The objective is to build mobile apps that make it easier for customers and employees to interact with your business.
Mobile devices have changed the way people consume information, purchase products, and pay bills. They allow users to quickly perform routine tasks from anywhere, including the office, their home, a car, or a coffee shop. Today, companies are using mobile apps to sell products and services to customers and distribute timely information to employees. The challenge businesses face is deciding how best to use mobile apps to boost sales and improve operational efficiencies.
The first step in building a mobile strategy is to identify which business process to mobilize that will provide the optimum productivity improvement for customers and employees. Then, look for opportunities to transform existing business practices by removing duplicate or unnecessary steps. When you simplify the way customers interact with your company, it becomes easier for them to purchase products, find information, and contact your customer service teams. By streamlining business processes, employees' workloads are reduced through automating routine decision-making (such as discounts and customer credit assessments) and employees are involved in a business process only when exceptions and special circumstances arise.
The objective is to build mobile apps that make interacting with your company easier for your customers and employees.
Why Mobile?
Mobile devices have added extra dimensions to employee working time and provided customers, partners, and suppliers with flexibility in cooperation and collaboration. Companies deploying mobile strategies are improving employee productivity by providing mobile devices or allowing employees to "bring your own device" (BYOD). Employees can then use idle time, such as waiting in an airport lounge, to check email or access corporate data. Responding to a customer question or tracking a customer's order is faster when an employee has access to information at any time, in real-time.
Similarly, mobile is enhancing customer relationships by granting immediate access to product information, providing ordering services, and accepting purchases from apps on mobile devices. Customers can browse product catalogues and purchase products at their convenience.
The catch? Mobile apps are needed to make these outcomes a reality.
Preparing a Mobile Strategy
Once you've considered creating and deploying a mobile app, the first step is to develop a strategy that will identify areas of business activity where mobilization can provide improved productivity and reduce costs. A comprehensive strategy will also help to allocate priorities so that the solutions you implement provide an optimum return on investment (ROI).
A mobility strategy also includes defining the outcomes and advantages you expect to achieve by implementing mobile solutions. Outcomes must be real and achievable, not merely objectives or wish-list items such as working smarter or becoming the most profitable company in an industry area. Outcomes should also derive from corporate expertise or assets that provide competitive advantage and be based on market segments not serviced by other companies.
Deciding to build a mobile app is only part of a strategy. You must also define the ways in which the app will improve customer relationships, make purchases easier, sell more products, and highlight your brand.
Having at least two outcomes to evaluate will lend justification for your strategic choice. When thinking about potential outcomes, ensure they are possible, but avoid trying to work out how to implement them. Ignore "it won't work" doubts until you have chosen a set of outcomes and are ready to evaluate them.
Outcomes can then be evaluated by identifying obstacles and weighing the positive effects. Test the feasibility of each outcome by determining the conditions and factors that will ensure a successful implementation. The evaluation may require research and quantitative analysis to assist in the choice of an outcome. The final step is to choose the preferred outcome and then plan its implementation.
Here are examples of the positive effects and obstacles of developing a mobile app:
Positive Effects
- Business units can fund apps
- Consumer acceptance of purchasing using a mobile device
- Customer engagement
- Employees willing to work anytime from anywhere
- Improved revenue generation
- Faster esponse to customer demands
- Potential for improved employee productivity
- Widespread use of mobile devices
Obstacles
- Acquiring new development tools
- Business processes not optimised for mobility
- Costly to outsource mobile app development
- Data security
- Developers lack skills to build mobile apps
- Integrating mobile apps with line-of-business applications
- Network coverage
- Productivity loss while training developers
- Theft of devices or data
Identifying Potential Mobile Apps
Mobile apps will not automatically replace back-office systems, transform business processes, improve efficiency, increase revenue, or generate profits. However, they can provide new ways to interact with customers, partners, and employees to distribute information and create a more personalized service for mobile device users. Business opportunities arise from moving or duplicating existing business activities to operate on mobile devices or creating new services only practical with the devices.
What business processes are the most appropriate candidates for mobile apps? Most companies don't build mobile apps just because it is the fashionable thing to do. Therefore, the question is, what business processes on a mobile device will make manufacturing, service provision, sales, and distribution less expensive and more productive?
Suggestions for Business Processes to Mobilize
The following tables provide examples of business processes to consider as candidates for mobilization. These samples can provide efficiency and productivity improvements when implemented in an app on a mobile device.
Manufacturing Company Example
A typical manufacturing company operates multiple business units, and each unit manages several business processes, many of which are suitable for mobile apps.
|
Business Units |
Business Processes Suitable for Mobile Apps |
|
Procurement |
Contract deviations Material cost management Material status tracking Purchase order creation and approval |
|
Supply |
Inventory management Quality control Scheduling of receipts Supplier Service-Level Agreement (SLA) management |
|
Manufacturing |
Asset tracking Material handling Manufacturing process exceptions notifications Online technical manuals and documentation Quality reporting |
|
Distribution |
Dispatch scheduling Fleet management Warehouse management |
|
Sales and Marketing |
Competitor intelligence Customer relationship management (CRM) analysis and reporting Online orders Pricing analytics Quotations Sales eporting |
|
Executive Management and Finance |
Business activity dashboard Business unit key performance indicator (KPI) reporting Financial monitoring and reporting Product performance reporting and monitoring |
|
Administration |
Complaint management Employee time sheets and surveys Expense reporting Online service manuals Warranty claims and approval workflows Workplace incident reporting |
Industry Examples
The following examples describe business activities whose processes are appropriate for mobile apps.
