Press Release: Research reveals the rise of the ‘Appy Office’
The Appy Office report, which surveyed 150 marketing decision makers in UK businesses, shows that employees are increasingly using their own apps at work but companies are also beginning to see the benefits and issuing official apps, whether proprietary, branded or purchased. 47% of those surveyed had issued official customised apps, 38% tablet apps and 43% mobile apps. View the Infographic here
“As employees use increasingly sophisticated apps in their personal lives they’re starting to see the benefit that they could have in their working lives,” says Peter Gough, founding partner, ORM London. “Businesses are responding to this by creating apps that make their workforce more efficient on the move by accessing information easier, as well as carry out functions like point-of-sale and inventory management.”
As well as staff demand, 40% of those that had created an app said that competitors having a similar in-house app was a driving force behind building their own, showing that businesses are starting to see the competitive edge apps will give them. 53% of marketing decision makers also cited the desire to be seen as innovative as a reason for building apps. An increase in companies issuing personal devices at work, with 54% of those surveyed issuing smartphones and 28% issuing tablets, is also driving the increase in app usage in the workplace.
Currently the most common apps used in businesses are database apps (53%), marketing and marketing measurement apps (51%), event apps (46%) and communications/messaging apps (44%). B2B apps have many different functions including allowing companies to streamline business processes, communicate with and push and pull information to customers and colleagues, as well as access up to date information on the go.
“As the popularity of B2B apps grows businesses need to look closely at what objectives they’re trying to achieve and therefore what functionality they want to provide before investing,” continues Gough. “Most consumer apps have a slick user experience so if you want staff to utilise a business app, creating a good user experience, as well as a visually appealing app that they’ll want to use is important.”