Here at Metal Toad, we’re constantly engaged in developing solutions for complex, cloud-focused application needs. What’s intriguing about the space I hold (account management and partner development) is that clients are increasingly sophisticated in their expectations.
It wasn’t too long ago when the only computers people used with enterprise-level software were in their office, then it moved to their homes and now…they are in people’s pockets. Mobile phones and the associated applications are so ubiquitous and natural we rarely even think about them. In fact, in the developing world, the adoption rate is 98.7%.
This has massive implications in business as a whole and many companies are still struggling with the disruption; in the software application arena the area that I’ve seen substantive change is in client expectations. Clients are now so used to complex, ‘consumer-grade’ user experiences and interfaces that enterprise solutions dating back only a few years feel needlessly convoluted and creaky by comparison. Mobile has pushed us to consider how folks are literally ‘doing their jobs’ which has greater implications than many of us think about.
For example, if you have spent substantive money recruiting a fantastic candidate for a technology focused position and don’t support that individual with an equally great software experience, how long do you expect to retain them? It would be like hiring a builder for a new house and informing them, once they’re on board, that you’re only providing them hand tools for the job!
The implications are staggering — with software having an amortized shelf life of just five years, the need for increased speed, custom front ends, and cloud-based computing cycles is in its infancy but what it means for business is not found in capital allocation, it’s found in retention numbers, referrals, communications, and more. It’s the way people are expecting business to be done, all because of a little computer in their pocket.
Metal Toad is addressing these issues by employing world-class design talent to work in tandem with our engineers and solution architects. The outcomes are obvious with increasingly happy clients whose consumer-grade expectations are being met.