A new breed of apps for the mobile enterprise environment

Dec 10, 2014 15:20 GMT  ·  By

Apple and IBM decided it was high time to change how business gets done with mobile apps, so they made a suite that taps into the full potential of big data and analytics, and they managed to cram it all into a handful of apps called MobileFirst.

IBM did most of the legwork here, but MobileFirst for iOS is now something that both companies sell and maintain. Made exclusively for iPhone and iPad, these apps are now immediately available to the business sector across a wide range of industries, including banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications, airlines, and even governmental agencies.

See the gallery below for a closer look at each MobileFirst app in part.

Banks, travel, retail

Banking and financial markets get the Advise & Grow app, a solution that gives bankers visibility into relevant account information on the spot, including financial and credit data, customer profiles, and analysis.

Trusted Advice offers fast access to a big set of financial data available on demand through a dead simple interface. It’s targeted at wealth advisors who can use it to offer guidance based on deep financial analysis, which the customer himself / herself can witness on the device.

For travel and transportation, Passenger+ makes it easy for flight attendants to deliver a new level of customer service, while Plan Flight allows pilots to access systems of records to help them estimate things like the fuel needed for upcoming flights or to calibrate and view fueling scenarios without pen and paper.

The Retail sector gets the Pick & Pack app, which makes it easy to streamline order fulfillment and enables sales associates to have real-time access to product information. This clever app further maps where the items are located within the store using Apple’s iBeacon tech. Sales Assist also uses the technology to target specific shoppers and look up inventory, suggest clothing based on previous purchases, etc.

Insurance and Telcos

Those who work in insurance will be able to leverage a tool called Retention, which allows agents to make well informed decisions in a fast paced manner regarding things like unpaid premiums, forms with missing information in them, updates on claims and life events, and all sorts of priority situations.

Telco clients will get Expert Tech, which Apple describes as follows:

“At daybreak, technicians can select a service vehicle and the inventory they need to best complete their work orders, right on iPad. En route to jobs, maps and traffic data help service technicians plan and reach their destinations faster. And onsite with customers, they can view tech specs, diagnostics, and video tutorials. If technicians need real-time support, an experienced colleague is a tap away with FaceTime. The Expert Tech app on iPad brings collaborative tools, location-based services, and online knowledge to an entire workforce of field service technicians.”

For governmental agencies

This is where Apple and IBM lend a helping hand to law enforcement and governmental institutions in general.

The Incident Aware app will enable police officers to follow colleagues in emergency situations thanks to “a bird’s-eye view of the scene’s perimeter that includes GPS map data, the location of those involved in the incident, and live video feeds updated in real time on their iPhone devices.” The app can further display police records and even calculate risk, much like RoboCop.

Social workers get the Case Advice app, which eliminates a lot of bureaucracy when it comes to historical records, assessment data, and industry guidelines.

All the apps are described in full in the gallery below.

MobileFirst for iOS (11 Images)

MobileFirst promo
Banking and financeTrusted Advice
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