Canadian Adoption of Mobile Worker Applications, 2018

Preferences and Plans of Canadian Businesses Reinforce Value of Mobile Apps for Employees

This study examines the Canadian Mobile Worker Apps market, focusing on the Canada responses to the publisher's North American Enterprise Apps Survey.

As such, it:

• Measures the current use of, and future decision-making behavior toward, mobile worker applications
• Uncovers preferences and plans around a number of related mobility topics and issues in the workplace

These responses provide other Canadian businesses with a view into the thinking of their peers as they consider their own employee app strategies. The survey feedback also gives mobile worker app providers a statistically reliable look at the Canadian market as a whole--its needs, its selection criteria, preferred partners, deployment plans, etc.

Canadian wireless carrier activities in this sector are profiled. Potential growth opportunities for app providers are defined and discussed.

Mobile worker apps are also called Business-to-Employee (B2E) software applications. These apps allow employees real-time anywhere access to and exchange of business information, collaboration and guidance. Canadian companies justify their growing investment in these software apps with expectations of increased employee productivity and more efficient business processes.

After lagging in earlier years, the 2018 the publisher's Apps Survey reveals a strong and growing mobile worker apps presence within Canadian businesses. The Canadian app customer is confident in the choices it has been making, with the vast majority believing their mobile worker app strategies are at least keeping even with those of their peers. A high percentage of these companies expect to deploy new B2E (business to employee) applications over the coming months. The challenge for mobile worker app providers is to be on the customers' short list of possible purchases. To do so, providers need to take the customers' partner and app selection criteria seriously, including recognizing voids in their current portfolios.

Major challenges for mobile worker app providers include: 1) Addressing the major adoption barrier for Canadian customers, which is the continued concern regarding data security, 2) Determining when and how to incorporate new technologies into product and portfolio, and 3) Selecting the right partners or acquisition targets in order to improve capabilities and/or open up new markets.

Reseller partners (especially the Canadian wireless carriers) are challenged to reevaluate their current mobile worker app portfolios in light of the positive, market-savvy responses that Canadian businesses gave in the publisher's survey. The criteria used by businesses to evaluate potential mobility partners and apps have sharpened and should provide strong guidance regarding products, support services, and marketing messaging.

Key Issues Addressed:

• How pervasive are mobile worker apps in today's Canadian business sector? What are the near-term growth opportunities for today's providers in the Canada mobile worker apps market?
• What positive business impacts are Canadian users of mobile worker apps experiencing? What types of barriers prevent purchase of these solutions?
• Which parties are typically involved in the application selection and deployment process? What types of third-party mobility partners-if any - are utilized in this process? What criteria are used to select these partners?
• What criteria are used by Canadian businesses to select a specific mobile B2E app?
• What is the level of interest in incorporating newer technologies such as wearables and artificial intelligence?
• How are Canada's top wireless carriers participating in this market?