Consumer-Facing Apps

Employees may make-do with stodgy enterprise mobile apps because they have to, but as consumers we all want—even demand—to have the coolest mobile apps. Businesses are finding that, unlike the Internet, mobility is more about just advertising to the consumer. It is a chance to build an intimate relationship with them through powerful consumer-facing mobile apps.

One successful example of this trend is E*Trade Financial and their Mobile Pro trading app. By leveraging mobility—through the antics of a talking baby—E*Trade has been able to enhance their brand and build greater loyalty with their customers. The Mobile Pro app has given E*Trade an aura of being the most cutting edge brokerage company, and it has also improved their bottom line by enabling tens of millions of wireless transactions every day.

Over the next decade, as the “Internet age” gives way to the “mobility age”, workers and consumers will be expecting more information and more applications delivered through their smartphones. The challenge for businesses is to determine how best to meet consumer demands while balancing the requirements of enterprise IT.