Mobile apps have been around for many years now and they won’t be going anywhere anytime soon. As of 2018, there has been a recorded 2.8 billion people worldwide who have a smartphone and 180 billion apps have been downloaded on the Apple App Store alone. These numbers are continuing to grow with no signs of slowing down, with an expected 352.9 billion app downloads by 2021.
There are two approaches a business can take when it comes to mobile apps. The first approach is to have a mobile app that employees of the company use to increase efficiency such as easily recording data or a tool that allows employees to complete day-to-day tasks. This is an enterprise application. The second approach falls into the scenario where the business wants the app to be downloaded by customers such as a booking or ecommerce app. This is a consumer application. These different approaches are taken depending on what the business needs are.
Reducing Costs with an Enterprise Application
Over the past decade, many businesses worldwide have made the transition into going paperless through the use of technology. Tasks that require an employee to fill out a form as part of a daily task can be made much more efficient by doing it on an app. Two factors that come into play here are the reduction of printer costs and the ability to automate tasks. Carrying out tasks such as sending the data to the appropriate person or database and producing a report, can all be done behind the scenes on the application thus giving the employee more time to concentrate on other tasks.
Such mobile apps work particularly well for a business when an employee has to leave the office to go on-site to carry out their work. Having a tool on your phone that sends data back to your main office instantly is one of the great advantages of mobile apps for remote use.
Brand Growth and Sales using a Consumer Application
There are many ways to expand your brand on the internet and a mobile app changes your marketing game through the use of the words “download our app”. Within the app users could be able to send their friends referral links, increasing both app downloads and brand awareness.
Whether you sell products or a service, a mobile app can be a great way to manage that. Perhaps you already have a website that deals with it, but you plan on taking it into current technology trends with a mobile app. Although the result may be an increase in sale growth, the most important aspect is gathering data from users. Being able to track how many users are searching or buying a particular product can allow you to adjust your sales strategies around this.
At Lawlor Technologies we specialise in designing and developing mobile apps for businesses whether it be consumer or enterprise based. Try out our app cost calculator.