Mobile connectivity, is arguably, one of the leading trends impacting businesses across the globe. Employees are increasingly mobile and organisations are focused on injecting mobility into their work culture and enveloping it into their business strategy. Why, you ask? If you are one of the many wondering why businesses should embrace mobility and what implications this buzzing trend has on businesses, here are some interesting stats for you:

• According to CITO Research, employee mobility leads to 30% better processes and a whopping 23% increase in productivity
• The same report also cites a 100% increase in employee satisfaction after companies embraced mobility
• Mobility adds flexibility to the workplace; empowering employees and saving on costs.
• Mobility also enhances employee engagement in the company and leads to a more tightly connected work community. And when employee engagement increases, there is a corresponding increase in employee retention by up to 87% according to Human Capital Institute.
• Research by TNS Global states that organisations that attempt to ignore this “trend” not only lose out on productivity; they risk losing out on the best and brightest talent in the industry.

If these facts have won you over and enterprise mobility is on your company’s action list, here are 5 tips from IrisLogic that will rapidly help you deliver secure mobile apps with great user experience.

1. Keep your audience in mind

While it is the most obvious step, unfortunately, it is also the most overlooked. App-builders get so involved in the functionalities and technicalities of the app that they lose sight of the end-user and his/her ability or need for the app. Enterprise apps must always support the business process of the employee and must align with the way the employee works. Ensure you plan and design outside in for a winning formula.

2. Be future-ready

Even if you are building a simple app for a small segment of users, don’t forget it won’t always stay that way. Sources of data, the number of users, customer expectations, security challenges and technology are all inclined to keep evolving. Factor in app updates and security updates in your initial costing and always, as a rule of thumb, invest in security and scalability for your infrastructure.

It’s also a good idea to leverage the cloud in infrastructure and multi-tenancy for the operations and evolution of the app roadmap.

3. Experience matters

We can’t stress enough on how important user experience is for enterprise mobility. Not just look- feel and UI but also simple integrations such as Location Based Services, alerts and notifications can lead to a more seamless user experience and can increase your app usage by over 10%.

Also, don’t discount the impact of external factors such as network, wireless speeds, etc. with your app performance. Build in redundancies, for e.g. make sure your app is designed to support offline mode as well so your users can enjoy a snappy user experience even when there is no connectivity.

4. Maintain an open chain of communication

Encourage feedback from app users and quickly release updates. The ability to consume feedback, modify and execute quickly is critical to an app’s success. Without this, app adoption will fall fast.

At the same time, it is also critical to ensure that your user is kept abreast of updates and features. Users need and want to know that the app works properly and simply without being intrusive. Users need to know that their feedback has been taken seriously. And most importantly, users need to know what all the app can do. It is enough to build it and leave it.

5. Pay attention to integrity and management of data

Make sure your apps pass QA testing on a wide range of real-world test scenarios including data conflicts and data source integration.

With the number of mobile device users slated to touch 9 bn by 2018, mobility is not a trend your organisation can afford to ignore. Keeping with this demand, IrisLogic provides a full range of mobility and workplace solutions that include developing and managing applications and content. From robust mobile environment management to mobile apps and analytics, we help you empower your employees to choose the right path to achieve their personal best every day.

So, what are your firm’s top mobile priorities during the next 12 months?