While smartphones have changed considerably over the past few years, the one constant has been the use of apps as a primary mechanism to facilitate all kinds of processes. This not only includes playing games and checking up on your social media feeds, but the way we interact with companies of every kind.

This is true not only for consumer-facing firms that offer apps to book a service or shop for products, but also business-to-business (B2B) brands that want to ease procurement or offer software-as-a-service (SaaS) functionality to their corporate clients.

Even though they are seemingly everywhere, however, the path to creating an app from idea to app store can sometimes seem shrouded in mystery.

Unless they have a programming background, for instance, many small and medium-sized businesses (SMBs) may not be sure what kind of resources they’ll need to deliver on the promise of a particular app.

SMBs are already busy enough with their day-to-day operations, so an app that requires them to divert resources or make sizable investments may make the whole project seem unfeasible.

At the same time, entrepreneurs may worry that not offering an app will put them at a competitive disadvantage. They might also have done research at the outset that indicates their idea is viable and that the app would be popular among their customers.

If you’ve reached this point, use these steps as a guide to map out the remainder of the journey, so you can execute on a mobile app strategy and begin enjoying the payoff.

1. Repurpose your approach to creating a business plan

When you first launched your company, you probably created a business plan that included sections on the target market, marketing strategies, a financial forecast and more.

Your mobile app plan should have something similar, where you think carefully about your go-to-market tactics, your expected return on investment and how you’ll measure it.

You may also want to look at all the potential features and functions you’ll want your app to have over time and, if necessary, segment them into what will be available at launch versus what you’ll add on afterwards.

2. Test drive apps from competitors and best-in-class businesses

You may be the first in your industry or sector to launch a mobile app, but the odds are against it.

In fact, your motivation to create your own app might be in part a response to what you’ve already seen or heard from competitors. While the design and approach of your app might be quite different, you should become as expert as possible in what’s already out there for your target customers. Download your rivals’ apps and note both the good and the bad as you define your own app requirements.

Don’t limit yourself there, though. You may be working in the retail sector but there could be apps in hospitality, finance or other markets that offer ideas you could apply.

Are you a B2B company? Look at the apps of B2C companies too, because your corporate clients are consumers in the other half of their lives, and personal apps may inform their preferences.

3. Explore the possibilities of low-code development

There are all kinds of freelance app developers and studios that can help create an app for you, but that’s not the only option.

Low-code development frameworks and tools recognize that the best apps often come from those outside of IT. That’s why they have components that are more drag-and-drop to let those business professionals create an app on their own. Salesforce Lightning is a great example of this, and has already spawned countless apps for myriad businesses.

Even if you think your app will require more sophisticated developers later on, a low-code approach might be a good way to test the waters with the first version of your app so you can learn and optimize later on.

4. Recruit some beta customers (and turn them into advocates!)

Naturally you’ll want to plan enough time for testing and quality assurance as your app comes to completion, but you’ll do an even better job if you seek feedback outside your own company.

Look to customers who have been with you from the beginning, or those who might have suggested or inspired the mobile app you’re developing. Give them early access and position it as a sort of VIP perk. Make it easy for them to evaluate the functionality and to point out any problems. Track all the feedback and assign action items.

Then, before announcing the final app, let those beta customers see that you made improvements based on what they said. They might be willing to offer testimonials that encourage others to install it.

5. Consider the nuances of your distribution channels.

A consumer app may get published on the App Store or Google Play, but in each case there may be specific guidelines or rules you have to follow to get it approved. Look into this early on and fold the requirements into your planning process. If you’re creating a B2B app, on the other hand, you might want to explore marketplaces such as the Salesforce AppExchange.

App stores and marketplaces aren’t the only areas where your audience might learn about your app, however. Think about the landing pages you might need to create on your website, a blog post you could write to talk about the rationale behind it, an announcement in your newsletter and posts for your social media channels. Even your email signature might be a good place to include a download link.

Launching a mobile app is a lot like launching a business. There may be only baby steps at first, but with the right planning you might be surprised at how quickly you’ll be off and running with an app all your customers will want on their smartphones.

The post How To Get Started When You Want To Build An App appeared first on Salesforce.

