MTN today announced the launch of twenty enterprise specific applications for mobile devices, aimed at providing enterprises with greater control of their business remotely and offering them a means of taking advantage of the growth of smartphones and tablet devices.

MTN Business’s range of Enterprise Apps include, but are not limited to the following:

• Remote medical diagnostics
• Device security and call recording
• Device backup and sync
• Asset Tracking
• Transport and Logistics
• Mobile Surveys
• Mobile Learning
• Cloud Storage
• Cost and expense management

Nomalanga Nkosi, general manager for Business Marketing at MTN Business, commented that apps are “all the rage” as smartphones and tablets become proliferated and consumers look for personalised always on the go connectivity. But, rather than focus on the consumerisation of such tools, she explained that MTN is instead concentrating on using apps to drive business efficiencies and change the way companies do business.

Nomalanga Nkosi, general manager for Business Marketing at MTN Business

The company asserted that today’s mobile workforce needs 'anytime, anywhere' access to corporate intranets and critical data and applications. It also cited research by Gartner which has placed mobile applications and media tablets within the top ten technologies to significantly impact businesses over the next three years.

According to the information technology research and advisory company, 65% of workers already use a tablet. Additionally, 27% use their tablet for work; 36% to send and receive email and 35% to surf the internet.

“We expect these international trends to soon be a local reality. The opportunity exists for local businesses to utilise these devices and platforms, not only to keep their workforce productive, but even to increase their productivity,” added Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, chief technology officer at MTN South Africa.

“For example, a national public services provider saves up to R50 000 per day on data entry labour costs with one of MTN Business’s mobile enterprise app, while in the healthcare industry, preliminary solution testing has shown that health practitioners could increase daily productivity by as much as 5 300 hours with MTN Business’s Remote Medical Diagnostics enterprise application,” he asserted.

“Through real time applications that drive business efficiencies and deliver to the market the ability to connect on an innovative platform – specific to the business sector - there is no doubt that the uptake of these enterprise applications will continue to increase, and that businesses will start seeing the larger benefits and competitive market opportunities that can be derived going forward,” concluded Nkosi.