App Development: Workplace Innovation

by Mathew Politansky | Nov 19, 2020 | Mobile App Development | 4 comments

App development in the workplace changes the way businesses work. An effective app increases efficiency and communication, whilst slashing budgets, and making your day-to-day tasks easier.  AI apps and machines provide humans with helpers, freeing up human labour for areas in the workplace where high-level logic, creativity, emotion, and empathy is required. This produces better results as employees are able to shift focus from menial tasks to important ones.

Mixed Reality (MR) tech has also provided unique innovations for the workplace, allowing staff to collaborate, communicate, and learn easier than ever before.

Benefits of App Development In the Workplace

Business is constantly growing and changing, and a successful business will adopt new technologies that help them thrive in the modern world. Workplace App development provides many benefits, including and not limited to:

• Increased Efficiency: Applications free up time for staff to focus on more important tasks. AI apps and software mean employees can use their minds on work that requires logic, creativity, empathy, and emotion, as opposed to menial tasks. This yields better results for your business, as staff are free to come up with innovations for your workplace, and think critically on issues and tasks that need resolving.

• Increased Collaboration: Mixed reality applications have made it easier for people in remote locations to collaborate with on-site staff. Through these applications, the remotely located professional is able to walk through the site with the employee, allowing them to make changes and discuss detailed plans in real-time, as opposed to sending images and videos. An example of this is Dynamics 365 for Microsoft’s HoloLens, which lets remote workers see exactly what onsite employees see in real-time.

• Increased Communication: New apps such as Zoom and Microsoft teams have shown that video conferencing apps are imperative for businesses who want to stay connected. These apps allow businesses to keep running, even during a pandemic, ensuring profits and plans did not cease. Communication simply changed from in-person, to online.

• Decrease in Costs: By having apps that increase efficiency, collaboration, and communication, as a business, you will ultimately see a decrease in costs. Your deadlines will be met faster, and staff will be more productive.

Apps and 2020’s Changing Workplace

It has never been more apparent than throughout 2020 just how much apps are able to benefit and improve the way a business functions.

Coronavirus changed the world greatly, the pandemic forced businesses to shut their doors and work from remote locations. This emphasises the need for applications within the workplace and revealed that apps are the future of a modern and successful business.

Companies which have been successful throughout the Pandemic are those that have embraced the capabilities of apps, allowing them to revolutionise the way employees engage with each other throughout their day to day tasks. Here are areas in which businesses managed to remain operating through the use of workplace apps.

1. Teleconference Apps:

• Spatial: Uses the Microsoft HoloLens in order to place members of the meeting in front of each other, allowing them to talk to each other as though they are in the same room. It allows you to use your own environment as the monitor, and your hands as the mouse, allowing you to place important information within your environment, and draw on and control those things placed in your space.

• Zoom: The most well-known and universal teleconference app, Zoom, had its numbers spark to 200 million in March. It’s straightforward and simple means of communication leads it to be a primary choice for online meetings.

• Dynamics 365: Dynamics 365 allows employees to talk to each other from remote locations using the HoloLens. Through the use of the headset, it enables the user to see what the onsite user sees, allowing them to make real-time decisions and give quick advice.

2. Instant Messaging:

• Slack: The instant messaging app provides easy to follow messages, having a one-up on the clunky format of huge email threads. However, its capabilities lay beyond much more than just messaging. It lets your team make calls, share files, and even connect other apps, allowing work to get done efficiently, without the need to see colleagues in person. Slack’s development of ‘Slack Connect’ seeks to replace email threads, creating an easier to read messaging system.

• Microsoft Teams: Microsoft Teams provides similar capabilities, allowing teams to take part in chats, store their files, conduct video meetings, and integrate other apps.

3. Project management

• Asana: Asana allows managers to organise their teams work, ensuring teams are clear on what needs to be done, and how to reach it. The project management app allows you to see which employee is doing what and when, allowing you to bring your team’s goals, plans, tasks, and files together. The app allows you to customise your workflow, and see if your team is on track.

• Basecamp: Basecamp prides itself on providing a quick transition to remote work for your team. It provides one place for all of your business needs, allowing you to understand what everyone is working on, and the progress which they are making. Basecamp provides users with message boards, To-do lists, schedules, files, group chats, and automatic check-ins, all organised in their respective categories. You can also set your workdays within the app, in order to maintain a work-life balance, and not receive notifications during your off-hours.

4. Collaboration:

• Cloud Apps: Cloud apps such as Microsoft’s One Drive and the Google Suite became imperative throughout COVID for both workplaces and students. Allowing real-time collaboration with your team.

• Trello: With Trello, you are able to easily work collaboratively. The boards, lists, and cards allow teams to organise and prioritise the correct projects and needs, giving them a fun and flexible way to work through their daily tasks together. You are able to form your team and see all your required information at a glance, which you are able to comment on and add attachments to.

Both external and in-house apps have the capability of vastly increasing your business’s performance and ultimately changing the way your workplace functions. Whether it’s making project management easier, making daily in-house tasks faster, or creating a connected and collaborative workforce.

(Image of the HoloLens app Spatial in use, provided by the Spatial website)

Innovative Business Apps and The Mobile Apps Man

At The Mobile Apps Man, we pride ourselves on making sure your business needs are met through innovative app development. If you have a problem or inefficiency within your workplace, we work collaboratively with you in order to create a streamlined, innovative application. Our experience creating apps that refine businesses sets us apart. Let us work with you on innovating your workplace!