Category: Mobile Apps

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App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile Web Push Notifications

Driving Employee Engagement in the Construction Industries

Employee engagement is key to a successful business. Contractors need to take action to be sure that their professionals are committed to, and care about their business’ success. Engaged employees drive their company to reach its objectives. So, how can construction companies develop this level of enthusiasm among their employees?
Research shows that in the construction industry, momentum in employee engagement can be built through mobile! Sampson Construction launched SampsonHub in 2017, which is an employee app that better connects the company and its employees. The SampsonHub app reaches more than 80 percent of their employees with communications every day. Additionally, SAK Construction launched their employee app, SAK Pipeline, last year with similar adoption results. They reached more than 80 percent of their workers in four different regional locations, as well as crews on sites throughout the country.
So, how do these apps work and drive employee engagement?

Here are five ways to connect your construction workforce:

Safety Resources

Employees can submit forms to evaluate potential hazards on the job through the mobile app. Crews can go into the app to see not only the latest notification, but also to look through a library of job hazards and safety procedures, including video. This is beneficial because employees can access safety information at any given time. The manager can access the recaps of on-site reviews with the crews. Most importantly, if a crew member needs a question answered regarding safety, they can easily access a list of safety managers and their contact info right away.

Emergency Notifications

Construction employee apps can allow companies to push out emergency notifications. For example, a notification can be sent if there is bad weather or to let the team know of an incident or injury. Construction apps also push out safety alerts following incident reports to make crews aware of them, whether it’s something that happened within the company or even within the industry

Safety Awareness Campaigns

Safety awareness campaigns get messages out to construction crews on a daily basis. They can display real reasons why working safe is so important by sharing these images throughout job sites and offices, so they can be remembered!

Operations – Training Programs

Construction employee apps can offer various training courses. This can include the option for employees to have their own login ID and password, so they have the ability to see which courses have been taken, and which need to be done. This will help not only the employees stay on top of their trainings and education, but it will allow management to keep track of each employee’s progress.

Resource management

Apps can even help companies assign workers to the proper projects and keep track of their time spent on those job sites. With geo-location it becomes easy to know who is where, and redeploy them if necessary to new projects.
 
These employee focused apps can drive employee engagement through the roof! By having safety tips, emergency notifications, safety awareness campaigns, and training programs right in the palm of your hands, it will allow the employees in the construction industries to feel safe and heard.
jācapps custom construction apps can support these efforts and so much more. If you are interested in creating a mobile presence to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

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App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile UX Mobile Web Wearables

Tips to Evaluate Mobile App Developers for your Company's App

Do you have a new idea for a mobile app to improve your business’ efficiency and increase ROI?! Do you have a successful business that could benefit from more streamlined customer service or product processes?!
If so, you need a great team to create the best possible mobile app! How do you know what mobile app development company to choose? Here are some criteria to evaluate mobile application companies for your company’s app:
 

End-to-End Services

It is important that the company you choose offers full service – inclusive of strategy, design, development, and post-launch maintenance. Here at jācapps, we use a 4-step process to make your app and experience the best it can be. We discover, design, develop, and deploy. This full-cycle process includes:

  • Discovery: This starts with understanding the problem you need to solve and understanding where your app will take root, then brainstorming the best solution.
  • Design: Make sure your app looks great, with solid aesthetics and ease-of-use in mind. Make sure your app designer keeps the big picture in mind, so that your app functions well and looks beautiful.
  • Development: Your developer should work from a complete and accurate specification document that describes perfectly how your app should work.
  • Deployment: Rigorous QA testing should happen throughout the development process, but final testing should make you confident that your app will work flawlessly for your users. And finally, the submission of your app and its app store presence should be done with complete professionalism and confidence.

This type of process will ensure that you receive a top-notch app.
But the best developers don’t stop there – they keep a look out for rare potential problems and help you navigate new devices and OS versions as they become available.
 

