Business solutions for work 4.0: Faster processes and better teamwork
The challenge of improving performance
Since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic in March 2020, mobile work has become ever more widely accepted. German executives expect regular work from the home office to increase by 60 percent in the period after the pandemic – according to the Riverbed Future of Work Global Survey 2020. In its publication “Top Strategic Technology Trends for 2021”, Gartner also stresses the need for a “digital first, remote first” strategy for companies moving forward.
In addition, part of the workforce has always been made up of people working away from the office, e.g. on construction sites or in factory halls. Here, there is often a real lack of solutions for making decisions in real time and keeping direct channels of information within the team open at all times.
With the right software solutions – tailored to the requirements of modern working conditions – many of these challenges can be overcome.
The mobile employee app in the cloud
Your employees expect to be able to access emails and information on the go, enabling work from anywhere without any issues. They want to have mobile access to data in the warehouse, on the factory floor, in the machinery hall and at other company sites. Common requirements include:
- Logging working hours & requesting holiday
- Attending meetings at any time
- Initiating approval processes
- Placing orders with the customer on site
- Remote access to ERP and CRM systems
- Controlling industrial systems via mobile applications
Attractive applications like these can be built on a cloud-based IT system, which is scalable and accessible from anywhere. Mobile solutions deployed in the cloud – which can be used remotely on laptops, as a mobile app on smartphones or tablets – enable employees to access company resources at any time. In addition, cloud computing offers businesses a high level of IT security to boot.
Leveraging mobile technology for increased growth
prodot can support you in developing and implementing your mobile strategy. With the help of our mobile office solutions, you can sustainably improve business processes, make workflows more flexible and efficient and cut costs.
Our mobile enterprise solutions provide access to operational processes from anywhere, accelerate workflows, and enable on-the-go work. Mobile apps can be used as a communication hub, supporting the dissemination of in-house news and enabling intensive customer contact – proving indispensable for all manner of scenarios. This helps increase your flexibility and speed of response, provide certainty in future planning and stabilize your position on the market.
Want to find out about your personal deployment scenario? Let’s develop your proof of concept together. Start your mobile solution journey today.
Make a mobile solutions appointment >Mobile applications deployed by our customers
As a Microsoft Cloud Platform and Application Development Gold Partner, we have been developing effective mobile solutions for our customers in the Azure Cloud for many years. You can find a selection of customer projects below that we are free to showcase.
Chemicals: Digitising approval workflows
Simplify and accelerate form-based business processes using form workflow systems that employees can access via internal intranets or other channels. The corresponding web app enables the sales and back office team to process applications in fast and paperless form across multiple authorisation levels.
Caparol reference >
Transport: Optimising driving behaviour and profitability
Reduce fuel consumption and optimise maintenance and repair costs with the driver scoring app developed by prodot. Using the driver scoring app, drivers have an insight into their personal driving performance at all times and can therefore actively adjust their driving behaviour accordingly.
Kienzle Automotive reference >Trust us to find the right mobile solution for you. Get in touch today.
Let’s talk about your project
We are happy to advise you on how to bolster your business with mobile enterprise solutions and help you find the right mobile solution for your business case.
Contact >Together we can build your mobile app architecture
At an Azure Innovation WorkLab, we can work together to develop solution architecture for your mobile application.
Request a WorkLab >Create the proof of concept for your mobile application with us
Build a proof of concept for your mobile enterprise solution with us as part of a dedicated workshop.
Request a PoC >
Why prodot is your go-to IT expert for business applications
The Azure Cloud is a secure foundation for business apps in the mobile office
As a Microsoft Gold Partner for Cloud Platform and Application Development, we rely on the Azure cloud computing back-end for scalable, secure and high-performance mobile solutions. As a result, both your structured and unstructured data is highly available, secure, stable and scalable.
Long-standing experience with mobile technologies like Xamarin
We have been developing business applications with the cross-platform framework Xamarin from Microsoft for many years. This technology can be used to create apps for mobile devices that run natively or across Android, IoT and Windows devices and can be quickly integrated into existing systems.
Mobile applications with a positive user experience and UI design
Our UX consultants and UI designers are involved in the development of our business apps from day one. Our goal is to develop solutions that meet the requirements of modern applications and always offer a positive user experience. After implementation, all prodot software solutions undergo a quality assurance check in accordance with the strict ISTQB guidelines.
Questions and answers about mobile solutions in the business context
Wondering how accessing data using mobile technologies can support your business goals? There are three deployment scenarios for this: business-to-employee, business-to-customer and machine-to-machine. We explain these in the following three questions and show examples of the added value mobile applications can offer companies.
Business-to-employee: Better workflows - happy employees
The mobile office deserves special attention. Employee experience has far-reaching effects on your staff. The way your workplace is equipped determines your attractiveness as an employer and the well-being of your employees.