They might understand, for instance, that a mom and pop shop won’t have the same number of associates running around as a major department store, but in both cases they feel it should be easy to find what they need on a mobile app.

If a customer presses a button on an app and nothing works, it doesn’t matter if the company behind it is big or small. The same thing happens: the customer deletes it.

Apps that drain a smartphone battery, apps that need to constantly be updated — these are all issues where customers might be surprisingly unforgiving.

This is partly because, in most industries, there are plenty of competitive alternatives in the app stores to choose from instead.

The bigger reason, however, is that the basic foundations for building a great app experience are now available to everyone.

Whereas only the big firms with lots of financial resources could have afforded to hire a team of highly experienced developers in the past, low-code development platforms have democratized the opportunity to create apps across companies of all sizes.

In fact, so many organizations have capitalized on this opportunity that the bar for a great app experience has already been set in many product and service categories. These include travel, shopping, fitness, productivity and more. There is also a wealth of opportunities to create employee-facing apps, too.

If your firm is new to the mobile app space, your first move should be similar to what you’d do when a new competitor opens up a physical location nearby: discreetly make a visit, look at what they might be doing differently or better than you, and benchmark yourself accordingly. If you don’t, you can be sure your customers will!

On the other hand, don’t necessarily feel you have to keep everything about your mobile app project behind the scenes. Involve your customers via your other digital and social channels like your blog, Twitter or Facebook.

This can be a good idea because you’ll have a better sense of what will drive people to actually download and install your app, as well as use it on a regular basis.

Some of what you hear might be very specific to the products, services or sector in which you operate, but there are a few baseline qualities in most of the best mobile apps that are pretty consistent across the board:

1. Keep it quick

Of all the technical details you need to think about in making a mobile app, speed is number one.

Customers will not wait forever for an app to install on their phone. (And by “forever,” we mean more than about 60 seconds).

Customers will not wait more than about 10 seconds for your app to launch and begin using it.

Customers will not wait more than about five seconds for an app to indicate that they have pressed a button or taken some other kind of action that requires it to respond in a particular way.

It’s not that customers are ridiculously impatient or unreasonable. It’s just that one of the reasons they showed interest in an app in the first place was the promise of convenience. And convenience usually means being faster than doing something in another way.

2. Be a helpful host

Even if your mobile app is highly sophisticated, it should be simple to use to the average customer. And even the average customer will probably want to be given a guided tour.

In many of the best apps, for example, the first thing you see after launching it for the first time is a series of highlights or animated prompts that indicate how to do basic things.

This could include how to sign in if the app requires an account, how to use the search tool and the other most common features.

Not everyone will want to have this kind of tour, though, so make sure you don’t force them through it by offering buttons to “continue” or “skip.”

If there are multiple steps required to set them up in the app, indicate what can be done later and let them get value out of it as quickly as possible.

3. Answer all privacy and security questions up front

Don’t assume customers will intuitively know how you collect, manage and store their personal data.

App stores, industries and governments have all been putting rules in place about how transparent companies need to be regarding the privacy and security of their tools, including mobile apps. Err on the side of being crystal-clear from the outset.

Make sure you have a link to your privacy policy early on in the process of onboarding someone to your mobile app.

If you’re offering functionality that may put them at risk (like making an e-commerce purchase through the app, for instance), make mention of any ways in which you’re ensuring security based on industry best practices.

4. Let them opt into (or out of) the rest of your omnichannel experience

Just because someone has downloaded your app, that doesn’t mean they want to be added to your email list.

Even if they like your app, they might not want to get constant notifications popping up on their smartphone.

You may have great ideas of new features or updates to your app, but customers should have a degree of choice in whether they adopt them.

Too many mobile apps establish their customer preferences by default — where, just by installing the app, you’ve tacitly agreed to opt into everything.

This isn’t a great way to start a new relationship (or to nurture one, if they’ve already become a customer through a different channel).

At the very least, the tools to update or change their preferences for everything that happens to them as a user of the app should be easy to find and complete.

Your mobile app will no doubt undergo a series of transformations the longer it’s available to customers, and that’s a good thing. Keep a mindset of continuous improvement, and your app may eventually become the one that companies following in your footsteps look to when they’re benchmarking their own.