Design and Development Tailored to Your Needs

You may already have detailed documents that state how you want your app to work. You may just be looking for a company who can just oversee your plans, assist in UI/UX design and the development of the app. Or, you might simply have a business problem and are looking at mobile for a solution! The best firms offer flexibility. You can get as much or as little help as you need. For projects that are less planned out from the start, a product development specialist, along with a UI/UX designer will be necessary for the project! Having both allows you to design and develop your app to the best possible outcome. If your team is well staffed, your development firm should be able to leverage your internal expertise to save you time and money.
 

Comparison Shopping

There are lots of app development companies. Review your candidates’ past client work and case studies. It is also beneficial to determine how, and how much you will communicate with your provider. Do you want a team that is local? Do you require any special technology expertise? There are many factors to consider when selecting a mobile partner.
 

Get Buy-In Across Your Company

After you have narrowed down your options – it is important that you share your plan and vision for your mobile app. You’ll avoid a lot of downstream headaches if everyone on your team is on the same page and shares your vision.
 

Partner Mentality

Developing your app requires a multitude of resources beyond the idea. It requires market research, extensive documentation, designers and developers. If you are researching a mobile app development company to bring your idea to life, look for more than a vendor. You want a company that will partner with you over the long term as your needs and your app evolves.
Take these tips into consideration to help you evaluate the right mobile development company for your mobile project!
jācapps custom apps can support these efforts and much more. If you are interested in exploring a mobile strategy to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

Categories
App Everywhere B2B Apps Mobile Apps Mobile UX Mobile Web Wearables

Tips to Evaluate Mobile App Developers for your Company’s App

Do you have a new idea for a mobile app to improve your business’ efficiency and increase ROI?! Do you have a successful business that could benefit from more streamlined customer service or product processes?!

If so, you need a great team to create the best possible mobile app! How do you know what mobile app development company to choose? Here are some criteria to evaluate mobile application companies for your company’s app:

 

End-to-End Services

It is important that the company you choose offers full service – inclusive of strategy, design, development, and post-launch maintenance. Here at jācapps, we use a 4-step process to make your app and experience the best it can be. We discover, design, develop, and deploy. This full-cycle process includes:

  • Discovery: This starts with understanding the problem you need to solve and understanding where your app will take root, then brainstorming the best solution.
  • Design: Make sure your app looks great, with solid aesthetics and ease-of-use in mind. Make sure your app designer keeps the big picture in mind, so that your app functions well and looks beautiful.
  • Development: Your developer should work from a complete and accurate specification document that describes perfectly how your app should work.
  • Deployment: Rigorous QA testing should happen throughout the development process, but final testing should make you confident that your app will work flawlessly for your users. And finally, the submission of your app and its app store presence should be done with complete professionalism and confidence.

This type of process will ensure that you receive a top-notch app.

But the best developers don’t stop there – they keep a look out for rare potential problems and help you navigate new devices and OS versions as they become available.

 

Design and Development Tailored to Your Needs

You may already have detailed documents that state how you want your app to work. You may just be looking for a company who can just oversee your plans, assist in UI/UX design and the development of the app. Or, you might simply have a business problem and are looking at mobile for a solution! The best firms offer flexibility. You can get as much or as little help as you need. For projects that are less planned out from the start, a product development specialist, along with a UI/UX designer will be necessary for the project! Having both allows you to design and develop your app to the best possible outcome. If your team is well staffed, your development firm should be able to leverage your internal expertise to save you time and money.

 

Comparison Shopping

There are lots of app development companies. Review your candidates’ past client work and case studies. It is also beneficial to determine how, and how much you will communicate with your provider. Do you want a team that is local? Do you require any special technology expertise? There are many factors to consider when selecting a mobile partner.

 

Get Buy-In Across Your Company

After you have narrowed down your options – it is important that you share your plan and vision for your mobile app. You’ll avoid a lot of downstream headaches if everyone on your team is on the same page and shares your vision.

 

Partner Mentality

Developing your app requires a multitude of resources beyond the idea. It requires market research, extensive documentation, designers and developers. If you are researching a mobile app development company to bring your idea to life, look for more than a vendor. You want a company that will partner with you over the long term as your needs and your app evolves.

