You bet. Here at Compass our Apple developers have crafted yet another iOS mobile app for one of our many great clients. This app will be used in the Wine and Tapas Bar of a premier Southern California supermarket chain. It is designed to take orders, identify patron seat locations, communicate orders to a companion iPad for kitchen preparation, and keep the servers notified about order status. Best of all, it’s fast and cooler than cool.

If you’re of the mindset that mobile apps aren’t useful, or are just a passing fad, you or your company may end up at the back of the pack. Could it be that mobile apps will become as important for businesses as the desktop computer? We say yes, and here’s why:

It’s a good thing to stop to smell the roses… and while you’re at it notice you’re surrounded by mobile devices. They’re everywhere, and you probably have a few of your own – maybe a  smartphone, a laptop, a tablet, an iPad? In fact, having a mobile device no more than a yardstick away has become commonplace. Herein lies an important point; with mobile devices so close at hand, don’t you want your product, service or business application within arms-reach of your customers and employees?

Analysts from Gartner, one of the world’s leading information technology research companies, recently highlighted the top ten technologies and trends that will be strategic for most organizations in 2014. High on the list was Mobile Apps and Applications. Gartner predicts that through 2014, constantly improving technology will push mainstream enterprise application development to the browser, and consequently to the mobile device. Gartner recommends that developers focus on innovating the user interface, including richer voice and video that can connect people in new and different ways. They predict that apps development will continue to grow.

Worried about your app getting lost in the crowd? Good point since we are approaching 1 million apps on the Apple App Store. But don’t let that deter you from creating an app. Being seen among the million is a far cry easier than being found among 147,424,069 websites (and counting). And… your app is much more focused on getting the intended job done than a website that’s trying to cover all of the bases. Simple is good.

Conclusion: While enterprise application software and a comprehensive website presence will continue to be important, augmenting systems with mobile apps must be part of a business’ strategic IT planning. Using apps will soon become standard business practice. Time to get on board.

We welcome you to drop in on us and see what we’re up to, ask questions, and learn how we can help you to progressively move your business into the mobile realm.