The post Building An App? Learn Some Tricks From The Best Apps Available appeared first on Salesforce.

App development seems to have become almost an art form.

And unfortunately, not all of us consider ourselves artists.

When you’re trying to grow a relatively young business, for example, your mind is probably focused primarily on how best to market yourself and attract customers, or how to close deals once they’ve shown some interest.

Creative work like app development might feel like a luxury, and something beyond your skill set anyway.

No matter the industry in which you operate, however, you’re bound to run into more examples of competitors, partners and even customers who are using apps to accomplish a wide range of tasks.

Not having any apps of your own may start to feel like an area of weakness.

This becomes even more challenging when you finally begin to figure out the next best step. Do you hire an outside firm, even if you’re not sure how best to evaluate them, or do you bring on internal developers?

What kind of budget can you afford? What’s a reasonable timeline and what scope of functionality is essential?

Making things even more confusing is the variety of approaches that are now available. Tools describing themselves as “all-code,” “low-code” and even”no-code” are now everywhere, but parsing such jargon probably feels as time-consuming as learning to program yourself.

Rather than give up, use the next few minutes to read this primer on low-code app development, which may be the quickest, easiest and best way to overcome traditional barriers to creating outstanding software.

What is low-code app development?

You may know little about computer programming, but you’ve probably cut and pasted text from one document to another, or dragged some numbers between rows in a spreadsheet.

Low-code tools were designed in recognition of the fact that, even if someone isn’t a professional developer, they might have a good idea for an app and how it should be put together. To execute on those ideas, though, it needs to be as easy as word-processing or managing an Excel file.

Imagine an online portal or console where you see the features and functions you want in an app represented in little blocks on one side. Adding to the app involves literally clicking on the boxes you want and moving them over to another area of the page.

All the underlying elements, like the code a developer would write manually, are still there. They’ve just been abstracted into visual elements that a non-technical person can easily manipulate.

How does the low-code app development process work?

Low-code is different than “no code” in that some technical work will still be involved. This could include ensuring your app integrates properly with back-end systems —like connecting an HR app to your payroll system, for instance.

Besides easing the process of creating an app for a business professional, low-code tools help whomever manages your IT infrastructure, too.

The underlying “plumbing” that would normally take a lot of time and effort from those with a developer’s skills is minimized, so that they can focus on releasing and continually improving the app. Or simply focus on more critical IT issues.

How should I evaluate low-code development tools?

Even if this is your first time seriously considering a mobile app to support your business, you can spot the kind of low-code development platform or tools you need by making sure they meet the following criteria:

• Extensible and open: Ask if the technology you’re considering supports any form factor, and if dedicated logic or code needs to be maintained (it shouldn’t).
• QA-oriented: Quality assurance is everything in an app development project. Look for automated testing features, real-time performance management and quality monitoring.
• Rapid deployment: What will it take to not only develop an app but connect it to the cloud, whether it’s private or public?
• Continuous integration: This is kind of like making sure everyone is always referring to the latest version of a document. You should be able to make changes to an app easily without having to redo everything.
• Reusable: Some of the elements that went into making your first app could apply well to the next one. Verify you won’t be starting from scratch with each project.

What kind of apps can I make via low-code development?

Brainstorming is often the fun part. Your first projects may be a case of trying to catch up to the rest of the industry or stay competitive with what rival firms offer.

In other cases inspiration could strike unexpectedly as you identify processes that could be improved via automation, or where apps could close the gaps in terms of communicating information to employees or customers.

Try this: as you learn more about the low-code development resources available to you, group your ideas into a few key categories. This could start with “legacy apps,” that let you build mobile capabilities to free you up from things that chained you to a desktop environment.

Next might come apps to streamline operations, such as getting an alert when stock needs to be replenished or a part needs to be repaired.

And don’t overlook apps that help make your customers more engaged, whether it’s an app that lets them sign up to hear about your latest products, browse your catalogue, place orders or self-service tools to relieve the burden on your customer service team.

These are by no means the only kinds of apps low-code tools support, of course. Use your imagination, or tap into that of your team, your partners and customers.

You might be surprised at the range of creative ideas you’ll come up with. And before long, you might even start to feel like you’re getting closer to the art of outstanding software development.

