9 Questions To Ask Before Choosing A Mobile Content App

I was recently invited to speak about mobile content delivery at the Intelligent Content Conference on May 8-9 in San Francisco. If you’re there, I invite you to come check out my panel from 11:30AM — 12:15PM! My talk will be focused on ‘Cracking Mobile Content’, where I’ll (hopefully!) illustrate how healthcare organizations can learn from real world use-cases and apply best practices for getting content into the hands of their mobile workforce. Register for a full complimentary conference pass and receive a Showcase Basic Edition license.

At Taptera, we work with a lot of organizations who are ready for their first mobile content app, or those who are looking to migrate to a better solution. For newcomers into the mobile content app space, we’ve picked out the top questions you should ask yourself before adopting a mobile content delivery app:

1. Can you share, access and work on content while offline?
   There are never guarantees that your mobile reps will have access to the internet at every location or office they visit. Important meetings like sales demonstrations or investor talks can be completely derailed by a poor internet connection, or no connection at all. We solved this problem in Showcase with automatic syncing for files stored in Box. When updates for offline content become available, files automatically replace themselves while connected to the Internet, and then remain viewable on all devices even if connection is lost. Keep in mind this is not just offline access to documents, but workspace, videos, images, and audio should be available offline.
2. Can it be shared as easy as handing over your iPad?
   Your content should be casually shareable, so that anyone can experience the story you are sharing whether it’s a product, script, sketch, pitch, etc. Handing over your screen during an impromptu meeting or presentation should keep everyone immersed in your brand identity. You shouldn’t have to navigate through YouTube for a video, or search through a database that doesn’t look like your company. Each and every bit of content in your mobile app should look and feel like you.
3. Is it easy to update content routinely?
   A good mobile content app should not rely on any version controls. After all, your goal is to deliver up-to-date content in micro timeframes to your workforce. Downloading a new version of an app for every content update is counterintuitive and frustrating to mobile workers. Your teams should be able to update content at any time, while recipients should be able to receive the updated content in 1-2 minutes without any manual input.
4. Is it a set and forget type solution?
   When we built Showcase exclusively for Box users, all of their content was readily available, and it’s simply a matter of synching the content to the iPad device to get them implemented and deployed. When you already have a cloud content storage solution, your mobile app should be able to conform quickly and deploy within extremely short time frames.
5. Can it solve multiple business objectives?
   We’re always surprised by how customers utilize Taptera’s mobile apps in novel ways. Showcase, for example, can be used as a platform for training new employees, sharing publications with the press, or updating board members with impromptu financial projections. As a co-working space, it allows employees to access content, work with content and deliver content as it seamlessly accesses document files from Box. Users can even work with documents with workplace-approved apps, and then share that content back to Box.
6. Is it secure?
   The most common concern. An awesome mobile content app will have SSO, SAML built in (of course, Showcase has these). Building on top of a secure and powerful storage platform like Box makes it possible for us to build enterprise grade mobile applications.
7. Can a toddler figure out how it works?
   Apps do not come with user manuals. A mobile content app should be user-friendly, intuitive and able to be operated by a 3-year old. This makes it super easy to drive adoption and usage after the first week of releasing it to a user group. A super friendly technology solution will not scare away the non-techie types to try, use and gracefully adopt the solution when it becomes a part of your natural workplace tools.
8. Does it consolidate and declutter life space?
   A mobile content app that seamlessly integrates with a cloud content solution like Box provides content managers the control they need to distribute timely content while preventing clutter. In a single year, every working person is estimated to have handled/ managed an average of 10,000 documents to get work done. That is a lot of content! Tools that allow you to carefully curate content and control consumption helps drive efficiency, productivity and peace of mind.
9. Does it have a solid product roadmap?
   You don’t want to invest in a subscription-based solution that doesn’t offer a consistent flow of new features that could potentially expand your mobile workflows. Companies that continue to nurture their technology while closely working with their customers on how to best craft new features into the experience of the application are ingredients to build an active, engaged and collaborative customer-base and a robust product.

Need help cracking mobile content for your company? Experience how to custom brand your iPad without any development or engineering help. You’ll also see real-life samples of document workflows that help make your mobile sales force more efficient and productive. Register today for a mobile content session and earn a complimentary Showcase license.

This article was originally published on Medium, April 29, 2014.