the time has come for organizations of all sizes, in all industries, to look beyond consumer applications and consider the full transformational potential of mobile inside the enterprise.

The Individual Enterprise: How Mobility Redefines Business. IBM Institute for Business Value, 2013.

Genuine Interactive recently worked with Novartis Flucelvax on an iFlu Calculator App for sales reps. The app streamlines the sales process and ordering during peak flu season – saving everyone time and effort. The app also allows reps to help clients more appropriately plan for demand based on the latest forecasts.


Sales & marketing apps–This goes beyond just what kind of info your sales people need, to what kind of experience you want them to deliver. Buyers say they are more than halfway through their decision before they even talk to a sales rep - so what does that experience need to be, and how can you enable it with the right information in the right context available at the right time, to close the sale?

The Boston Children’s Hospital Virtual Ventilator is a mobile learning tool that allows pediatric care providers to become familiar with the functionality and behavior of a mechanical ventilator, a tool critical in the care for patients with pneumonia and other breathing limitations.

The application walks users through a three-stage educational pathway, transitioning users through a detailed curriculum, training exercises, and challenging simulations. By applying theories in game design, the simulation reinforces proper procedures, motivating users to fully understand appropriate ventilation tactics.


Learning apps–Learning sticks when it’s experienced in context, when it’s needed, and immediately applicable. On-demand learning in bite-sized, gamified chunks, is proving to be a staple of the most forward-looking companies. An estimated 70% of what people learn, they learn on the job – we think that apps are a great way of providing on-the- job learning experiences.


You’re sold on the power of apps@work –Now what?

Map the experience(s)

Ask yourself, what is the overall experience the app supports? Who’s going to be there? What are their roles? What’s the role for the app? Map it out.

Build-for-purpose

After mapping the overall experience, map the app experience by ruthlessly focusing on what is going to move the experience along, and leave out any of the “nice to haves.”

Leverage the platform

How can you use the features we take for granted on mobile devices in ways that are interesting and compelling in a business setting? Still and video cams? GPS? Bluetooth? NFC?

Adapt & Adopt

The best apps evolve. By building for purpose and mapping the experience, you’re not setting the app in stone, you’re laying the foundation for an experience that evolves over time. Expect to iterate.

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No matter what area of the business you’re building an app for, follow these four keys to success–


Does a good sized chunk of my workforce work remotely?

Do I need to tightly control the information people use everyday?

Would this information be more powerful if it’s delivered on-demand and in context?

Will people be expecting mobile access (and disappointed if they don’t get it)?

Can I improve a process we currently do by integrating a camera, GPS, or messaging into it?

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3

4

5

Know when to build–Ask yourself these five things

And while apps@work may not be quite as

sexy and addictive as the next big thing in

mobile gaming, they are a dynamic evolution in

the way we work–


Talk to us–

Contact Melinda LindlandSVP, New Business and Group Account [email protected]

Read our blog at blog.jackmorton.com

Follow us on twitter @jackmorton

Visit us online at jackmorton.com

¹ Mobile News (http://www.mobilenewscwp.co.uk/2014/07/16/apple-and-ibm-team-up-on-b2b-deal/)

² Tomi Ahonen Consulting (http://communities-dominate.blogs.com/)

³ ZDNET – Enterprise software: The big trends and why they matter. Toby Wolpe.May 1, 2014. (http://www.zdnet.com/enterprise-software-the-big-trends-and-why-they-matter-7000028823/)

About Jack Morton

We’re a global brand experience agency. We generate breakthrough ideas, connecting brands and people through experiences that transform business. Our portfolio of award-winning work spans 75 years across event marketing, sponsorship marketing, promotion and activation, experience strategy, employee engagement, digital, social, and mobile. Ranked at the top of our field, Jack Morton is part of the Interpublic Group of Companies, Inc. (NYSE: IPG).

More information is available at: www.jackmorton.com or @jackmorton

© Jack Morton Worldwide 2014

apps@work

Business

uniquecharacteristics

number of enterprise

apps iosand android

b2b focused apps

mobile techsavviness

mobile workforces

enterprise appswere

consumer applications