Wireless Carrier Strategies and Opportunities in the North American Mobile Workforce Apps Market, 2020

This study examines wireless carrier strategies in today’s North American mobile workforce apps market. The information contained in this study allows wireless carriers to benchmark their mobile worker app efforts against those of their peers. This study should also help mobile workforce app developers identify potential reseller partners.

Frost & Sullivan defines mobile workforce applications as software solutions that allow remote and mobile employees real-time access to and exchange of critical information, collaboration, and/or guidance via their smartphones, tablets, and other mobile devices. These solutions can also transmit valuable field information—such as worker location, task completion, etc.—to administrators.

Examples of current mobile workforce apps include mobilized field service management solutions, digital forms, software apps that extend sales force automation capabilities to a field sales rep’s mobile device, navigation and mapping applications, etc. These types of software offerings are also known as mobile worker or B2E business-to-employee apps.

This study discusses key market trends, includes profiles of the six Tier 1 North American wireless carriers, and lists potential growth opportunities. Relevant results from the most recent Frost & Sullivan Global Enterprise Digital Solutions Survey are also shared. These North American survey data identify:

o Mobile workforce app deployment plans
o Types of users
o Purchase drivers
o Barriers to adoption
o Preferred mobility partners
o Criteria used to select mobile business application partners
o Preferences regarding prepackaged vs. custom solutions
o Criteria used to select prepackaged mobile business apps

The mobile workforce applications market remains on a steady growth trajectory and offers wireless carriers an opportunity to function as a key distribution channel for select app developers—especially those application vendors that are targeting the small and mid-size (SMB) sector and its preference for prebuilt, subscription-based software solutions.

Each wireless carrier profile examines that carrier’s current mobile workforce app portfolio, identifies any new offerings, discusses strategic fit with the carrier’s larger business goals, and defines that carrier’s vendor partners, target markets, branding strategy, and areas of competitive differentiation.

Carriers are experiencing multiple benefits as mobile worker app resellers. These benefits include not only a share of the app revenues, but also increased customer stickiness, an opportunity to sell relevant core and adjacent services, and the chance to project an image of technology innovation to the business sector.

Unfortunately, North American businesses currently rank wireless carriers a distant third as a preferred mobile business applications partner. Methods for improving this positioning are discussed.