Take these tips into consideration to help you evaluate the right mobile development company for your mobile project!

jācapps custom apps can support these efforts and much more. If you are interested in exploring a mobile strategy to support your business, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

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Mobile Apps news and press Uncategorized

jācapps Hires Anne Clark as Vice President of Sales

Bingham Farms, Mich. – October 11, 2018 – To support its ongoing growth initiatives, leading application developer we have hired Anne Clark as its Vice President of Sales. Anne has more than 15 years of experience in sales management working for multiple high-tech companies around the U.S.
In this role, Anne will oversee our’ sales organization, and client-relations activities after serving in a similar position with Cengage Learning, where she managed $105 million in annual revenue and oversaw 40 high-performing sales directors and strategic account managers who engage at all decision-making levels in the for-profit higher education market. Anne has a proven track record of implementing data driven sales strategies and establishing internal sales processes, competencies and metrics that drive efficiency and performance.
“Anne was a perfect hire for us because she has experience fine tuning and scaling a sales organization to perform at a very high level,” said jācapps President Paul Jacobs. “She has the experience and steady hand to really help us get to the next level. Anne’s great at managing complex solutions and will lead our efforts to work with bigger clients in 2019 and beyond.”
Throughout her career in the technology field, Anne has served as a collaborative sales leader focused on driving growth in changing markets.  In driving technology solutions, she has helped turn around underperforming sales teams while transforming them to become highly effective and deliver results. Previous to Cengage, Anne was Vice President of Educational Sales at Wolters Kluwer Health, where she was a key decision maker in shifting the business to an all-digital solution leveraging adaptive technology and simulations which resulted in significant growth.
“I’m proud to be joining a company that has so many opportunities ahead of it as jācapps,” Anne said. “The company has a great brand in the media business and is just now scratching the surface with all types of businesses helping them create innovative mobile solutions that solve real problems. We have the opportunity to apply these mobile technologies in amazing ways and it’s my role to let the market know about it.”

About Us                                        

jācapps is a mobile application development firm in Metro-Detroit. Our company has developed over 1200 apps since its inception in 2008, by team members who are all Michigan-sourced. jācapps developers go beyond common devices by delivering your message through the most used device in the world, as well as in the Connected Car, Tablets, Smart Speakers, Smart TVs, Streaming Devices, Wearables, and whatever comes next.
If you are interested in learning more about us, the apps we’ve build, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

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B2B Apps Mobile Apps Push Notifications

3 Push Notifications Tactics Increase F&B Loyalty

Push notifications are core to the mobile app experience. Most mobile users have their phone on them at all times, and the ability to get their attention in a meaningful way can make or break your app. A report from Kahuna, a mobile engagement analytics startup, explains why consumers so often turn off push notifications, and how to combat the dreaded opt-out. Read more to see why food and beverage, above other industries, can specifically benefit from this feature.
According to their data, only 39 percent of social media app users opt in to push notifications in at least one category. One industry that seems to fare better is the food and beverage business with 60 percent of users opting in.
A few strategies can help push that opt-in rate up when you’re creating push notifications:

  1. Make a good first impression: Educate your users on your app’s benefits and note how push notifications will enhance their user experience.
  2. Know when: Timing is everything when it comes to scheduling push notifications. Statistically, the best time to send push notifications is between 11am and 1pm, between 2pm and 6pm, and from 8pm to 9pm.
  3. Maintain the customer relationship: Once users have opted in to push notifications, keep the content relevant, personalized and targeted. Sloppy notifications practices can quickly drive users away from your app completely.

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, half of smartphone owners regularly use restaurant loyalty rewards apps. And, according to survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, building customer loyalty and increasing customer retention through app-based rewards programs is a successful strategy.
Restaurants can ensure continued use of their loyalty app through regular push notifications reminding customers how close they are to earning the next free item or reaching the next tier of the rewards program. These interactions again personalize the experience and encourage repeat app usage.
So, what are the top types of push notification should you use in order to create customer loyalty?

