Long-time rivals Apple and IBM surprised everyone when they announced in July that they were coupling up to develop mobile apps for big businesses. The unlikely partnership is starting to bear fruit as Apple and IBM announced on Dec. 10 the first 10 business-centric apps for a variety of industries.
The first 10 apps of IBM MobileFirst for iOS will be delivered as part of a cloud service to enterprise clients in the government, banking, insurance, retail, telecommunications and airline industries. Citi, Air Canada, Sprint and Banorte are the first IBM clients to pledge support for the new enterprise services.
"Our collaboration combines IBM's industry expertise and unmatched position in enterprise computing with Apple's legendary user experience and excellence in product design to lift the performance of a new generation of business professionals," says Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president of IBM global business services.
Social workers can use Case Advice draws on real-time analytics and predictive analysis to help them make critical decisions, while law enforcement workers can use Incident Aware as a "vital crime prevention asset" to provide them with real-time access to maps and video feeds of an incident as well as gain access to criminal history records right away.
For the banking and finance industry, Advise & Grow allows banking professionals to complete secure transactions and make personal recommendations based on analytics-driven insights. Trusted Advice also helps financial advisors access and manage client portfolios from various locations, not just in their offices.
In the insurance industry, agents can use Retention to gain access to customers' profiles and decide on the next best step to facilitate key transactions. The app also provides its users with smart alerts, reminders and retention risk scores based on big data analytics.
For retail and sales workers, Pick & Pack helps them create a streamlined order process by combining proximity-based technology and back-end inventory systems. With Sales Assist, they can also gain access to customer profiles to make recommendations based on their previous purchases. Using the app, they can also check inventory and ship items right out of the warehouse.
The telecommunications industry has Expert Tech, an app that uses native iOS capabilities such as FaceTime to deliver more efficient issue resolution and increase customer satisfaction.
In the airline industry, flight crews can rely on Passenger+, which helps flight attendants provide more personalized customer service, and Plan Flight, which helps pilots view flight plans, schedules and crew manifests and make better decisions based on these information.
"This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we can't wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to work," says Phil Schiller, Apple senior vice president of worldwide marketing. "The business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the world's best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done."
The companies say the first 10 apps are only the fruits borne of their partnership. In time, as many as 100 business apps will be available on IBM MobileFirst for iOS.
