Using a Mobile Platform to Deliver Highly Usable Mobile Apps

mobile platformEditor’s Note: This post was updated April 17, 2018.

Employee work habits have evolved, as they are no longer confined strictly to using one operating platform at a single job location. Employees have gone mobile, as they are utilizing smartphones, tablets and other mobile devices to complete work projects, log warehouse inventory, pull up sales information for customers, and answer tech questions while on the go. Your company recognizes that operations have to be more mobile-friendly for these employees as you are rolling out custom business apps to increase workflow and stimulate productivity. A mobile platform allows your company to develop and deploy mobile apps rapidly across all business units.

Overcoming The Challenges Of Mobile App Development

Usable mobile apps offer a number of advantages for mobile workers. They allow access to corporate real-time data and critical back-end systems in seconds from any location. Smart mobile apps may be used online or offline by employees in many different industries where they need instant access to business data. Yet the main issue that your company may experience with mobile apps is trying to create native and web apps for different mobile operating systems in an ever-changing technological industry. Not only does the your company have to develop apps that allow employees to work efficiently on all mobile operating systems and device types, but you also need an effective way to manage and upgrade applications that don’t require you to change the apps one by one every single time a new mobile device rolls out in six months.

Mobile platforms are providing the answers that companies are seeking to initiate and deploy mobile apps to employees. A mobile application development platform allows you to develop apps that are best suited for the tasks at hand. The apps can be managed all in one location as changes and upgrades can be deployed for all mobile operating systems. Scalability can be achieved more easily as your company grows and adds more employees who will use the apps. In addition, security and access management are still maintained by key IT personnel who will only allow access to back-end resources to authorized employees.

Selecting The Right Mobile Platform

Every mobile app platform is different. Each offers users a wide range of resources and applications to develop and deploy corporate mobile apps for employees. Selecting the right platform geared toward your operations will require analyzing what field tasks would benefit the most by becoming mobile apps, what type of access to allow to back-end services, if your company will use template applications for app development, and if the platform offers other development capabilities. Other factors to consider may include:

    • scalability
    • enterprise security
    • rapid deployment
    • end user adoption
    • offline operational capabilities
    • deployment across all mobile operating systems: iOS, Android, Windows
    • allows for device-native app deployment

The right mobile application platform should focus on all of the company’s requirements and allow you to successfully manage all of your company’s mobile apps. You will see an instant change to employee workflow, real-time data updates, and lower costs when upgrading mobile applications. Taking that first step into becoming a productive mobile-optimized company only requires you and your employees to be open-minded into fully adopting this technology. Find out more information on how Mobile Reach can offer this mobile platform that fits into your company’s operations. Contact us today!

You can learn more about mobile app development via our comprehensive guide to mobile field service apps.