Trying to improve customer engagement and modernise processes using mobile apps is not always the right way to go – in fact, it might be argued that apps are the ‘lazy way’ to digitise business.
This is according to Zahed Rassool, technical director at My Glass, a digitally-enabled mobile glass fitment company with licensees across South Africa.
“Businesses have been conditioned to think they need to have apps for everything. However, not everyone or every process needs an app – sometimes they just need a smart and simple solution that supports a particular process or business objective,” he says.
Rassool points out that a proliferation of apps can be counterproductive to efforts to improve customer experience: “Apps take up valuable real estate on a user’s device, and most of them are seldom used. If an app is needed only once every few months, the user may launch it only to find it needs to be updated, which can be frustrating.”
He says: “Companies are looking to apps instead of developing solutions that consider the duration of the expected engagement with the customer, and what needs to be achieved. In many cases, things could be handled with a magic link of some sort – for example, to update details or view the status of a claim.”
Engagement might also be managed efficiently within an existing platform like WhatsApp, he says. However, he notes that this option should take into account the costs associated with the engagement.
“WhatsApp charges businesses per 24-hour conversation. For an airline, this is viable because each conversation with the passenger is within one 24-hour window. For a group like My Glass, this isn’t feasible because we may engage with a customer over a period of several days. Cost implications can quickly spiral. When designing a solution, the CIO and CTO should be up to speed with the costs of various platforms and understand the process the solution should support,” he says.
To app or not to app?
Rassool believes apps have an important role to play, but that organisations should be strategic about them. “You need to consider factors like how often the user base will open the app. Is it worthy of real estate on users’ devices? Is it just informative or should it provide crucial functionality?”
“If you need advanced camera features, precise location or game level graphics, an app is the ideal solution. Likewise, an app is useful if users are expected to revisit it often – say weekly. However, it shouldn’t be an app if it’s just informative, for example for outlining processes, or for once-off signups. Sometimes you can solve the problem just on the web, or by finding space as part of a process lifecycle within a broader app,” he says.
Rassool says My Glass has taken a strategic and realistic view of the technology it requires to disrupt the glass fitment business. “We are phenomenal when it comes to technology, but we also look at the basics of what people need and want. People don’t need an app for services they use only occasionally – like plumbers, electricians and glass fitment. Therefore, we have combined simple yet innovative digital solutions with our understanding of the glass sector to solve problems and serve customers better.”