Tech Companies See Workplace as a Huge Growth Sector

The next big market for apps: the workplace?

This is not a secret: Apple dominates the US consumer market. Odds are you probably interact with an Apple device at some point during your average day. That could be swiping furiously on Tinder on your iPhone, or penning your manifesto on a Macbook Air at an overpriced coffee house. You might swipe your credit card through an iPad at your favorite sushi burrito food truck (though, to be fair, the six other sushi burrito food trucks in the area accept mobile payments too.) Or maybe you are just one of those weirdos who use Apple Watch to text their heartbeat to ex-girlfriends. If you’re reading this Chad, please, no more.

The point is, Apple is everywhere. And after the partnership APPL announced this week with SAP, they are about to be even more everywhere. That’s right. Apple is coming to the workplace. And the answer to your question is no, no one knows what SAP stands for. It’s a mystery.

The press release said the partnership between Apple and SAP, the German software firm, will “revolutionize the mobile work experience for enterprise customers,” and we all know press releases are documents of fact. Prepare. The revolution is officially at hand. “With 76 percent of business transactions touching an SAP system, SAP is the ideal partner to help us truly transform how businesses around the world are run on iPhone and iPad,” said Apple CEO Tim Cook, known to his friends as “T-Bone.”

We, as mobile app developers in San Francisco, couldn’t be happier. We say it’s about time. In fact, Apple needs to be in the workplace, or “enterprise” if you prefer, a market traditionally dominated by Microsoft. Can you believe the world really once ran on Windows? It’s because of Windows your mother calls you at 6:00 a.m. on a Saturday morning to ask you where they moved the start button because she needs to get the bake sale bulletin out and the start button was here yesterday, she didn’t touch a thing, she swears, and since she has you on the line how do you make a new folder, what’s this button do, why don’t you ever call, and don’t forget to mow the lawn. Thanks Windows.

Or maybe you’re simply tired of carrying around a Blackberry solely for work emails, which takes up precious pocket space alongside your personal iPhone which you use for music, maps, and, of course, email. You can’t help but feel a touch of sorrow looking at the poor Blackberry next to Apple’s sleek, shiny rectangle. It’s hard to believe Blackberry used to be the entire mobile market. The thing looks like a miniature antique typewriter. Children of future generations will look at the Blackberry and shake their heads in wonder before asking, “What are all those buttons for?”

In any case, having dedicated enterprise apps on your iPhone and iPad is going to make a lot of lives a little easier. That’s what Apple products do: they make tech easy and accessible, for the most part. Who among us hasn’t thrown up our hands in front of a blank, blue Windows monitor in our cubicle and screamed, “Why can’t we just do this on our iPhone?” before slamming Control, Alt, Delete in a fit of first-world rage?

Naturally, Apple sees the Workplace as a huge growth sector. They’ve already inked partnerships with IBM and Cisco, and some important internet people think Oracle could be next. In short, this means more enterprise apps on iOS, be it CRM, ERP, BI, BCP, EAI, or some other hallowed combination of letters. This also means enhanced security features, like Touch ID fingerprint reader, for example. Soon filing your TPS reports could be as easy as swiping right on Tinder.

Enterprise has surprisingly lagged behind when it comes to mobile. Today, some poor sap starting a new job will be handed a Blackberry by a wild-eyed IT manager wearing a Star Wars T-Shirt. This is a mathematical certainty. Thanks to Apple and deals like this, those times are a changing.

Appstem can help you learn more about tech companies and the growing job sector. Contact us today!