Appeal to Millennials with Seamless Enterprise Apps

Millennials now make up one-third of the workforce in the United States. Born between the late 1980s and early 2000s, they are the first truly technologically fluent generation and their behavior reflects that — millennials think and work differently than the generations before them. The ways in which they utilize technology — smartphones, tablets, and enterprise apps — put them at the forefront of the bring your own device (BYOD) revolution, which often leaves the companies they work for scrambling to keep up.

Innovating the Way We Work

Perhaps a better name for Millennials would be the mobile generation. A recent survey revealed that they are 15 times more likely to give up coffee than their mobile device. With smartphones in hand, Millennials are the key drivers in innovating the modern work environment. Studies show that though they are very committed to their jobs, Millennials dislike the traditional 9-to-5-office setting. Work flexibility is a top priority for younger employees. A recent survey by RingCentral revealed many spend 20 or more hours each week working outside the office. In fact, the ability to use personal mobile devices for work is so important to Millennials that many recent college grads will evaluate BYOD policies when considering job offers. The enthusiasm Millennials have for working remotely often puts them a step ahead of their employers. According to a recent article in Mobile Enterprise, 70% of admit to using personal devices and apps for work-related tasks, regardless of whether or not it violates corporate policy. The reason? It’s not because enterprise apps aren’t available — it’s because most simply aren’t good enough for this tech-savvy generation of workers. Nearly 50% of Millennials prefer their own apps because enterprise apps just aren’t up to the task. Over one-third of them avoid using corporate apps because they do not function well across multiple devices.

Attract and Retain Millennials with Responsive, User-Friendly Enterprise Apps

Employees passing corporate information through unsanctioned applications is an IT department’s worst nightmare. It takes mobile app security out of the hands of the enterprise and can put corporate data at risk. Organizations can eliminate potential security disaster by offering employees a viable alternative: a user-friendly enterprise app store with sanctioned 3rd-party applications alongside custom enterprise applications. Keeping in mind the needs of Millennials in particular, enterprises must carefully select and develop apps that offer both functionality and ease of use. Platform or OS-specific apps with clunky UIs won’t do. Younger employees expect applications to work seamlessly on a full range of mobile devices without compromise. The key takeaway from all this is that Millennials wholeheartedly embrace BYOD. They want to be productive outside the office and are extremely dedicated to their jobs. What companies need to do to appeal, retain, and keep this new generation of tech-savvy employees happy is to provide them with the right kind of applications. Enterprises who take the time to invest in user-centric, platform-independent mobile apps will benefit from increased mobile app adoption rates and productivity as the proportion of Millennials in the workforce continues to grow.