  1. Location triggered messages

“Our closest restaurant is only 500ft away, open the app and receive a special discount coupon!”

  1. Gifting messages

“Congratulations! You have been with us for three months already, and as a thank you, we’d like to give you a 20% discount on any item from our bestseller list!”

  1. Transactional messages

Based on an activity directly related to customer behavior– such as past purchases, reward level advancement, expiring coupons, etc.
Getting your push notifications strategy right requires planning, good copywriting and testing. Do it right, and you will see increased user retention rates, reduced customer churn.
If you are interested in learning more about jācapps, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

Categories
B2B Apps Mobile Apps Push Notifications

3 Push Notifications Tactics Increase F&B Loyalty

Push notifications are core to the mobile app experience. Most mobile users have their phone on them at all times, and the ability to get their attention in a meaningful way can make or break your app. A report from Kahuna, a mobile engagement analytics startup, explains why consumers so often turn off push notifications, and how to combat the dreaded opt-out. Read more to see why food and beverage, above other industries, can specifically benefit from this feature.

According to their data, only 39 percent of social media app users opt in to push notifications in at least one category. One industry that seems to fare better is the food and beverage business with 60 percent of users opting in.

A few strategies can help push that opt-in rate up when you’re creating push notifications:

  1. Make a good first impression: Educate your users on your app’s benefits and note how push notifications will enhance their user experience.
  2. Know when: Timing is everything when it comes to scheduling push notifications. Statistically, the best time to send push notifications is between 11am and 1pm, between 2pm and 6pm, and from 8pm to 9pm.
  3. Maintain the customer relationship: Once users have opted in to push notifications, keep the content relevant, personalized and targeted. Sloppy notifications practices can quickly drive users away from your app completely.

When it comes to the food and beverage industry, half of smartphone owners regularly use restaurant loyalty rewards apps. And, according to survey conducted by the National Restaurant Association, building customer loyalty and increasing customer retention through app-based rewards programs is a successful strategy.

Restaurants can ensure continued use of their loyalty app through regular push notifications reminding customers how close they are to earning the next free item or reaching the next tier of the rewards program. These interactions again personalize the experience and encourage repeat app usage.

So, what are the top types of push notification should you use in order to create customer loyalty?

  1. Location triggered messages

“Our closest restaurant is only 500ft away, open the app and receive a special discount coupon!”

  1. Gifting messages

“Congratulations! You have been with us for three months already, and as a thank you, we’d like to give you a 20% discount on any item from our bestseller list!”

  1. Transactional messages

Based on an activity directly related to customer behavior– such as past purchases, reward level advancement, expiring coupons, etc.

Getting your push notifications strategy right requires planning, good copywriting and testing. Do it right, and you will see increased user retention rates, reduced customer churn.

If you are interested in learning more about jācapps, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

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4 Ways to Engage Your Listeners with Mobile

Your audience is on mobile more than they’re on any other device! And with proper promotion on air, and online, there is no reason you can’t move a significant portion of your audience to use your station’s apps! Here are 4 important ways to engage your listeners on mobile.

Upstream

Our “open mic” feature allows listeners to use the microphone in their mobile device to interact directly with your station. Users can create a message with just a tap, and send it to your station personnel with another tap, creating immediate engagement with the audience. We’ve seen stations use Open Mic to take requests, or call in to talk shows.
The user can also send photos or videos. One of our clients uses Upstream to boost contest involvement. The station wanted their listener to send in a certain picture in order to win a prize and upstream made this so easy.

Push Notifications

We all get push messages on our phones all day, whether it be news alerts, sports scores or traffic updates. By sending your audience a push message, you can tell them what’s on your station, give them the inside scoop on station events and even pass along breaking news.
Instead of waiting for users to open the app, use push notifications to entice the user to open and use the app. Those messages might include popular app content, event reminders and promotions.

Social Media

One of the biggest benefits of integrating your social media presence into the app is that your listeners can post directly in the app! Let your users check out your morning show’s latest post, or picture, without ever leaving the app. You can display your social feeds separately – Twitter and Facebook – or with feeds from the station and a variety of hosts all pulled together in one social timeline.

