As mobile technology becomes a primary communication tool globally across all industries, more businesses are expanding the use of mobile apps to connect their employees, clients, customers, and partners.

Non-gaming app downloads are projected to grow by 23% in the next five years, exceeding the initial market revenue projection of $182 billion by 2020. Mobile app store downloads are also forecasted to double by 2020 in emerging markets as smartphone adoption will heighten in areas such as Asia and Africa. The increased market share and spending are said to be the driving forces in making mobile apps a necessity for B2C companies, and here’s how the industry will further gain momentum in 2016 for businesses:

Small businesses & their apps

Mobile marketing strategies aren’t only limited to medium and large enterprises, as startups and small businesses need to develop their own mobile approach to their target market through apps. In fact, Small Biz Trends said that it’s a ‘must’ for small businesses in 2016 to develop their own mobile apps.

Initially, mobile apps for business were considered merely a ‘branding exercise’ where only entrepreneurs cautious of their brand invested in developing their own marketing application. However, as more consumers shift to using mobile devices in connecting with businesses, especially through social media and online websites, mobile apps become more significant. It is able to provide enterprises, even the small ones, a way to simplify online purchases and offer easy-to-access information to their target market. In addition, mobile app development is found to be faster and more affordable than other mobile marketing approaches out there.

Arrival of powerful budget-friendly handsets

The rise of the budget-friendly smartphones that has the same powerful features of its premium counterpart will effect on continued expansion of businesses in the mobile market, as they are able to target more people easily. Smartphones that have built-in mPayment systems, such as the iPhone SE which features Apple Pay, have allowed small to large enterprises to expand their mobile marketing strategies that allow consumers to pay at physical terminals using only their device.

According to O2, this technology “isn’t just for unlocking your phone. It also lets you use Apple Pay in hundreds of thousands of shops and within apps.” The same fingerprint sensor has now been made more secure as Apple applied the two-way authentication process to ensure that only registered user is able to unlock and use the features of the handset.

Some Android mobile producers have also applied the same approach by including the fingerprint sensor in their line of budget-friendly devices. Hopefully, the rumored arrival of the iris scanner, which is said to be “more secure and less costly,” is able to provide businesses and consumers a more efficient and safer way to make digital payments through smartphones.

“Mobile adoption is ripe”

Even in enterprises, the growth of mobile adoption through ‘bring your own device’ (BYOD) schemes has been seen evidently this year. Although 2015 was projected to be the year the enterprise mobile apps, it has been found that the average enterprise only adopted around 5.8 apps on average for each user, which is still quite low.

“It’s still a shockingly low number, given that anything you’d want to do as a consumer is available to you in an app,” said IDC analyst John Jackson to eWEEK. “We thought 2015 would kick off in earnest with the ‘appification’ of the enterprise. The data was supportive of that, but not to the level we expected. It is possible that we are looking for a steadier climb than at a [quick rise]. Things tend to move slower with enterprises.” IDC analyst further stated that 2016 will be the more mature year for mobile app adoption in enterprises as the market gets tougher between businesses, where no one wants to be ‘out-mobilize.’

Mobile apps will continue to be an important business and marketing tool in the industry, as mobile technology becomes an extension of people’s life. We hope to see more improvements in the coming years.

Guest Post by Jennifer Birch:
Jennifer Birch has been a tech geek since she was a little girl. Being a curious writer, she has noticed that it is our use of technology which greatly contributes to the separation of millennial from others. She strives to eliminate this difference by spreading her ideas and observations to individuals and businesses.