Mastering the Mobile App: How Cloud-Based Technologies Can Help You Connect & Engage Faster

Mastering the Mobile App: How Cloud-Based Technologies Can Help You Connect & Engage Faster Than Ever Before

Take a look at what you’re using to read this. If you’re one of six billion people in the world with access to a mobile phone, chances are you’ve pulled this blog up on there, or maybe another preferred smart device. Either way, it’s hard to deny one very obvious truth: in the world of the Internet of Things (IoT), if you want to be heard, your message has to fit into the palm of your customers’ hand.

But how do you succeed at capturing your audience’s attention when there are countless other companies clamoring for their click? Key to succeeding in the mobile market is establishing a seamless customer experience. To do so, your sales team has to communicate with your marketing folks, your C-suite executives need to understand what’s going on with IT, and your customer service reps need immediate access to field employees and SMEs.

This type of integration cultivates a dynamic brand presence that results in stronger customer loyalty and higher retention—but you’ll have a hard time doing it with your outdated legacy systems. Capturing, storing, and sharing all the data amassed by these various departments into a central CRM database makes the task much easier—but it doesn’t stop there. When employees have a great idea about how to make business practices easier and smoother, they now have the ability, via tools such as the Salesforce Mobile App Development Platform, to create custom, on-the-go mobile app solutions that can be shared to teammates to boost efficiencies.

Central to the functionality of this development tool is its real-time accuracy. Employees require up-to-the-minute data to both create and use mobile apps, and waiting on the information to funnel down through disparate, on-premise systems is not only frustrating, but could potentially cost the company a valuable opportunity.

For this reason and many others, cloud-based solutions that enable employees to create a cohesive identity across their library of mobile apps arebecoming highly preferred for both their agility and ease of use. Here are some reasons to consider moving your mobile app offerings to the cloud today:

Less upkeep means more innovation: A majority of legacy systems were created prior to the explosive growth of the IoT, and as such, can be difficult to bring up to speed. As a result, IT resources are spent on a cycle of upgrades and maintenance, not on finding new and creative ways to create and share data. By unlocking data so it can be shared across departments, cloud-based platforms empower employees to manage and control their own information flow, freeing up IT.

Easily translate ideas across devices: The cell phone has always been at the center of the mobile revolution—in fact, it’s estimated that there will be more than 2 billion smartphone users worldwide by 2016. Recently, however, new trends including mobile handsets, wearables, and tablets are rising in popularity. Making the move to the cloud means that no matter how your clients connect with your data, it’s convenient, accessible, and easily translatable.

Keep data secure and scalable: Sending confidential and sensitive data out into the IoT can cause many companies to pause and reconsider. After all, Gartner expects 25 billion connected items to be in use by 2020 (compared to about 4.9 billion today). In response to this concern, cloud-based platforms are built around standards for security, integrity, confidentiality, and availability, making it easy to research and locate one that fits the needs of your organization.

Successful customer engagement means being there for your customers. Superior engagement means being there for them no matter when, or how, they choose to interact with you. Today, staying one step ahead means investing in the technology that will make your teams more productive, self-supportive, and effective. Mobile apps are a perfect start, and moving those solutions onto a cloud-based platform unlocks more than data—it opens up opportunity to tell your clients that no matter how trends change or what new devices are imagined, you’re with them all the way.

Sources:

“Gartner Says 4.9 Billion Connected "Things" Will Be in Use in 2015,” Gartner, November 11, 2014,

Honjo, Kim, “Join the Mobile App Revolution: 8 Steps to Building Apps Fast in the Cloud,” Salesforce, June 12, 2015,

“The Mobile App Revolution: 8 Steps to Building Apps Fast in the Cloud,” Salesforce E-Book.

Wang, Yue, “More People Have Cell Phones Than Toilets, U.N. Study Shows,” TIME, March 25, 2013,