Nearly half of all companies either offer an app or have one in development
With the number of smartphone phones in the hands of Americans on the rise – 97.9 million U.S. consumers owned the devices as of December, according to comScore data – retail merchants are employing new means of leveraging the mobile communication tools.
A new report from Robert Half Technology suggests nearly half of all American companies are looking to make an impact on the mobile space. Twenty-seven percent already offer a mobile application, while 22 percent are planning to do so before the end of the year.
That isn't to say, however, that creating a mobile app is a walk in the park. Developing mobile applications is challenging because it involves a number of different departments, ranging from information technology to marketing.
"Building mobile applications requires intense collaboration between numerous groups within an organization, including marketing, IT, operations and sales," says John Reed, executive director of the firm. "It's important for mobile application developers to have strong skills, in addition to the ability to write code and test and debug software applications."
