By Mark Atterby – Senior Staff Writer

In the last few years smartphone applications have emerged as another channel for organisations to interact with their customers. Smartphones and Tablets have evolved into a major computing platform. As such BPOs who manage the customer experience for their clients, need to have a strategy when it comes to developing mobility applications.

More and more consumers are using their smartphones to help them shop and many are walking into retail stores armed with their mobile device. While in store trying a product out, they can receive product and pricing information from other online or physical retailers. They can quickly share and obtain information with their friends, receiving feedback and reviews about the products they are planning to purchase.

Once they’ve bought the product or service their smartphone is increasingly the main vehicle for them to interact with the organisation for support or advice whether that’s via SMS, email, Skype, web chat or a traditional mobile phone call.

Retailers have tried to tap into this with mixed results. Research from Retrevo (http://www.retrevo.com/content/blog/2011/10/retailers-not-providing-smartphone-equipped-shoppers-what-they-need), highlighted how most consumers who use their smartphone for shopping are happy to download a retailers app, but most say that it had no impact in helping their purchase.

However, the development of apps for mobile banking has seen phenomenal growth, where concerns developed about growth outstripping capacity. Mobile banking is used in many parts of the world with little or no infrastructure, especially remote and rural areas. It is estimated that there is 1.7 billion people with a mobile phone but not a bank account, where as many as 364 million unbanked people could be reached by agent-networked banking through mobile phones.

BPO largely evolved from the outsourcing of inbound customer service calls as well as outbound telemarketing in an age when people wanted to talk to someone. In an age where people increasingly prefer the speed, comfort and anonymity of self-service, BPO providers need to incorporate mobility applications as part of their service delivery and technology investment.

Not just customers. SmartPhones and tablets are popular with employees and management.

Executives and managers hate being chained to their desks, and they love the power of tablets and smart phones. According to Datamark BPO providers are planning to provide clients with mobile apps for monitoring and auditing outsourced processes. Features will incorporate business intelligence, dashboards, analytics and instant messaging with the provider.

BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) is expected to take off during 2012 [1]. Essentially companies will be encouraging workers to use their own mobile devices to perform work related functions. BYOD, while reducing hardware costs for the organisation, also increases employee satisfaction. People prefer to work on the devices they own and like using, rather than the slow or antiquated devices handed to them from the IT department.

These days people want everything at their fingertips, regardless of their location. Most leading providers have taken significant steps to adopt smartphones and mobility into their service delivery. BPO providers who do not take on the development of smartphone technology and mobility apps, will lose business and struggle in a market where the phone call is no longer as important as it once was.

1. http://www.globalservicesmedia.com/IT-Outsourcing/Enterprise-Applications/BYOD:-The-New-Me-of-IT-Consumerization/22/3/11825/GS1201239010447

2,300 employees from the UK, the US, China, Finland and India transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

IT consulting company Accenture and Finnish mobile maker Nokia have closed the agreement for Nokia to outsource Symbian software development and support activities to Accenture.

The agreement was originally announced on 22 June 2011, after Nokia announced that it will outsource its Symbian OS development along with some emplyees to Accenture.

With the closure of the agreemet, Accenture will provide Symbian-based software development and support services to Nokia until 2016 and also become the preferred supplier for Nokia in its transition to Windows Phone, said Accenture.

Accenture said under the agreement, approximately 2,300 employees from China, Finland, India, the United Kingdom and the United States are transferring from Nokia to Accenture.

Accenture Communications, Media & Technology operating group chief executive Marty Cole said Accenture is focused on growing their business in mobility and embedded software.

“We look forward to supporting Nokia in the execution of its strategy,” said Cole.

Accenture said it works with Avanade, a technology service company and focuses on Microsoft technologies, to provide further services to Nokia.

Source: Outsourcing BPO

The popularity of mobile or handheld communication devices has created a huge demand for mobile applications around the world, and the Philippines is one of the countries well poised to take advantage of this trend.

At the sidelines of a Power Mac Center mobile app development seminar where he is the resource speaker, Ramon Pastor of Numlock Solutions said that, although the country is currently lagging behind the field of mobile apps for now, talented Filipino developers can very soon catch up and provide here and abroad a robust supply of apps for mobile platforms.

“Worldwide, demand is higher than the supply. That’s why we have to encourage developers to go into mobile apps to take advantage of this growth. The Philippines can well be on the world map for mobile apps. We want to tell the world that if they want apps, they can come to the Philippines,” Pastor said.

The country has a huge pool of software and application developers who have been supplying the requirements of the country’s global IT outsourcing industry mainly in the fields of web and enterprise solutions. Pastor said that they just have to shift focus from enterprise solutions to mobile apps.

“The opportunity is here. More people are realizing that they can do a lot with their mobile devices, and are not limited to calling, texting, or checking emails. Companies are beginning to know that they can have apps made for mobile platforms, which is not this popular before. Thus, demand for mobile apps in the next three to four years, or even next year or so, will just grow exponentially. And we are up to it,” he said.
Meantime, Pastor laments how, in the past, big-name companies have tapped foreign IT consultants to develop apps for them.

“They’re not aware that mobile app development exists locally. That is why we have to drive people to join the industry. Demand is so high, they just go abroad. We hope that next time, we will be able to take advantage of this demand.”

Attended by over a hundred and fifty participants, the free seminar is part of the 17thAnniversary activity of Power Mac Center.

Power Mac Center Marketing Manager Joey Alvarez said, “Power Mac Center and developers have a symbiotic relationship. The more mobile apps are created for iPhone, iPod touch and iPad products, for example, the happier our consumers will be, and vice versa.”

Pastor said that he commends Power Mac Center for supporting the sector of IT programmers through seminars as he acknowledged the Apple Premium Reseller’s key role in ensuring that consumers get the best out of their mobile devices.

He said, “With this seminar, we are trying to make it easier for developers to go into mobile app development. Definitely, you cannot teach development in a very short seminar like this. But we can make them aware that the options are there, and that it is quite attainable even if they don’t have extensive experience in programming.”

Aside from the mobile app development seminar, Power Mac Center also conducted training on Apple’s latest Mac operating system, OS X Lion, and staged an exhibit showcasing its 17-year history at the Ayala Museum Lobby.