From the very beginning, the unlikely pairing of IBM and Apple was meant
to marry IBM's business sense with Apple's flare for design and ease which
results in applications that are consumer in feel but enterprise software at
the centre.
At last, that target started to take shape Wednesday, nearly six months
after announcing their enterprise partnership, with the debut of 10
industry-specific applications as part of the IBM MobileFirst for iOS
portfolio.
The tech titans chose to tailor their initial batch of apps to
enterprise customers in banking, retail, insurance, financial services, and
telecommunications for governments and airlines. The apps are built wholly for iPhone
and iPad and are fixed with security and analytics and linked to core
enterprise processes.
For the insurance industry, there's the Retention app, which
helps agents do things like stay current on client policies and update claims.
For Telco’s, there's the Expert Tech app, which is designed to
drive efficiency in field service technicians.
For governments and law enforcement, there's Case Advice,
designed for social workers, and Incident Aware, which is designed to
provide vital approaching during emergency circumstances. As Apple describes
the app on its website, it gives officials "a bird's-eye view of the scene's perimeter
that includes GPS map data, the location of those involved in the incident, and
live video feeds updated in real time on their iPhone devices. This powerful
and intuitive app cans even access police records to calculate risk, letting
other law enforcement stakeholders know where and when other responders will
appear."
For the banking and financial segment, there's Advise & Grow,
which gives bankers secure authorization to access client profiles and
competitive analyses, and Trusted Advice, which allows advisors to
access and manage client portfolios and predictive analytics from remote
locations.
For retailers, there's Pick & Pack, designed to streamline
order fulfillment, and Sales Assist, which integrates with iBeacon to
empower sales associates with more info as they approach and help shoppers.
For travel and transportation, there's Passenger+, which helps
flight attendants improve customer
service, and Plan
Flight, which Apple says gives pilots "access to systems of record to
help them estimate the fuel for their upcoming flights with even more accuracy
than ever before," and allows them to "calibrate and view different
fueling scenarios in seconds, without any paper calculations or calls to air
traffic control."
"This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we
can't wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to
work," said Philip Schiller, Apple's SVP of Worldwide Marketing. "The
business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the
world's best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses
redefine how work gets done."
For now, it seems as though the apps are not available in the Apple app
store, but delivered via IBM. It's unclear exactly how that will work.
What is certain is that the companies intend to expand their partnership
in 2015, with an expected 100 or more apps to become available in the
MobileFirst for iOS portfolio.
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