|
Business Activities |
What Mobile Apps Can Do |
|
Asset Management |
During an asset management audit, an auditor can visit each asset and use a mobile app to scan the asset barcode, update location and user information, and make notes about the physical condition of the asset. |
|
Consulting |
Consulting company employees at customer sites can use a mobile app to access their corporate product information and procedures manuals. They can access employee services, including preparing and submitting expense claims, posting time sheets, and submitting vacation applications. |
|
Delivery and Distribution |
A mobile app can provide access to information about deliveries, routes, and customer details. Drivers can accept electronic signatures and post delivery reports, eliminating the need for dedicated devices in delivery vehicles. |
|
Insurance Claims |
Insurance claim assessors can use an app to take photos at the accident site, record customer details (such as policy number and phone numbers), make notes about the assessment, and upload the information to a corporate server. |
|
Pharmaceutical Company Representatives |
Sales representatives can visit a pharmacy, perform a stocktake, derive a suggested order, check stock availability, review and amend the order with the store manager, place the confirmed order, and update information in the customer relationship management (CRM) system. |
|
Repairs and Maintenance |
Repair and maintenance staff can retrieve full details of upcoming jobs and look up (and optionally download) product repair instructions and diagrams. The mobile device can be used to take photos of damaged or broken apparatus, upload photos, order parts for delivery, request assistance, and ask advice on how best to make the repairs. |
|
Retail |
Sales assistants can carry a tablet (or smartphone) and access information such as stock availability and prices while standing next to a potential customer. They can also access employee services and check rosters. |
|
Sales |
Company representatives visiting customers can access product information, check stock availability, place orders and update CRM information. Representatives can save marketing information on a tablet to share these with customers. |
|
Warehouse |
With a mobile device, employees are no longer tied to a desktop computer in a fixed location, and mobile devices are easier to handle than notebook or ultra-book computers. Employees can access delivery schedules for incoming and outgoing deliveries and perform a stocktake with freedom to move around the warehouse. |
Business Process Examples
Business processes that are common across companies and industries can be implemented in mobile apps.
|
Business Processes |
What Mobile Apps Can Do |
|
Customer Relationship Enquiries |
Extending information from the CRM system to mobile devices allows sales representatives to browse information about customer accounts, contacts, quotes, and orders. Before visiting a customer, sales reps can review the financial situation and add comments about the meeting afterward. |
|
Expense Claims |
Employees can enter expenses, send them for approval, and receive acknowledgement of manager approval. |
|
Information Analysis |
Analysts can perform business intelligence queries based on real-time data. |
|
On-Demand Analytics |
Dashboards for use with mobile devices allow managers to monitor business activity in real-time. The information can include sales by product within a defined time period, volume sold, and revenue generated. A dashboard for sales representatives can show prospects, sales opportunities (open/closed), and win/loss ratios of closed opportunities. On-demand analytics assumes a query function in a mobile app that allows users to pose questions and receive an analysis that answers the questions. |
|
Order Enquiry |
Authorised users can enquire on open orders, closed orders, delivery status, stock item availability, pricing, and discounts. With a mobile app, sales representatives can place orders, view product specifications, or look up prices and discounts. |
|
Procurement |
Employees can create, submit, and review purchase orders awaiting approval as well as add comments and instructions. Managers can approve or reject a purchase order. |
|
Reporting |
Passive reporting—Eliminate printing of large quantities of paper by sending copies of reports to employees' mobile devices. Reporting systems can create PDF copies of the reports, email them to employees, or save them and allow employees to access them on demand. Dynamic reporting—Distributing reports in spreadsheets or creating a mobile app provides a dynamic reporting infrastructure. Employees can work with the data in a report and even drill down for more detailed nformation. |
|
Stocktake |
A stocktake is one business process where a mobile device can reduce costs and simplify the task. A mobile device with a camera can scan barcodes to etrieve details from a database. Performing the stocktake in real-time means the data in the database is up-to-date immediately; there is no need to download stocktake data from a dedicated stocktake device, upload the data to a server, and then run a program that updates the database. |
Human Resources and Employee Activities
Here are examples of employee and human resources administrative tasks that can be mobilized.
|
Tasks |
What Mobile Apps Can Do |
|
Employee Activity Reports |
Many employees submit daily or weekly reports to their managers. A mobile app can simplify report preparation and submission and ensure that all employees use the same report format. By coupling the app with a workflow, managers can monitor who has not submitted a report. |
|
Employee Information |
Employees can access their personal details securely to update contact information. |
|
Leave Requests and Approvals |
Employees can fill out leave requests and submit them to a workflow for approval by their manager. |
|
Timesheet Entry |
Employees can complete and transmit timesheets from anywhere. |
|
Workplace Incidents |
A workplace incident mobile app allows employees to prepare and submit reports (including photos) immediately after an incident occurs. |
Going Mobile
Mobile devices will continue to change the way we interact with tech-savvy consumers. As a result, mobility is becoming an increasingly pervasive tool that is having a major impact on how business is conducted and customers are communicated with. When considering mobilizing a business process, ensure the objective is to build mobile apps that make manufacturing, service provision, selling, and distribution less expensive, more productive, and easier for customers and employees.
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