Making Sense Of The App Craze | Local businesses find success in mobile tools
Banks use them so customers can deposit checks, transfer money and make payments.
Restaurants use them for diners to make reservations, check out a menu or read a review.
Insurance companies even have them for customers to file a claim from the scene of an accident.
Mobile and web-based applications, or apps, can be used just about anywhere you have access to the Internet, said Louise Rijk, vice president of marketing for Advanced Media Productions in Natick.
“Just being online isn’t good enough anymore,” she said. “You’ve got to take it to the next step.”
Just The Beginning
Apps are a customized software program and are used in various platforms. Some are made specifically for Apple’s suite of products, like the iPhone or iPad. Others are tailored to the Android market, while social media sites like Facebook have apps made specifically for them.
It’s already a $2.2-billion market, according to Cambridge-based Forrester Research, and it’s growing fast. By 2015 the firm estimates revenues generated from paid apps could surpass $35 billion.
Apple has more than 350,000 apps, while the Droid market has about 150,000, according to Forrester.
While there has been an “explosion of activity,” in the app market in the past few years, John McCarthy, a researcher at Forrester, said businesses have just dipped their toes into the market.
That’s not for a lack of interest though. In a survey by the company, 41 percent of IT software decision-makers at businesses said they’re interested in developing app technology for use by employees or customers.
Staying Connected
For some businesses, having an app seems like a natural fit.
Natick-based The MathWorks Inc., which makes computer programs for mathematicians and engineers, launched an app in March 2010 that has been downloaded more than 65,000 times, said Leslie Mehrez, technical marketing manager for the company.
Matlab Mobile, as the app is called, allows customers to remotely access the Matlab software from their mobile devices.
“We saw this as an opportunity,” Mehrez said. “We looked at the way the software industry is going and we saw it as a natural evolution for us.”
Staples, the Framingham-based office retail giant, launched an app in July 2010, said Brian Tilzer, vice president of e-commerce and business development.
The app allows customers to browse products, read reviews and place orders. It will even tell users where the closest store is, how to get there and if a given product is in stock.
Connell & Curley, a Natick-based insurance firm, has an app that allows a customer to file a claim from the scene of an accident. Users can upload photos, record the time and place of the incident and begin a claim immediately.
Other apps are not for use by customers, but are used by businesses to streamline operations internally, said Rijk with Advanced Media Productions.
Her firm developed an iPad app for a food-distribution supplier in Massachusetts that was for exclusive use at the company’s tradeshows.
Rather than counting on attendees to have their own iPads, the company handed them out at the event. The app tracks booths visits, purchases and other details around each user. The information is downloaded directly into the company’s inventory system and the iPads are reused at future trade shows, Rijk said.
There are some issues holding back business adoption of apps though, said Erjon Metohu, who started an app-development company in Worcester about six months ago named Eri Mobile.
The price to develop an app can run into the thousands of dollars, he said, which can be a turnoff for some businesses.
But not all businesses have to go as far as making an app, said Steve Tack, chief technology officer with Compuware’s Application Performance Management business, a Detroit-based software firm. He said many businesses go through a technology evolution, working their way up to having an app.
It starts with having a website, then optimizing that website for mobile browsing. Then many companies create an app, and features can be added to the app so that it can work on an Apple or Android device. In the future apps may even incorporate cameras and location-tracking services.
Tack said the app industry is exploding because it allows customers to be more efficient.
“It all gets back to the demand people have on their time,” he said. “We’ve become a pretty impatient society.”
Correction: The original version of this article incorrectly stated where Compuware is headquartered. The company is actually headquartered in Detroit. Also, Compuware is a software firm. It was described incorrectly in the original version.
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