Smartphone apps in business.

AuthorEvans, Eliza
PositionTELECOM & TECHNOLOGY

According to the 2013 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll, 85 percent of small businesses use smartphones and 31 percent use mobile applications (apps) in their business operations. Almost half of the small businesses polled stated they could not survive--or that it would be a major challenge to survive--without these apps.

According to Jenny Fremlin, PhD, Media Psychologist at Alaska Litho Media Services, "Not only do most people have smartphones, we have come to depend on them like no other technology."

Generally, business apps are used to solve a problem for the business or their customers. According to the 2013 AT&T Small Business Technology Poll, the top three reasons respondents reported using apps for their business operations were to save time, increase productivity, and reduce costs. Of the small businesses using apps in their business operations, the majority (74 percent) use apps for GPS navigation and mapping. Location-based service apps account for 43 percent of small business app usage. Around 30 percent use apps for document management, social media marketing, and mobile payments in the field.

Business Apps

A wide range of apps save time, improve efficiency, and help businesses stay organized and current.

There are apps that add value by improving customer service, apps that make money by selling intellectual property, and apps that help companies do business. There are apps that allow users to manage employees, projects, and expenses. Sales reps may use apps to track and submit orders as well as take and mange payments. Mobile shift planning apps assist in the scheduling of staff, instantly notify staff of shifts or shift changes, allow staff to access shift schedules at any time and from any location, allow remote employees to clock in from anywhere, and even set automatic alerts to remind staff of their work schedules. There are also a substantial number of apps to help with finding and hiring employees, including recruiting and networking apps.

There are also a wide range of mobile apps to support field service or remote staff. These apps assist staff with managing schedules, tracking meetings and hours, accessing maps and driving directions, accessing company resources, sending regular status updates to supervisors, sending and receiving encrypted emails, taking and tracking payments by credit or debit card, developing invoices, and using word processing programs. Many of these apps also sync with desktop computers...

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