Mobile working on the rise as cost savings drive businesses to the cloud

A survey of C-Level senior executives, developers and other industry delegates at a key UK app industry event* has found that the low set-up cost attached to cloud computing is the primary driver for the technology’s growing adoption. 72% of respondents identified cost as the key benefit of using the cloud for the storage and sharing of information, followed by 12% citing the technology’s ease of use.

The results also identified a growing reliance on effective mobile solutions, with 89% advising that either they or their workforce now spend more than three hours a day working from a mobile device. A further 91% noted that being able to use apps to maintain certain business processes while away from the office was of great benefit. The industry survey was conducted during Apps World 2014 by cloud workflow company ManyWho to measure how the approach to business process is evolving among senior management and developers.

“The way in which companies are encouraging their workforces to operate is clearly shifting, and our latest survey is indicative of a growing trend that is seeing employees becoming increasingly mobile,” states Dave Norris, Director and Co-founder of ManyWho. “The need to be agile is clearly now a core enterprise priority, as is the importance of identifying business solutions that can be swiftly adopted without sizeable overheads. This is reflected by the rising uptake in cloud-based solutions by UK firms.”

The survey also revealed growing levels of interest in the Internet of Things (IoT) and a Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) approach by organisations. Asked about these emerging technological trends, the overwhelming majority (91%) believed that the IoT will have an impact on business in the next three years, while 83% of respondents advised that their companies now have a BYOD policy in place.

The ManyWho platform enables users and developers to quickly build business applications, using a single cloud-based platform with “drag-and-drop” functionality. The company believes applications must keep up with the ever-changing ecosystem of devices, operating systems and development languages, with next generation platforms allowing firms to rapidly automate customer-centric experiences. ManyWho anticipates that the future of Business Process Management (BPM) will see the agility of existing infrastructures maximised through close connection to existing systems and data; BPM no longer needs to mean a heavy-duty suite of technology that requires considerable implementation.

80% of respondents also identified the use of multiple Management Information Systems as an obstacle that is damaging business processes within their organisations. A further 77% advised that the cost of building workflow applications is a key barrier to app development, followed by a lack of internal resource (14%).
“Focusing on the customer is key to identifying how best to create effective workflows, regardless of the sector you operate in,” continues Dave Norris. “As such, these survey findings clearly demonstrate the need for intuitive platforms that automate vital business processes, and the importance of solutions that run effectively across mobile devices and other platforms.”