The post An Introduction To Low-Code App Development appeared first on Salesforce.

In “How to stay one step ahead of disruptors in the app economy,” the newspaper looked at how companies like Uber are competing with the taxi industry, and Airbnb is shaking up the hospitality sector. The Post suggested the stakes are high if Canadian firms don’t want to get left behind.

“To avoid disruption and to capitalize on opportunities, companies should already be exploring and investing in apps applicable to their market and relevant to their customers,” the story said. “But they will also need to be mindful of getting it right.”

Of course, “getting it right” doesn’t necessarily mean trying to act like a Silicon Valley startup. In fact, it may mean that more Canadian firms should simply look at how apps could improve the way they operate first, then develop their mobile strategy.

These are just a few of the questions you and your team should be discussing as you get started.

What kind of apps made sense for our business?

As with any project, it only makes sense to move forward with mobile apps if they benefit the business. Start internally by looking at the processes and tasks that would work even better if employees and team members had access to data and the ability to perform functions away from their cubicles or the office. According to a global study released in June that was conducted by 451 Research, the most common functions being “appified” include customer relationship management (CRM) apps for sales, marketing and services, customer engagement and general employee productivity apps. These might be some good areas for Canadian firms to think about too, particularly since there are apps like this already on the market and they don’t necessarily have to build them themselves.

How can we make sure a business app gets used?

Adoption of new technologies has long been a challenge in companies, but the rise of mobile apps in the consumer space could offer some clues about the kind of design and user experience people expect. Look at the 2015 Mobile Personas report, which profiles Canadian app usage across a variety of demographics. Among other findings, it shows that social networking, weather and gaming apps tend to be the top three categories in Canada. Study some examples and think about how employees will want to navigate through a business-oriented mobile experience.

What kind of devices would best display a particular business app experience?

It may seem like most consumer apps are entirely focused around smartphones, but that could change soon, particularly in Canada. A few months ago, for example, mobile research firm Flurry posted data showed 14 percent of us are using “phablets,” or a cross between a smartphone and a tablet. With smartwatches, smart eyewear and other wearable devices now hitting the mainstream market, there may be business apps that make better sense for those form factors, too. Think through the entire range of use-case scenarios as you choose or develop an app.

What’s the best way to measure the results of a business mobile app initiative?

The prospect of having absolute freedom to manage key parts of a company from anywhere, anytime may seem far-fetched, but the numbers show it’s not. MobileSyrup recently reported on an Angus Reid poll, for instance, where 55 per cent of Canadian small business owners said they can run their entire operation from a smartphone or tablet. That’s more than half of your peers (or competitors) who are already mobile-first. While keeping a constant eye on sales, cost savings, productivity improvements and other areas, making sure your company isn’t a latecomer to mobile apps may be one of the first ways to think about your return on investment.

Learn how the services of the Salesforce Platform can help you build any kind of app, connect everything, and inspire everyone. Faster.

The post What Every Business Should Ask Themselves Before Developing Mobile Apps appeared first on Salesforce.

The good news is they don’t necessarily need to wait for the latest gadget to use technology that can boost revenues, increase productivity and satisfy your customers. The apps for that are already here.

In our latest customer spotlight, TELUS explains how it worked with the Salesforce1 Platform and Sales Cloud to build its Door to Door app, which has dramatically changed the way it signs up new customers and gets services up and running. Although TELUS is one of Canada’s largest telecommunications companies, there are lots of takeaways from its success story that SMBs can easily apply:

1. Spot the process bottleneck: For TELUS, having to get customers to sign paper contracts was awkward and time-consuming, particularly in an age where almost everyone carries a mobile device of some kind. SMBs should take a few minutes to step back from their day-to-day work and think through all the steps they need to make a sale. Is there a place where apps could eliminate one of those steps, or make it a more fluid process? Figuring this out up front will help you calculate your return on investment before app development even begins.

2. Aim to be organized anywhere: Some SMBs may still keep most of their customer records in filing cabinets or on their desktop computers, but that’s only useful if you’re spending most of your time in the office. A company the size of TELUS probably has more customers than most SMBs, but their sales agents can easily access what they need on the road with its app, offering one-tap access to information that can help them identify who might be interested in its service and who’s already been served.

