Transform Your Digital Strategy with Apps

Technology can have a transformative impact on an organisation. Yet it’s not enough to just purchase the right tech – you need to know how your organisation can make the most of its digital assets. That’s where a digital strategy comes in.

[clickToTweet tweet=”A #digital strategy crafts a clear vision and goals for your digital initiatives” quote=”A #digital strategy crafts a clear vision and goals for your digital initiatives”]

This involves identifying how technology can satisfy organisational needs, opportunities and challenges. Specifically, app creation and app content management could allow your organisation to improve a variety of processes and strategic interactions. So how could you transform digital strategy with apps?

Unfortunately, digital strategies are often overlooked in the workplace. According to EY’s Global Capital Confidence Barometer survey of 652 Chief Financial Officers (CFO), only 50% are making the shift to a digital business model in the next three years. This suggests that many CFOs fail to understand the impact that a digital shift can have on a business. However, research from the British Government has shown that SMEs that use digital technology as part of their business processes have a 22% higher revenue compared to those with little to no use of the Internet. Furthermore, SMEs embracing digital technology will likely experience an estimated 10% increase in productivity.

[clickToTweet tweet=”#App creation can allow you to connect with potential customers, employees and stakeholders ” quote=”#App creation can allow you to connect with potential customers, employees and stakeholders “]

TechCrunch reported in 2015 that consumers are now spending 85 per cent of time on their smart phone in native applications. Furthermore, employees are becoming more digitally engaged as mobile smartphones and tablets enable them to work anywhere, anytime.

Essentially, implementing an effective digital strategy will allow your organisation to maximise its technological capabilities. However, according to the Harvard Business Review, when thinking in terms of digital, many organisations only create a digital marketing strategy or an IT strategy instead of a digital strategy. That’s a bit of a problem because:

• A Digital Strategy shows how your organisation will utilise digital assets to improve efficiency and profitability across the business
• IT Strategy identifies technological components within your organisation
• Digital Marketing Strategy explores the targeted and interactive marketing of products and services using digital technologies

 

A digital strategy goes beyond marketing and IT to also influence departments such as, sales, human resources, finance, internal communication and legal. 

[clickToTweet tweet=”#Apps have the capacity to transform almost every aspect of your organisation” quote=”#Apps have the capacity to transform almost every aspect of your organisation”]

 

That’s why we wanted to take the time to show you how apps can play an integral role in your digital strategy. Firstly, there are four core steps to crafting your digital strategy:

• Identify the opportunities and challenges your business faces
• Identify the needs and goals of stakeholders
• Develop a vision around these opportunities, challenges, needs and goals
• Consider how digital assets can allow you to achieve that vision

 

This strategic level of thinking can be overwhelming when considering your entire organisation. So another useful idea is to compartmentalise your strategy into functions within your business. For example, to determine how app creation can become a part of your digital strategy, just think, “how could I use apps to improve:

 

Marketing

A public facing marketing app would allow your organisation to publish interactive content directly to your audience’s devices. This will allow your team to share key marketing messaging with your target market on their mobile, tablet and desktop devices. This allows your marketing team to publish original content and additional marketing materials as an app. You can also share the latest promotional content through app content updates and notifications. Finally, measure the return on marketing investment through inbuilt analytics and metrics

 

Sales & Customer Service

A sales app would allow your organisation to share interactive content and clearly communicate your value proposition in an engaging format. Give your sales pitch the competitive advantage by publishing interactive content such as videos directly to the potential customer’s device. Allow potential and existing customers to download your app to get the latest product information from your organisation. Additionally, a customer service app would enable your team to guide the customer through the product features and answer frequently asked customer service questions remotely.

 

Human Resources & Employee Training

Publishing an employee manual and other HR documents as an interactive app will engage employees throughout the on-boarding process and additional training. The app analytics will also allow the HR team to monitor employee engagement with the material. Furthermore, employees can download HR and training apps to follow presentations or complete the presentation remotely through the inclusion of interactive elements such as videos.

 

Finance & Reporting

An enterprise app would allow management to publish financial reports as an interactive app for employees and relevant stakeholders. The profile-based segmentation feature in a private facing app would also allow management to share a variety of reports with different stakeholders in a secure way. As well as measure key analytics within the app.

 

Internal Communications

Transform a company newsletter or replace an outdated intranet with an internal communications app. This will enable employees and stakeholders to access organisational information when working remotely and commuting to work. Furthermore, app analytics allow the communications team to measure the reach and engagement of all internal documents within the app.

 

A digital strategy focuses on developing long-term goals and objectives to allow your organisation to improve efficiency through digital assets. Digital is more than just the technology in your organisation but rather the capabilities they create across departments. So, understanding how apps can not only improve workflow but also allow you to engage directly with customers can transform your digital strategy. Specifically, by allowing you to publish once and deliver across all smartphone, tablet and desktop devices.