Mobile Apps for Businesses: 2018 Development Trends

For enterprises, mobile apps have grown from being a novelty item that helps build brand awareness into a necessity that helps them remain relevant. This is because they enhance usability, better meet customer demands, and scale up sales.

With more than 250 billion apps downloaded last year alone, this phenomenon is expected to enter a period of significant acceleration in 2018. But for businesses, simply introducing an app isn’t the end, it’s just the beginning.

To get it right the first time, companies need to understand how their customers interact with their mobile apps to boost personalization and engagement behavior. This will be critical going forward as research suggests that personalization boosts engagement by four times.

So what’s in store for the next 12 months? Let’s take at a few enterprise mobile application development trends you can expect to see in 2018.

1. Mobile App Security Will Be Paramount

Security has been an afterthought for a lot of businesses and this will change going forward. The primary driver will be the rise in in-app purchases that demand enhanced security.

Data leakage will also be a serious security threat in 2018, so business will need to figure out how to implement an app vetting process that doesn’t frustrate users or overwhelm administrators.

2. Rise in Smart Mobile Banking

The rise of mobile banking apps has been astounding, but just adapting a mobile approach to banking won’t be enough. Banks will need to devise a successful mobile banking strategy to better engage and provide superior user-experiences.

This will be critical in 2018 as the foot traffic at banks is expected to continue its downward trajectory. As the branch-based model don’t drive growth anymore, customer satisfaction and loyalty will be driven by apps.

3. AR/VR Apps Will Be Mainstream

AR/VR apps will be more prominent this year in industries like retail, healthcare, and real estate. With both Apple and Google set to release new tools and libraries to make AR/VR development easier, we can expect to see a lot more AR/VR apps to emerge in 2018.

This means that brands will now focus on enhancing their offering with more visually immersive real-time experiences.

4. Progressive Web Apps Will Be Prominent

You can expect to see a lot more business embracing progressive web apps for simple use cases. Apple is also expected to extend its support for them, so we can expect to see more small businesses release their own apps.

5. The Rise in Hybrid Apps

A recent study conducted by Cisco found that 69% of IT decision makers were in favor of the BYOD model. As a result, the BYOD enterprise mobility market is predicted to be worth about $73 billion by 2021.

As more enterprises embrace the bring-your-own-device (BYOD) model, there will be a rise in demand for hybrid apps. This is because they use a combination of web and native technology and are much cheaper to develop quickly.

6. Lack of Top Talent

The software engineering talent shortage will continue in 2018, so companies will have to come up with innovative strategies to fill in the gaps.

The challenge for businesses won’t be just attracting and hiring developers, they will also have to find ways to hold on to them.

Are you looking for a team to develop your mobile application? Get in touch with one of our in-house experts.