3. Take the team spirit with you: Consumers love using messaging apps to stay in touch with friends and family throughout the day. Businesses are now realizing they can provide a similar advantage to their staff with social networking apps designed for professional use. Like TELUS, SMBs should think about the kinds of conversations that might only happen when everyone’s in the same room, and use apps to bring that same level of collaboration and support to their smartphones and tablets.

There is a lot more detail about how TELUS uses Salesforce and its Door to Door App to target its best prospects and convert more leads into sales in the complete customer story. Check it out and start thinking about apps as less of a consumer trend and more of an opportunity to change your business for the better.

Learn more about how mobile CRM can revolutionize your business in How a Mobile CRM Makes You Successful.

The post What TELUS Can Teach SMBs About Selling With Business Apps appeared first on Salesforce.

According to market research firm IDC, the momentum for using software or hardware that is hosted online has become so strong that it recently forecast an 11 per cent shift of budget dollars in Canada toward cloud technologies by 2016. As the Financial Post reported recently, firms in Canada have evolved from using cloud computing as a necessary cost-cutting measure to taking a “cloud-first” approach to technology projects in some cases. The bottom line: Cloud computing has become an accepted approach to solving a wide range of business problems and helping with the many opportunities.

All Clouds Big and Small

The ongoing challenge for some business owners, large and small, is that “cloud computing” can still seem like a relative term with an endless number of variations.

Here’s what you need to know to clear the fog around cloud computing:

• Software-as-a-service (SaaS) offers many firms the option of paying for applications as they need them, rather than spending on a package they have to install, maintain and upgrade. IDC forecasts SaaS to grow to a $1.3 billion business in Canada by next year, with Salesforce as the top vendor.

• Infrastructure-as-a-service (IaaS) means businesses can have third-party organizations manage the servers and other equipment that runs software in a similar fashion. There has been an explosion of service providers bringing this locally to Canadian companies of all sizes in the past three years.

• Platform-as-a-service (PaaS) allows organizations to get a mix of both software and hardware cloud computing services in a single package or via one provider. It means a business can hand off configuration, maintenance and a number of other chores. Along with SaaS and IaaS, Technavio has said cloud computing in Canada will grow by 17 per cent a year between now and 2018.

Signs of Maturity

Beyond all the money Canadian companies are spending on cloud computing, there is also a significant impact on the skills and opportunities for the Canadian labour force. In a report prepared by the Information and Communications Technology Council (ICTC), more than 57,000 people are expected to be employed in Canada via what it calls the “cloud economy.”

Many of those people are beginning to collaborate well outside their office walls, forming local industry groups such as the Canadian Cloud Council, which hosts the Cloud Factory conference, and the Canadian Cloud Network, which offers similar opportunities to share best practices and build a professional network to support cloud efforts. All this points to greater understanding of what cloud computing can do for businesses and maturity in the right approaches.

The bottom line for cloud computing in Canada is the way it can free up businesses to focus on what they do best, rather than struggle with technology issues. For more on how cloud computing can help take your business to new heights, download the free eBook, The Salesforce Advantage.

The post Why Canadian Firms Want More Cloud Computing appeared first on Salesforce.

To design apps that truly make an impact, keep in mind these five key elements and join salesforce.com experts Tuesday, August 19th, for the free webinar Build Engaging Customer Loyalty Apps: 5 Key Elements for Success.

1. Offer engaging experiences

The first essential element involves the user’s experience with the app. Make beautiful design a major focus. Be sure to offer the latest and greatest in UI functionality. Information within the app must be available immediately. Personalized options are a plus, for example, remembering personal preferences and payment information. And each application should be mobile enabled and social ready.

2. Connect to business processes

Customer apps built in silos might as well be thrown away. They must be connected to business processes to have real value, but this can be easier said than done. Heroku enables companies to not only build modern apps for their customers, but also instantly extend these apps and connect them to the business processes inside Salesforce, as well as the functionality of hundreds of cloud service providers.

3. Scale to meet global demand

The nature of our connected world, including mobile access and social sharing, means that customer apps can see spikes in traffic without warning. Being prepared for these sudden spurts in usage is essential to maintaining the performance of your customer apps. With Heroku, application owners can get insights into the effect of traffic on application performance, instantly scale up resources to maintain experience, and upgrade application resources, such as databases, to accommodate both overnight and long term growth.

