WorkMobile: Manufacturing CIO apps fail to meet demands

Research conducted by WorkMobile has revealed that 79% of Chief Information Officers in the manufacturing industry have received complaints from end-users about the functionality of their employee-facing apps.

According to the research, 38% of employees in manufacturing businesses said that the apps are “difficult to navigate”, while 33% said the apps “do not work well in areas of low or no connectivity.”

25% of employees reported that the apps provided “a poor user service”, while an equal percentage said they were “not sufficiently tailored to employees’ roles. 

A further quarter of those asked complained that the apps were not being updated frequently enough, and 17% said they were “only able to use them on a company device.”

Colin Yates, chief support officer at WorkMobile, said: “Mobile apps can be a brilliant way to streamline operations and facilitate better remote working – particularly for field-based employees. 

“They can also help to make social distancing easier, by eliminating the need for certain employees to return to the office to complete paperwork."

However, while investigating the reasons behind the problems, the WorkMobile report found that more than a third of CIOs in the manufacturing sector are under pressure to adhere to restrictive budget constraints. 

“It’s clear that in their efforts not to exceed tight department budgets, many IT teams in the manufacturing sector are struggling to find and implement apps that truly make the end users’ roles and responsibilities easier,” Yates said. 

The research also uncovered that 38% of CIOs have found costs to be a contributing factor when implementing off-the-shelf apps. 

Yates added: “Developing apps in-house is time consuming and costly and requires specialist expertise that many companies find it hard to source. 

“Equally, purchasing off the shelf solutions can result in apps that don’t quite fit the requirements of the business,” he said. 

Suggesting a different approach, Yates stated that no-coding app builders emerging into the market offer “a fantastic alternative,” allowing CIOs to build their own solutions quickly and easily that tailor to the needs of their employees. 

For more information, visit: https://www.workmobilesolutions.com/.