Corporate Information Technology Director at Grupo Raphael

Everyone by now has some knowledge and concept of what a mobile application is and what it is used for. In the beginning mobile applications were limited in functionality and often lacked in performance. However, evolution has allowed them to be sophisticated. But for sanity, let's kick this off by using Gartner´s definition.

Definition of Mobile Web Applications

From my perspective, there are some distinct attributes a mobile app should have. For example, a mobile application should be device agnostic, like the apps we find and download from the app stores like Google Play or Apple App Store, which have infinite options for us to choose from, should be lightweight and fast, with emphasis on fast and feature-rich, capable of performing demanding chores, but where is it heading? We´ve seen trends in app design and multiple backends and tools used for development and integration best practices that have enabled mobile applications to mature.

I think the answer is going to have to be divided into perspectives so we can make some sense of it.

From the consumer perspective, I believe user or customer experience will continue to drive evolving solutions due to the fact that everyday users demand a seamless experience when interacting with a brand, a vendor, or a service provider in their different channels, as we all know the all mighty omnichannel is founded on exactly this, providing same seamless experience no matter where or how you interact with a brand, this will keep hitting sectors like retail and online sales.

Whether it is a loyalty app, a marketplace, or a store app, I believe it will continue to grow, making any of them suitable, and it will leverage the commercial strategy. We are seeing many players create a community to add value to their customers.

For the enterprise, the need for solutions continues to change, driven by multiple factors that have impacted how companies operate. As we all suffered from the Covid pandemic, businesses had to leap and transform their operations in order to maintain a float, not only with work from home solutions but with entire business process adjustments and solutions implementations to maintain control and operational flow while we passed through this unique situation. Now that it is over, focus on the operation performance, improvements, digital transformation, KPIs, goals, and objectives have come back to the table, and everywhere you see, companies are looking into all the solutions and processes, trying to optimize them

 Whether it is a loyalty app, a marketplace, or a store app, I believe it will continue to grow, making any of them suitable, and it will leverage on the commercial strategy. We are seeing many players create a community to add value to their customers 

As IT Leaders, our role is to understand this strategic plan and understand where the organization is heading, to be able to assess our solutions portfolio and IT landscape to provide an adequate response to business in a timely manner offering solutions that meet this demand for optimization, understanding core business, solutions stack, and evolution, and of course, mobility is a major pain point overall, because it is a mesh of moving parts. We´ve witnessed an increment in mobile applications in processes like logistics operations. While this is not new, refreshing, optimizing, or simply implementing a brand-new solution is at an all-time high.

SCM is a core function of many businesses and industries. Having solutions with rich functionality that streamlines the goods receipt, labeling and tagging, printing, handling, and dispatch of materials is definitely impacting the massification of techs like RFID, which has the retail industry evaluating how it will impact improve stock control, replenishment, forecasting, sales, and store security is just an example of how core business is being impacted, while this tech is not new, we are on a path where is now accessible to all players in the market.

The operational, transactional level is primetime for the implementation of mobile solutions; however, at the tactical and strategic level, there is a shift in demand for availability and on-the-spot information, having access to unique dashboards, reports, and other insight into behavior, select KPI´s, is increasing rapidly and will continue to grow.

Finally, on the mobile solutions design and implementation, I can only say the success of a project is based on our ability to manage expectations. Understanding business requirements and delivering a solution tailored to them will in fact, only bring success. Also, having the maturity to explain to the business if our process model is outside of industry best practices and allow them to digest the impact is something that will secure success. IT teams must be wise in selecting tools in which solutions will be built, or if purchased, deep analysis must be made to guarantee compatibility with the current app stack and continuity once the solution is operating in our landscape.