4. Allow for rapid iteration

Your loyalty apps should not be “one and done.” Include regular iterations based on customer feedback and technological advances in the development process. Heroku gives developers the power to set up testing environments so they can easily make updates and quickly push out code. The platform also helps productivity by supporting modern dev languages, including Ruby, Node.js, Python, and PHP.

5. Build relationships between people

As much as companies want to use apps to connect to their customer base, it is often employees that understand them best and can serve them on an individual level. Great customer loyalty apps should include more than just push offers from brands. They need to give users the opportunity to interact with employees, ask them questions, and get support.

Register now for the free webinar Build Engaging Customer Loyalty Apps: 5 Key Elements for Success, Tuesday, August 19th, at 10 am PST / 1 pm EST. You can expect to learn:

• How businesses are building high fidelity apps that can help you improve customer loyalty, build your brand, and grow your business on the Salesforce1 Platform.

• How Heroku makes it easy to quickly build customer engagement apps in any language, and directly integrate customer data with your Salesforce org.

• How you can use the power of Force.com to transform your customer relationships and track, manage, and drive personalized customer promotions.

• Plus real-world stories of how companies are using Heroku Connect to take their loyalty efforts to every customer’s mobile device and beyond.

Just click the button to sign-up.

The post The 5 Elements of Great Customer Loyalty Apps appeared first on Salesforce.

To many users, these new devices are often categorized as fun novelties and interesting gadgets, but others see them for what they really are: a game-changing influence with the potential to utterly disrupt the modern business world. As such, we’ve recently launched Salesforce Wear, a development platform that can be used for creating business apps for Android Wear, ARM, Fitbit, Pebble, Philips, and Samsung, as well as other devices.

But while it’s apparent that the first wave of business-centric wearable technologies has already made an impact on organizations large and small, it’s not quite as obvious what that impact actually is. Here are a few key points to keep in mind.

Higher Productivity, Better Bottom Line

During the formative years of the wearable technology boom, marketing was centered almost entirely on consumers. However, recent trends indicate that giants in the wearable tech industry are now designing their products with business applications in mind. The recent wearable tech influx in the business world was launched with the promise of improving workplace productivity and the overall efficiency of organizations.

Companies in the field service industry have already seen the impact of wearable technology, with technicians donning wearable cameras while out in the field. Wearable “smart glasses” allow many of today’s leading field companies to solve issues faster, thus saving millions. Some of the most popular wearable devices, such as those used to look inside patients’ veins, are being implemented in other industries. Construction workers are using this wearable technology to easily see inside piping and walls.

The retail world could also benefit from wearable smart tech, specifically where productivity is concerned. Wireless headsets, wearable wrist displays, and tech lanyards all allow employees to access information on-the-go. This means store workers can now look up the information they need without abandoning the customer or visiting a stationary terminal. The impact on the day-to-day may seem small, but in the long run it can increase retail productivity tremendously. One study suggests that wearable tech in the workplace can increase productivity by as much as 8.5%, and that it increases employee satisfaction by 3.5% as well. This impact will likely continue to grow as more wearable tech pieces are introduced to the market.

Smart watches are also increasing retailers’ productivity with payment processing. PayPal is launching a new app for the Samsung Gear 2 Smartwatch that will make it possible for consumers easily pay for products and services right from their wristwatch. Retail employees will be able to accept PayPal payments with the press of a button.

And the impact of wearable smart technology isn’t limited to these few examples; in fact, in a 2013 study, approximately a third of U.S. and U.K. adults surveyed stated that wearable technology has helped their career development. But is this new technology a passing fad, or does it have the staying power to continue to change the world in the years to come?

There’s no doubting that doing business has become more mobile, and with the introduction of wearables, it’s time to think about how your business can (and will) be impacted.

Is Wearable Tech the New Smartphone?

To get a better idea of what the future holds for wearable smart tech, one needs to take a look at its predecessor. Mobile smart devices, specifically smartphones, have had a greater impact on the business world than anyone could have ever predicted. Important calls are now made on the go, teams separated by thousands of miles are able to have regular meetings, apps have made managing your small business seamless, and everything from sending emails to sharing documents is easier, faster, and more efficient.