Guides

The V4 app from jācapps has the ability to provide users a local directory to businesses or attractions. The guide contains a collection of locations, provided by your station, and can display that collection as an easy to scan list, or it can map those locations, providing one tap turn-by-turn directions. If you have a rock station, maybe you provide your listeners a local bar guide. An AC station could provide a directory of family-friendly activities. These guides are a great way to create another revenue stream for your station.
If you are interested in the apps we’ve built or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or (248) 353-9030

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App Everywhere B2B Apps Connected Car Mobile Apps Mobile Web news and press Push Notifications Radio

Press Release: Client Announcement

BINGHAM FARMS, Mich. – Sept. 20, 2018 – Leading custom application developer, jācapps, has built and now launched more than 100 audio apps for its newest client, Salem Media Group (Salem), one of the leading Christian and conservative content radio broadcasters in the U.S.
The 116 new apps, which are a complete upgrade, are available now in the Apple iTunes and Android Play stores as updates to the original versions.  Through an enhanced listening experience and expanded streaming reach to mobile devices, the new apps further broaden Salem’s network and ability to share meaningful digital content with its audiences.
The jācapps and Salem teams worked together to prepare the media group’s faith-based and conservative talk news audio content for mobile reach in 33 of the largest U.S. markets, including: Chicago, Detroit, Los Angeles, Miami, Nashville, New York, Philadelphia and San Francisco. This includes mobile apps featuring some of Salem’s most popular, syndicated on-air personalities, such as: Dennis Prager, Hugh Hewitt, Michael Medved, Mike Gallagher, Larry Elder and Eric Metaxas.
“We have a very loyal listener base, but we are competing not just with other radio stations or media providers, but with other digital content that is available to consumers anytime, anywhere,” said Rodney Whitaker, Salem’s director of digital operations. “We need solutions that make it as easy as possible for people to find, listen to and interact with us on their mobile devices, and jācapps has provided those with these new apps.”
“You no longer need a radio to listen to the radio,” said jācapps President Paul Jacobs.  “Listeners want their content on-demand, wherever they are, and the brands that support that content want to connect with consumers in meaningful ways.  Our job is to help clients, like Salem, create applications to make that all possible.”

About jācapps

jācapps is one of the largest mobile application development firms in metro Detroit. The company has developed more than 1,200 apps since its inception in 2008, by team members who are all Michigan-sourced.  jācapps developers go beyond common devices by delivering messages through the most used device in the world, as well as in the Connected Car, Tablets, Smart Speakers, Smart TVs, Streaming Devices, Wearables and whatever comes next.  More information is available at https://jacapps.com/.

About Salem Media Group

Salem Media Group is America’s leading multimedia company specializing in Christian and conservative content, with media properties comprising radio, digital media and book and newsletter publishing.  Each day Salem serves a loyal and dedicated audience of listeners and readers numbering in the millions nationally.  With its unique programming focus, Salem provides compelling content, fresh commentary and relevant information from some of the most respected figures across the Christian and conservative media landscape.
Click here to read more
If you are interested in us, the apps we’ve built, or a product of your own, contact us at sales@jacapps.com or 248-353-9030

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Mobile Apps

Improving Patient Engagement and Wellness with Mobile

As healthcare spending in the U.S. continues to grow (currently nearly 18% of GDP) and as accountability in healthcare becomes a bigger and bigger issue, engaging patient audiences in their care is a bigger challenge than ever. Getting patients to integrate simple, daily habits to benefit their health is key to improving outcomes. While many companies look to foster proactive, instead of reactive healthcare – they are having trouble making these processes easy for patients. But with so many of us so deeply dependent on our smartphones, perhaps mobile technology holds some answers.
 

Private practice physician groups, hospitals, and rehabilitation centers are working to incorporate better technology into their internal processes and patient communications.

