How user friendly business apps affect your bottom line

The widespread use of smartphones, tablets, and laptops has led to the consumerization of IT—with business applications, email, and collaborative tools being widely used on personal devices. Factors such as budget tightening due to the recent global recession, allied with increasingly permissive Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) policies, have led to a huge influx of personal devices being used in corporate settings. Fortunately, business apps running on BYOD devices are ushering in a range of benefits to businesses and their employees as well.

The advent of cloud-based solutions

While business software such as ERP and CRM suites have rapidly spread across corporate settings, the past two or three years have ushered in other important advances. Today, many workplaces are using cloud-based systems for time and attendance tracking, for example. Discarding inefficient timecards and spreadsheets has allowed payroll, HR, and finance managers to spend more of their time on their primary tasks, while minimizing time spent on collecting and computing work-time data. Employees and managers using cloud-based systems can easily get access to payroll, time off, and related information within seconds—a fraction of the time and effort needed to get that same information out of an older manual system.

Efficiency equals savings

Many white collar workers now expect anywhere, anytime access to their work email and collaborative applications, which free them up from being desk-bound to get work done. Today, software providers automatically rollout their products and updates using the cloud. These include apps that allow employees to report hours worked, project status, cost, location, etc., while enabling managers to view and approve reports from anywhere internet access is available.

Modern business apps not only save on paperwork, time, and travel, but also facilitate quick decision making and availability of the latest status reports. These factors in turn result in a cascade of benefits, both in terms of time and monetary savings. Apps that are easy to learn and use encourage wider adoption and adherence to reporting time, status, cost, and other variables. User-friendly apps also promote adherence to workplace regulations and help enforce compliance with labor laws. These factors all add up to positive results for businesses, because litigation and penalties not only cost them financially, but also affect their reputation and brand.