“We shape our tools and thereafter they shape us.” The adage holds renewed relevance in the digital app revolution today. Mobile Apps – the seemingly unobtrusive pieces of software on our devices that are revolutionizing the way we live, shop, eat, find a doctor or search a location. There’s now an app for almost everything you can imagine. Need to remind yourself to drink more water? No problem. Choose from the plethora of water alert apps. Most apps fulfil an extremely niche gap and ideation is as important as implementation. Businesses can leverage this app revolution not just to change customer experience and productivity but also internal workforce processes and with channel partners. Quick adoption drives monetization and some sound planning around your business app can drive results faster. However you do need a cross-platform strategy and an app that works for all your audience regardless of their device and platform.
What technology should you opt for to develop your cross-platform app? Xamarin is one name that stands out for its multi-platform portability. You could consider hiring a dedicated developer or consulting a Xamarin mobile application development firm who can deliver on your project plan and expectations.
Here are 3 ways in which mobile apps can help your business.
1. Geo-targeting: The rise of beacons and geo-targeting ‘proximity’ is a great advantage. It's easy to target key-users with location-specific, time-sensitive messages via mobile apps. For small businesses and retail especially, integrating geo-location into the app can help send special offers to users who are near the store.
This helps smaller businesses to control spend, sharpen their focus and push targeted content to their consumers at the opportune time and place.
2. Mobile Backend As A Service: Mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), also known as"backend as a service" (BaaS), allows web app and mobile app developers with a way to link their applications to backend cloud storage and APIs exposed by backend applications. This has the added advantage of providing features such as user management, push notifications,and integration with social networking services. MBaaS services are gaining mainstream traction with enterprise consumers.
Developers use this easy “drag-and-drop” approach to visually prototype application interfaces in hours. Some benefits of a typical MBaaS solution would include:
A mobile-first strategy is the future of the enterprise; capable of conversions and a business makeover. Businesses have realized the importance of leveraging apps and leading with a mobile-centric strategy. Do you have any examples where businesses have used their app strategy creatively to meet their goals? Please share with us in the comments below.
1. Geo-targeting: The rise of beacons and geo-targeting ‘proximity’ is a great advantage. It's easy to target key-users with location-specific, time-sensitive messages via mobile apps. For small businesses and retail especially, integrating geo-location into the app can help send special offers to users who are near the store.
This helps smaller businesses to control spend, sharpen their focus and push targeted content to their consumers at the opportune time and place.
2. Mobile Backend As A Service: Mobile backend as a service (MBaaS), also known as"backend as a service" (BaaS), allows web app and mobile app developers with a way to link their applications to backend cloud storage and APIs exposed by backend applications. This has the added advantage of providing features such as user management, push notifications,and integration with social networking services. MBaaS services are gaining mainstream traction with enterprise consumers.
Developers use this easy “drag-and-drop” approach to visually prototype application interfaces in hours. Some benefits of a typical MBaaS solution would include:
- Quicker development life cycle
- Cloud-based storage for application data
- User-friendly visual tool set
- Greater mobile app performance
- User management services for authentication
- Automatic REST API services on the application data
- Native push notification services with massive scalability power
- User authentication via social accounts such as Facebook, Google, Microsoft, and Twitter
- User authentication through enterprise Active Directory or LDAP
- Scheduler services for periodically sending reports to devices
A mobile-first strategy is the future of the enterprise; capable of conversions and a business makeover. Businesses have realized the importance of leveraging apps and leading with a mobile-centric strategy. Do you have any examples where businesses have used their app strategy creatively to meet their goals? Please share with us in the comments below.