Mobile apps changed the way we see the world. Today, all you need to do is open your phone and click a few buttons in an app to order a range of products and services. Mobile technology is changing the way we behave and interact with each other, as well.
Just open your messaging app, and you have a real-time connection via voice or text to your loved ones and friends. With over 3.5-billion smartphone users globally, it’s a safe bet that the demand for mobile apps will only multiply.
Consumer Apps Are Changing the Way We See the World
Consumer apps are now more adept than ever before at utilizing the native functionality of mobile devices. Apps now integrate with the use of touchscreens, cameras, GPS, and accelerometers to deliver a mobile experience that shapes human behavior.
Today we swipe to find a date or tap to purchase goods. We search to find answers to pressing questions and translate speech to text with virtual assistants. This global trend shows no sign of slowing down, with emerging markets readily adopting technology solutions.
For example, WeChat is a social media app with its core user-base in China. Users can chat, order meals, shop, and pay bills, all from within the app’s functionality.
Why Aren’t Commercial Workspace Apps Offering the Same Experience?
If you compare your workplace app to a consumer app, there is a massive employee experience gap. The consumer app seems friendly, and it benefits you to use the service.
However, a workplace app is years behind the consumer experience. Instead of seeming user-friendly, it’s a hassle to make it work correctly. This problem is commonplace across many companies that implement workplace solutions to optimize workflow.
The company thinks that by adding more functionality to the app, employees will have a better user experience, and productivity levels should increase. In reality, what happens is that employees find the app difficult to use.
There’s too much functionality in items they don’t need, while the services they do use and need typically aren’t up to spec. As a result, managers experience a downturn in productivity as employees begin to resist the new workplace.
How Can You Bring a Consumer-Style App into Your Employee Experience?
Building a modern workspace for your company requires taking business data and making it effortlessly actionable across mobile platforms. By providing your employees with mobile workplace experiences, you enhance the efficiency and productivity of every aspect of your business.
Manage your digital workflow across all business functions, such as HR, IT, customer service, support, and security. However, it’s important to note that not every business function suits a consumer-style mobile experience. It’s up to you to analyze which departments can benefit from automation and implementing a mobile employee experience.
Mobile workplace experiences are ideal for tasks involving a set number of steps in the process — for example, managing project approvals, sending requests, and searches. However, we still require the use of desktops and laptops to handle open-ended, complex jobs such as content creation, budgeting, and strategic analysis. These functions are also changing every day.
What Can We Expect from the Future of Mobile Workspaces for Enterprise?
Over the coming decade, we can expect to see the rise of chat and voice technology leading the way in consumer-style mobile experiences. 2020 marks a critical moment in the transition phase, where the enterprise starts to understand the importance of tailoring workspaces to provide a positive employee experience.
If companies learn to focus on the employee experience as much as the customer experience, the shift is inevitable. Take the steps to “consumerize” your commercial apps for enterprise. You’ll gain a significant advantage over your competition with your digital transformation.
