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Mobile applications are increasingly viewed as a business-differentiation tool to increase customer engagement, reinforce brand value and provide better customer service, and delivering a high-quality user experience and improving mobile app performance are top business priorities, according to the most recent annual survey of global enterprises by mobile application platform provider Kony Solutions in conjunction with MGI Research.
The results indicated many companies are still in the early phases of adoption and are taking a practical approach to new technologies and standards, with enhanced application performance (72 percent) and multiplatform mobile application support from a single code base (67 percent) weighing in as top requirements. These took precedence over managing bring your own device (BYOD) (46 percent) and greater use of HTML5 (26 percent).
The State of Mobile Apps survey also explored 2012 mobile budget priorities, finding that 48 percent of respondents plan to increase budgets for multiplatform development tools over the next 12 months. More than 200 survey respondents also reported their top technical concerns are support for open standards and multiplatform mobile app supportespecially for hybrid apps, which are expected to be the biggest gainers in the next 12 months over native or HTML5 apps.
From increased attention to the user experience and planning bigger investments in multichannel offerings, this report demonstrates that more organizations are adopting a mobile first mindset. It also confirms something our customers have long knownmobile is a key driver of business success, and an essential channel for increasing customer loyalty and improving customer service, Harold Goldberg, Konys chief marketing officer, said in a prepared statement. While its crucial to stay at the forefront of trends such as BYOD and HTML5, it is clear that a multichannel, hybrid approach is what enterprises are looking for to stay ahead in todays mobile environment, ensuring that they can future-proof their mobile strategy and position their organizations for continued growth.
The survey revealed that customer service apps (55 percent) are the top applications in development this year, with respondents indicating that enhancing customer engagement (87 percent) and increasing competitive advantage (79 percent) are key business drivers. Survey results also indicated that many companies are still challenged by mobile apps, with about 6 percent reporting a huge failure in their mobile app development and more than 21 percent reporting either below average or disappointing return on investment (ROI) from mobile apps.
These results are consistent with the fast-moving adoption of mobile apps. Through this survey, we see that organizations that are focused holistically on the entire mobile application ecosystemfrom planning through design and development, to deployment and managementare getting outstanding results and ROI from their mobile app investments Igor Stenmark, managing director of MGI Research, said in a press statement. With such a heavy emphasis placed on application performance and user experience, more organizations are realizing that a simplistic focus on just time-to-market is no longer the best approach and that a disciplined implementation of a proper mobile application framework enables companies to best meet their mobile business objectives.