// by Colin
Apps on our smartphones are nothing new. There are hundreds of thousands of apps that are available on both Apple and Android phones. These apps have extended to laptops and almost every other mobile device available. However, with the onset of the COVID-19 pandemic, many businesses are being forced to develop their own app due to the shutdown of regular society. The new business strategy has been (and will continue to be until this pandemic subsides) app development.
The Digital Market Is Dominant
While this trend has been growing for a while thanks to services like Amazon, COVID has turned it up to eleven. According to figures released in November of 2020, ecommerce sales increased by more than 30% in between the first and second quarters of 2020. With so many physical stores being forced to shut down due to the risk of spreading the virus, more and more people were driven online.
On a smaller scale, this can even be seen with the holiday shopping tendencies. In the first 2 weeks of December, as people sought to get their presents in order, global digital sales grew 45% year over year. Online sales grew 36% year over year, which followed the increasing trend.
Businesses Need To Adapt
The virus is not looking to subside anytime soon thanks to the challenges of releasing the vaccine and new strains being discovered in the United Kingdom. Thus, businesses should turn to app development in order to maintain any hope of remaining relevant in this time of ecommerce dominance. App design could truly make the difference here, as a poorly designed or programmed app could drive people to competitors who have ones that are well-made.
Another aspect that is important for many apps is security. Many people won’t want to do business with an app that can easily be breached and give all of their personal details away. Thus, businesses will want to make sure that one of the key elements of their own app design comes in the form of security.
How Are Businesses Developing These Apps?
One of the companies that are helping some of the world’s largest organizations is called Pegasystems (or Pega for short). This company has helped many different businesses and even some governments in developing AI, analytics, cloud software, case management tools and customer relationship management software. There are other elements like ArcTouch that are offering their services for wider governments and businesses. These are just 2 companies that are offering their services in order to help other companies with their own app development for a present and post-COVID world.
Apps were already taking the majority of people’s attention on their phones. Now they are becoming necessary for businesses to remain relevant and in the mind of their customers. It’s important that these apps are well-designed and actually perform better than the competition, so other companies that specialize in this development (like Pega and ArcTouch) should be highly valuable. One thing is for sure: COVID isn’t going away anytime soon, and businesses should prepare for that.
