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IT Services Firms, Tech Consultants: Crazy for Mobile Apps

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Joanie loves Chachi. Brad loves Angelina. And IT service providers love their mobile apps -- especially business and enterprise apps. Indeed, new survey results from Apperian suggest that IT services firms and consulting organizations rank among the most aggressive adopters of mobile apps. The findings are part of a larger study that tracks how businesses are building, deploying and securing their mobile apps.

Among the survey findings from Apperian, which specializes in mobile app management:

Who Adopts Enterprise Mobile Apps?

  •  Technology companies, such as semiconductor and computer hardware providers, have the largest number of apps deployed.
  • IT Services and Consulting organizations were second with 11.1 percent of total apps deployed, followed by Public Sector (11 percent) and Financial Services (8.4 percent), Healthcare (7.4 percent), Communications (6.3 percent) and others.

Enterprise Mobile App Proliferation Trends

  • Once an enterprise mobile app program is launched, apps proliferate – in the study, the mean number of apps companies have deployed is up to nearly 35, while the median number is 13. The difference indicates some companies have very large app portfolios – upwards of 100 apps.
  • The number of apps deployed is not the leading indicator of an organization’s success, with examples of one or two apps delivering demonstrable business impact and changing how a critical business function is performed.
  • The majority of enterprise apps are developed for mobile-oriented business roles, such as Sales and Marketing (17.7 percent) and Field Services (15.3 percent), followed by company-wide apps that bring utility to the majority of workers: HR (14 percent), Office Productivity (11.8 percent) and IT Utilities (11.5 percent).
  • In a separate survey of 1,200 people, Apperian found that 71 percent of workers are accessing company information on mobile for at least two hours a week, with 36.5 percent accessing it for more than five hours.

Enterprise Mobile App Best Practices

The most successful enterprise mobile app projects typically leverage these best practices, Apperian said:

  • Mobile project sponsors in the organization must act as the “general manager” and drive all aspects surrounding the app, including app functionality, end-user promotions, support processes and help desk, user feedback, and the financials around the app.
  • Prioritize ideas for “apps that matter” by business impact to specific user segments and rapidly develop them and iterate using agile development methods.
  • Apps must be easy to find, intuitive to use and aligned by user role. Apperian is headquartered in Boston with teams throughout the U.S., Europe, and Asia.

Heads up: Most of the info above is taken word-for-word from Apperian's press release. We'll take credit for the Joanie, Chachi, Brad and Angelina references.

Joe Panettieri

Joe Panettieri is co-founder & editorial director of MSSP Alert and ChannelE2E, the two leading news & analysis sites for managed service providers in the cybersecurity market.