Having Trouble getting Funding for an Enterprise App?

It cannot be emphasized enough how important enterprise mobile apps are to every business of every size but it can sometimes be hard to convince the puller of the purse strings to see the same light. Executives are notoriously and irrationally stingy when it comes to investing in technology and it makes us want to pull our hair out. Why wouldn’t they want to invest in something that will create more productive employees, a secure mobile experience and save them money in the long run?

Because of executive’s inability to pull the trigger on newer technology, it’s necessary for you to build a very convincing case on why you need an enterprise app and why it’s a good investment to make. A good point to start off with is a solid statistic: More than 75 percent of organizations surveyed plan to build 10 or more mobile apps this year, according to research conducted my Apperian.  It also wouldn’t hurt to remind them that this includes potential competitors that will become much more efficient and organized than you, forcing you to keep up or be left in the dust.

If you’re maybe looking to be a little less blunt, here are a few things you will want to include in your business case for enterprise app development:

Present the ROI of the enterprise apps – Like I said before, executives care first and foremost about money. Not that this is a bad thing, but it sometimes gets in the way of productivity especially when there’s an investment to be made.  How much is it going to cost and how will the investment impact the company’s top and/or bottom lines? If your company is in sales for example, you need to clearly present how this app will increase productivity of sales people, creating more sales and ultimately leading to more revenue. If your app isn’t intended to directly increase revenue, it’s very important that you emphasize the productivity of your app.

Make sure you keep the tech lingo to a minimum- If you lose them in the presentation because they don’t know what you’re talking about, chances are your app dreams will be dead in the water. People who aren’t in IT have a hard time using context clues to figure out what you’re talking about than with almost any other subject because they can’t visualize what you’re talking about. Most people don’t know how to understand something if they can’t visualize it, and with tech in particular, people either don’t know what things look like, or things are virtual so they have no reference point and are easily lost.

Don’t forget about security- Last and certainly not least, you need to emphasize that these apps aren’t like normal apps. They will have security measures in place that will keep corporate data safe and provide options like app wrapping and usage policies. Employees won’t be able to easily exploit your data and it gives you significant advantage over shadow IT.

Even though it may take a lot of convincing, it’s important that executives understand the importance of enterprise mobile apps and the role they can play in taking your business to the next level.