The traditional method of doing business is constantly being challenged by new technology. It is no secret that mobile devices have disrupted the way companies do business these days, and by the looks of it, this trend isn’t going anywhere. Keeping that in mind, it is no surprise that forward-thinking businesses are now using custom-built business apps to improve their productivity, as well as increase their visibility in the market. If you are a business owner who is looking to create a business app, these are some of the trends in app technology that you need to be aware of in 2020.
1. The Rise of Voice User Interface (VUI)
With the growing popularity of assistants such as Alexa and Siri, it is likely that more apps are being designed with Voice User Interfaces (VUI). According to research carried out by Adobe in 2019, up to 85% of smartphone users use their voice to control their smartphones. While the use of voice interfaces for shopping or using productivity apps has not gained momentum as yet, it’s safe to say that the use of both voice shopping and voice business apps will pick up in 2020. That said, there are certain security issues when it comes to using Voice User Interface that need to be solved first.
2. Cloud-Based Mobile Apps
As the name implies, cloud-based mobile apps utilize cloud computing technology rather than the hardware of the device. This means that users do not have to worry about limitations such as a particular operating system.
Thanks to the advancements in cloud computing technologies, it could get easier to create cross-platform applications by harnessing the power of the cloud. The result of using cloud-based mobile apps will be a smoother performing UX, which is always nice for the consumers, and efficient migration of data and settings.
Another major advantage of using cloud-based mobile apps will be that the cloud is considered to be more protected as compared to traditional devices. While cloud-based applications are not widely used, the introduction of 5G internet can help make cloud-based mobile applications the future.
3. Improving UX Design with Predictive Analytics
While UX has been a focus of businesses that have been using apps and websites for many years now, it is only until recently that the true importance of UX design has been fully realized. At its core, UX design matters because while most mobiles use features that are similar to each other, one great UX design can be the main differentiating factor between similar-looking mobile apps.
According to research, almost 97% of users admit that ease of use is the main deciding factor when it comes to using mobile applications. So, regardless of whether you will be using the mobile application to increase sales or improve productivity at the workplace, UX design is going to be the main deciding factor between the success or failure of your business application.
4. Application Performance Management
If you are using a mobile application to improve productivity at the workplace, then you are also going to need Application Performance Management (APM). This is especially important if your workforce is going to use multiple remote access points. Having Application Performance Management in place enables business owners to monitor and manage the performance of their mobile application, ensuring that it functions at optimal levels at all times.
5. Enterprise Mobility Management
To ensure that you are really able to maximize the productivity of your workforce who is using a business app, you are going to need Enterprise Mobility Management (EMM). This is because if employees are going to be using the business app to carry out various processes, then EMM ensures that every process runs efficiently.
To those of you who are not familiar, EMM is all about managing the security and function of the devices your employees are going to be using the app on. Since improving productivity is more than just providing your employees with remote access to an app, you also have to ensure the business app and mobile devices it runs on are safe.
The goal of using Enterprise Mobility Management is to make sure all security features of mobile devices are updated and that all employees have easy access to needed app features to minimize security breaches.
6. Cross-Platform and Omnichannel
With so many people using different devices these days, it pays to make sure that the app you create is going to have cross-platform functionality. Taking the omnichannel approach is going to be the new normal for companies that are looking to improve their productivity by using mobile apps. According to research, it is common for users to use up to six touch points when using applications. This is reason enough to unify the user experience by developing omnichannel and cross-platform mobile apps for your business.
7. Augmented Reality
Augmented Reality has been the poster boy of the future for some time now. The concept of blending AR in real-world scenarios is an idea that has piqued the interest of many companies, many of which are already putting AR technology to good use in their mobile applications. As AR technology continues to grow, it is likely that we see more business apps using AR to enhance the user experience.
8. 5G
We touched on this earlier, but it goes without saying that 5G is going to be the future of mobile technology and will quickly supersede its cousins 4G and LTE. With massive transfer speeds of up to 100 GB/s, this new technology will power the cloud, the Internet of Things and feature-heavy mobile applications. It has already been predicted that the total spending on 5G infrastructure is going to reach a cool US $2.3 billion by 2021, and that’s only a few months away.
While there may be many other cool technologies that are already in the pipeline that will make our year (or what’s left of it) more interesting, it pays for businesses looking to create their own mobile apps to know what’s trending and what’s not in the mobile app landscape.