- Remote working & data access in real time
- More flexible processing of business processes
- Higher productivity for employees
- Increasing employee efficiency and satisfaction
- Better and more effective cooperation
- Demonstrates your innovation as a company
Business-to-customer: Faster services - more satisfied customers
Enterprise mobility solutions from prodot can help boost your customer loyalty. As soon as you get in touch with your customers, the customers’ experience with your company takes centre stage. You are measured by how fast your services are, how flexible you are in decision-making, and how smooth order processing is. In addition, digital and mobile solutions open up new sales channels through which you can get in touch with your customers more easily.
Provide your employees with remote-enabled applications that also inspire your customers with flexible and fast services.
- Additional sales channels
- Reliable & fast service
- Effective communication with customers
- Improved customer loyalty
- Demonstrates your innovation as a company
Machine-to-Machine: Secure processes - more flexibility and room for manoeuvre
Mobile devices play a central role in the intelligent networking of devices, machines and vehicles. In addition to retrieving information such as emails, reports and other business-relevant data in real time via smartphone or tablet in an app or web application, you can also use the mobile device as a control device.
On construction sites, in production sites, machine halls or in industrial plants, mobile work solutions can provide greater flexibility and room for manoeuvre. You can keep an eye on your machinery and vehicle fleet at all times via networked IoT devices and sensors.
For example, using a portal solution such as the IoT-X Platform, you can stay informed on the condition, utilisation, consumption data and locations of your machinery worldwide, conduct remote diagnoses and make informed decisions as a result.
As a fleet-managing company, you can increase the safety of your passengers or dangerous goods transport with apps that provide feedback on driving behaviour.
- Exchange of data and events between machines and companies
- Comprehensive analytical data
- Optimised problem diagnosis
- Reduced downtime
- Faster response times to incidents
- Improved decision-making basis
- Reduction of costs and time required
In order to meet the expectations of employees working remotely or outside the office, there is plenty of need for optimisation. 97 percent of executives in Germany report that there are performance problems in the home office which lead to inferior customer service, technical interruptions or worse work-life balance, among other things. On top of that, there are also heterogeneous device and operating system landscapes, fluctuating bandwidths and security risks to contend with. Difficult access to databases is another notable obstacle. (Riverbed Future of Work Global Survey 2020)
Native apps or native applications are optimised for certain operating systems on mobile devices, e.g. for Android or iOS. Android apps are available in the Google Play Store. iPhone applications can be found in the App Store. Advantage: The app is perfectly tailored to the respective operating system and offers optimal performance. The user interface (UI) provides a seamless user experience between operating system and application, and the app can access specific device features. Disadvantage: If the app is to run on as many different devices as possible, updates become complex and costly.
Hybrid apps are provided in a native container for the respective operating system. They are usually developed as a website and exported to the desired operating system. The fact that hybrid apps can also be used in the web browser is a practical feature. Advantage: The development costs are comparatively low, as these apps are only programmed once as a website. This also means a faster time to market. Disadvantage: Hybrid apps often lack seamless usability because they are not allowed to access certain device features.
Cross-platform apps are developed in a programming language that does not belong to the operating system and is later translated into the target operating system by an application framework. Xamarin is one such development platform which prodot uses to develop multi-platform applications. If native frameworks are used for compiling, the UI of the user interface can become very seamless in relation to the operating system. Advantage: These represent a good compromise between native performance and seamless user experience as well as cost-effective development options. Disadvantage: Obstacles include lower performance compared to native applications and longer development times.
Web apps are responsive applications that are optimized for use within the browser of mobile devices. Advantage: Web apps require less development work than other apps. Updates can be released without going through the app store approval processes. They can be used in any compatible web browser, regardless of the operating system. Disadvantage: Although web apps "feel" like native apps, they usually offer a reduced range of applications when used on a smartphone. The app is not available in the Google Play Store or App Store and is not a fixed application on your smartphone.
Progressive Web Apps (PWA) - also called HTML5 apps in Apple jargon - represent a symbiosis of responsive websites and apps. They allow temporary use without the need for a connection to the mobile internet, as they cache on the device on initial opening. PWAs respond progressively to the design and functionality of the device and browser used. Some of these applications are available in the app stores. Advantage: It makes it possible to use the complete application on any device in largely uninhibited form.
Home office is working from an office within your own home or from a permanently furnished location outside the company’s office or premises. The same legal requirements for the workplace apply to the home office as on premises – as regulated by the Workplace Ordinance (ArbStättV). The employer is responsible for verifying compliance in this respect. In the case of the home office, employees are to carry out their work from this verified location and cannot freely choose where they work.
Mobile work means that an activity can be done anywhere, at any time. It is not bound to a fixed, legally approved location. Employees can therefore work on business trips in the hotel room, on the train, on the plane or elsewhere. They are not constrained in this respect by the Workplace Ordinance. However, employees must still comply with the occupational health and safety regulations. These include the risk assessment (§ 5 para. 1 ArbSchG), the instruction of the employee (§ 12 para. 1 ArbSchG) and the Industrial Safety Ordinance.
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