As the excitement around Apple’s latest update to its award-winning operating system (iOS 10), the new iPhone 7 and Apple Watch dies down, it’s time to think about what it means for the real users in the field.
And that’s where the rubber hits the road. You’ve deployed hundreds, maybe thousands, of iOS devices – iPads and iPhones – to your sales and service teams to help them to be more productive and successful in their jobs and you’ve carefully selected the right software to go along with those devices. Now, Apple goes and upsets the proverbial Apple cart (pun intended) as your teams near-simultaneously download the update, risking a system-wide breakdown of the applications and usage program that you have put in place.
For many enterprise organizations, they’ve been through this before. To resolve the issue, they’ve enlisted the services of the developers behind the sales and services apps and sent memos into the field pleading with users not to upgrade their device (which normally arrives just after half of the sales team has updated their device). In addition to the time lost, these updates can be incredibly costly for organizations.
This nightmare situation is something that has been common since the beginning of the “app economy” where enterprise customers were faced with challenges around operating system updates for their non-native apps. Even when organizations have thought through the full work flow and how this exciting new solution can integrate with CRM/Sales Force Automation tools and the customer service desk to create something that is really usable in front of a customer, software updates can derail even the best laid plans.
But lucky for you, our reader, it’s 2016 and you have carefully thought through this dilemma in advance. You know the benefits between build vs. buy.
Building a custom solution sounds attractive – you can get your own branding, look and feel, and integrations that suit your business, but are faced with costly development with uncertain time lines. Agency-built apps can cost as much as $400,000, so it’s a big investment in dollars, as well as in time.
Today, it’s possible to solve this problem by choosing a platform (like Bigtincan Hub) that is designed to ensure you can get the custom look and feel that you need to get sales teams engaging on the right content at the right time and location. The platform approach – taking an off-the-shelf solution and having it conform to the needs of your business – it is rapidly becoming the most effective way to solve the mobility challenge.
Best of all, the platform approach solves the pain of system updates, not only by ensuring the seamless delivery of content across all devices, but also by taking advantage of features and capabilities the new OS offers. Additionally, a platform like Bigtincan Hub connects to your CRM and other systems, and also ticks the box for the corporate IT department – making your life a lot easier and giving you the time to focus on adoption, increasing win rates and improving customer satisfaction.