And while wearable technology may have begun its existence as fun accessories to smartphones, it has grown to the point of no longer needing to be tethered to additional smart devices. Just as wearable technology was once forced to “piggyback” on smartphones, so too has it used this relationship to ingrain itself into the business world and make day-to-day operations even more effective.

The time may soon come when phones and tablets are a thing of the past, and the smart devices on which we all rely will sit innocuously on our persons, as unobtrusive as jewelry or clothing, yet infinitely more valuable to our businesses.

As an example, let’s take a look at Google Glass. If everything goes as planned, consumers will soon have no need for their standard smartphone. Google Glass is able to easily respond to verbal commands, augmented by the occasional manual interaction via controls located directly on the frame, and there has even been talk about eventually including a laser-projected virtual keyboard for those times when voice just isn’t enough. And with the ability to access countless sources of information in seconds and then relay them to a miniature screen situated in the upper corner of the wearer’s vision field, Google Glass makes 4G internet connectivity features seem archaic. Google Glass is still in beta mode, but the company is inviting “Explorers” to test out the device. As more consumers and businesses continue to test the product, its significance is becoming clear.

A sales professional armed with Google Glass will now be able to walk into a sales meeting, look at a client, and retrieve information on his or her industry, job title, and more. Google Glass could instantly display information on the last order placed, past reviews, and the date of the client’s last meeting, all in the eyes of the wearer. For those with hands-on jobs, like mechanics and plumbers, Google Glass could become indispensable. If a mechanic needs both hands to fix a machine while reading information usually presented by a tablet or smartphone, they could wear Google Glass to perform their job freely.

And Google isn’t the only company making strides in the field of wearable business tech; Motorola has recently entered the ring with its Moto 360 smartwatch.

While other companies have started to look past a traditional watch design, the tech company has instead embraced it with a fresh, professional look. The Moto 360 is primarily voice operated and can easily read messages and reminders on command. The result is a small, stylish accessory that completely replaces the smart phone. It can be worn during business meetings and professional transactions, and serves as an assistant, calendar, and phone all at once. Motorola understands what many in the wearable tech industry are now beginning to see: The average consumer of these high-end products is looking to harness their power for business.

There’s a reason that Apple, Google, Facebook and Amazon all created their own smartphones. They saw that screens were getting smaller, apps were becoming the way to connect, and technology was on the move, literally.

Wearable electronics are the next evolution of mobile technology. You don’t have to create your own headset or application tomorrow, but the earlier you start strategizing around wearable tech, the more competitive your business can be in the next step of mobile business.

How Wearables are Creating New Business Opportunities

In addition to improving the consumer experience and making businesses more efficient, wearable technology is also creating new business opportunities.

The influx of wearable devices like Google Glass and smart watches will open up new opportunities for marketing, including enhanced customer data collection and insights into user interaction. Smart pieces of wearable technology allow digital marketers to more easily collect information on the buying habits and locations of consumers.

Marketers aren’t the only ones who will benefit from the wearable technology trend. New wearable gadgets mean enterprises will need to develop apps for new systems, and manual workers will be needed to create entirely new products. Smart clothing and accessories are already expanding business opportunities, and as this trend continues to flourish into a multi-billion dollar industry, new possibilities will arise.

As the wearable technology trend continues to explode, new opportunities for marketing, development, and labor will enter the economy. And while many are excited to wear voice activated glasses, they may be missing the most important boon of this industry—its economic impact. By the year 2018, the wearable technology market will be worth $8.36 billion.

No longer do we have to wake up our smartphones and open an app, wearables allows us to be connected at all times. And with that connection is a constant flow of live data that is an opportunity for the most forward-thinking companies to create new technologies, services, and even entirely new industries.

Is Your Company Prepared to Embrace Wearable Tech?

Enterprises spanning marketing, app development, and retail have only begun to see the impact of wearable technology. There are plenty of wearable tech pieces already available for consumers today, and even more on deck for release in the near future.

