Best practices for using data to support app deployment and user adoption
Businesses are launching more enterprise applications than ever before. In fact, nearly half of enterprises have already deployed between one and 10 mobile apps to their employees according to a recent survey by Frost & Sullivan. However, what many enterprises don’t realize is that app deployment is just the beginning of the mobile enterprise journey.
A good app starts with good design, but the work doesn’t end there. Businesses will not benefit from their mobility efforts if employees fail to use the apps provided to them. In order to drive up mobile app adoption rates, you need a post-development game plan, and that starts with usage data and analytics.
Chart the app’s journey through data and analytics
Once an enterprise app is deployed, it’s time to start gathering data and analytics. These are your most powerful tools for increasing download and use rates because they give you honest insight into download statistics, usage conditions and user behavior.
Whether you’ve developed a mobile sales or an internal human resource application, it’s advantageous to look beyond just downloads when evaluating their success. Where the valuable analytics really lie is in the drop off points of a particular application.
Pinpointing exactly where end-users stop downloading, installing, or using an application is the first step towards improving it. Gather usage statistics to chart the journey of an app. Work with IT decision-makers to really customize apps to specific user bases, workflows and business tasks. Use data and analytics to chart the journey of your app. Identify the successes and failures at each touch point to provide development teams with the information they need to enact useful improvement in subsequent release cycles.
Be proactive post deployment
Don’t expect your “bring-your-own-device” employees to flock to enterprise apps on their own. As part of an effective mobile app management strategy, organize training sessions that introduce newly available apps to users and create a forum for them to ask questions.
In order to secure higher adoption rates over the long term, it’s critical for enterprises to be proactive in providing mobile support to end users. Support, as well as individualized training sessions, can also be done remotely using solutions that give an administrator remote control over a user’s app (always with the user’s permission).
In addition, you should encourage your users to use tools that allow them to rate the apps and provide targeted feedback and then review employee ratings, listen to their feedback, and act on their suggestions to create an app that employees will want to use.
Continuous development is continuous improvement
Developing quality mobile enterprise apps is a marathon, not a race. The benefits of mobile app management – increased employee and customer satisfaction, time savings and productivity – are a direct result of continuous improvement efforts. Incorporating analytics and proactive troubleshooting into a continuous development life cycle are vital steps towards reaping the rewards of mobile enterprise applications.
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