 
Beyond EHR (electronic health records) there are many ways to keep patients and families abreast of facility logistics, patient health literacy, and service or surgery preparation.
Take Dr. Partha Nandi for example: by day Dr. Nandi performs endoscopic procedures to diagnose and treat digestive health. On top of his typical practice, Dr. Nandi wanted to better communicate his holistic approach to patient health. Educating the public and his patients is an important part of his business. With an application, Dr. Nandi was able to get his content in the hands of his on-the-go consumers. This internal medicine physician is able to share e-books, educational episodes, and many other patient literacy tools to better serve his audience. A mobile application complements his health delivery model because an important part of health is the ability to make mindful health efforts anywhere, anytime.
health-and-wellness-apps
Mobile apps can also be an option for hospitals to communicate better with their consumers. A hospital Florida wanted to help its audience stay on top of ER wait times, important urgent care information, and mapping of their medical center to help patients and families get around. Knowing that much more time on mobile phones is spent within applications instead of in browsers, they understood the opportunity mobile provided.
Mobile apps are a proven way to seamlessly connect with your community! Healthcare costs and getting better outcomes is an issue for everyone, and health and wellness providers can make their patient experience a digital one. This will save resources and benefit both patients and healthcare providers! To share ideas for your institution’s healthcare app please contact us at sales@jacapps.com .

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B2B Apps Mobile Apps

How Mobile Apps Are Transforming the Construction Industry

According to PwC Global construction output is estimated to grow 85% to $15.5 trillion by 2030. In order to support this increased work load many companies are turning to mobile.
Mobile technology enables the collection and distribution real-time information to benefit a wide variety of processes associated with a variety of construction projects. While the industry evolves, one thing remains constant: construction projects require an enormous amount of coordination of people, information and resources in an environment that isn’t conducive to desktop or even laptop devices.
Construction managers require great attention to detail and the ability to manage many elements of a project at once. This may include keeping track of subcontractors, progress, scheduling, quotes, invoices, schedules, union work rules and more. Historically, pen and paper has been the route many management teams take. When some or all of that information is recorded on paper or in digital systems that can’t accommodate mobile, it takes a toll on time management and productivity.
Mobile technology creates an abundance of opportunity to improve efficiency and accuracy, reduce costs, and accelerate timelines. With the ubiquitous use of smartphones, construction managers can leverage the power of apps to reduce costs and improve the bottom line.
Here are some ways companies have used mobile technology on the job:

  1. Improved communication with dispatch teams: Dispatch is an important part of many construction jobs. Materials, people, and schedules are always changing and always on the go. Mobile apps and GPS capability can help keep track of or send new jobs to the closest technician. Technicians are able to complete work orders directly from the field, reducing data entry time and avoiding costly errors.
  2. Provide real-time access to plans, quotes and orders: Apps can provide two-way access to information allowing construction companies to file electronic versions of work orders, plan clarifications, building code references, by-laws and more for quick access by teams in the field. This improves productivity and reduces the need for re-work.
  3. Improve accountability of team members: GPS locations, staff travel times, and time spent on-site can all be consistently monitored with mobile apps. This improves accountability and reduces labor costs. Companies can also reduce costs with mobile timesheets that record clock-in/clock-out times. To benefit transparency with clients and management, staff can also document their work progress with photos.
  4. Manage equipment more effectively: Equipment scheduling and maintenance can affect a construction company’s bottom line. With a mobile application it’s easier to track and manage equipment use. Users can log equipment hours and keep track of locations to and improve planning and use.
  5. Provide and track safety training: Construction safety features can include the ability to digitize safety inspection checklists, document safety meetings and incidents, and provide instruction in the event of accidents. Up to date training materials (including video) can be easily pushed out to workers on their mobile devices.

construction-mobile-apps
This list just scratches the surface, there are many different uses for mobile apps in the construction industries. At jācapps we have consulted unions, associations, as well as individual businesses on how this technology can be customized to fit organizational goals. If you’re curious about mobile and would like to have a conversation about ways it can be customized to your company’s needs, please contact us at sales@jacapps.com .