Brands that want to remain competitive in the future must prepare for the next wave of wearable technologies with strategies to leverage their value for both employees and consumers. After all, it looks as though the future will be one in which everyone wears their business on their sleeve.

The post How Wearable Technology Can (And Will) Change Your Business appeared first on Salesforce.

Cloud application platforms, also known as Platform as a Service (PaaS), provide the infrastructure needed to build and run apps over the Internet. A new IDC white paper, sponsored by salesforce.com, focuses on the core values of PaaS, and more specifically, the advantages experienced by organizations that have built a broad portfolio of apps on the Salesforce Platform.

Read on for six of the benefits that point directly to why to the Salesforce Platform should be the choice for companies who want to innovate faster.

1. Apps for employees in every department

Customers of the Salesforce Platform are using the technology to build larger-scale and more sophisticated non-sales applications.

2. Increased productivity and agility

Many customers of the Salesforce Platform report developing applications end-to-end in weeks, instead of months, and accomplishing this with much smaller teams.

3. Faster time-to-market

The study found that the Salesforce Platform customers increased their application time-to-market by 70% and upped the number of annual applications they launched by 80%.

4. Higher IT efficiency and productivity

Customers analyzed were able to reduce labor costs while growing their application environment by 44% annually.

5. Reduced infrastructure costs

IDC also reports that customers decreased the infrastructure costs associated with developing and deploying apps by 75-95%.

6. Significant return on investment

Not only did the Salesforce Platform pay for itself in seven months, customers surveyed said the platform delivered a combined 520% ROI.

To read more on how IT can innovate faster and save big by building their app portfolio on the Salesforce Platform, download the complimentary IDC white paper, sponsored by Salesforce.com, Salesforce Platform: Accelerate App Dev with Huge ROI.

6 bonnes raisons d’exploiter votre entreprise sur une plateforme infonuagique

Tous les services des technologies de l’information veulent créer des applications personnalisées. Ces applications doivent offrir une réelle valeur à l’entreprise, aux employés et aux partenaires et soutenir le rythme des affaires d’aujourd’hui. En même temps, les services informatiques doivent avoir de l’agilité et pouvoir accélérer les vitesses de développement, tout en réduisant les coûts et en s’alignant avec les objectifs stratégiques de l’organisation dans son ensemble.

Les plateformes d’applications infonuagiques, également connues sous le nom de « plateforme proposée en tant que service (PaaS), offrent l’infrastructure nécessaire pour créer et exécuter des applications sur Internet. Un nouveau livre blanc IDC, commandité par salesforce.com, aborde les valeurs essentielles de la solution PaaS, et plus spécifiquement, les avantages dont ont bénéficié les organisations qui ont créé un vaste portefeuille d’applications sur Salesforce Platform.

Prenez connaissance de six de ces avantages qui montrent directement pourquoi Salesforce Platform devrait être le choix des entreprises qui souhaitent innover plus rapidement.

1. Des applications pour employés dans tous les services

Les clients de Salesforce Platform utilisent la technologie pour créer des applications non commerciales à plus large échelle et plus perfectionnées.

2. Une productivité et une agilité accrues

De nombreux clients de Salesforce Platform indiquent qu’ils développement des applications de bout en bout en quelques semaines plutôt qu’en quelques mois, et qu’ils accomplissent cette tâche avec des équipes beaucoup plus restreintes.

3. Un délai de mise en marché plus court

L’étude a démontré que les clients de Salesforce Platform ont accéléré le délai de mise en marché de leurs applications de 70 % et que le nombre annuel d’applications lancées était en hausse de 80 %.

4. Une efficacité et une productivité accrues des services informatiques

Les clients interrogés ont été en mesure de réduire leurs coûts de main-d’œuvre tout en développant leur environnement d’applications de 44 % par année.

5. Une réduction des coûts d’infrastructure

IDC a également signalé que les clients avaient réduit les coûts d’infrastructure associés au développement et au déploiement des applications de 75 à 95 %.

6. Un rendement important du capital investi.

Non seulement Salesforce Platform a-t-elle été amortie en sept mois, mais les clients interrogés ont également indiqué que la plateforme avait généré un rendement combiné du capital investi de 520 %.

The post 6 Smart Reasons to Run Your Company on a Cloud Platform appeared first on Salesforce.