Despite the proliferation of smartphones and enterprise mobility management systems, as well as the explosion of consumer app development, it seems that many employees aren’t getting the work experiences they desire.
That’s the conclusion of a recent report by Sapho and Forrester Research, which explored how business apps can accelerate digital transformation in the enterprise. Though the study doesn’t deal exclusively with enterprise mobility, mobile apps are a key talking point of some of the study’s biggest findings.
Here are just a few highlights:
- Employees want mobile-first work experiences, but aren’t getting them. 69% of employees said they want a mobile-first work experience, but 55% of companies have implemented three mobile apps or fewer.
- Many employees delay completing tasks—or ignore data entirely—when it comes from multiple systems. 62% of employees said they delay completing tasks that require logging into multiple systems, and 65% of employees said they ignore data for making decisions entirely when it must come from multiple systems.
- Employees crave personalization. 74% of employees said they’d rather have access to a subset of personalized data than a comprehensive data set.
- Mobile apps are only part of the solution. The real issue isn’t necessarily mobile apps—it’s information delivery. The study found that employees would be satisfied “if apps and relevant information were made available on everyday tools and devices,” regardless of what that delivery looked like.
- A majority of employees agree that simplified apps would increase efficiency and productivity. 91% of employees agreed that simplified mobile apps would increase efficiency and productivity!
Though we deal daily with companies that have comprehensive mobility plans in place, it’s clear that there are still many companies out there that aren’t meeting the needs and wants of their employees.
As we mentioned in the highlights of the report, mobile apps are not the silver bullet. Developing and deploying mobile apps for your employees won’t resolve all your problems if you have issues with complex processes and unclear systems. But thinking about what function your apps should serve and how you’ll develop them can help get you on the right track to simplify wherever else you need to.
How attuned are you to what your employees want? Are you giving it to them? Chances are, simple apps that increase productivity are at least part of the answer—even if they won’t solve your other problems right away.
