MTN Business is launching a range of what it calls “agnostic” applications for mobile devices specifically targeted at its corporate customers. The apps are aimed at a wide range of businesses, including those in manufacturing, health care, logistics, transport and financial services.

The apps include tools for remote medical diagnostics, device security and call recording, device backup and sync, asset tracking, transport and logistics, mobile surveys, mobile learning, cost and expense management and cloud storage.

Though not all of the applications are yet available on all platforms, MTN says it hopes to achieve complete platform coverage eventually. Many of the apps support feature phones as well as smartphones, which MTN says is an effort to provide the functionality to enterprises of varying sizes without requiring them to change their mobile devices.

Andy Anderson, MTN’s senior manager for business marketing, says MTN expects 80% smartphone penetration by 2014 and that tablets are becoming increasingly popular business tools. MTN is launching 20 apps to start, all of which “are designed to streamline the process of doing business”.

“MTN used to be in the business of providing the tarmac for business, now we’re developing the vehicles, each of which are different depending on the needs of the driver,” says Victor Rakhale, GM for direct sales at MTN.

Rakhale says enterprise apps are “the next frontier for the mobile workforce” as offices open their boundaries and workforces become more mobilised.

Kanagaratnam Lambotharan, MTN SA’s chief technology officer, says the apps are aimed at all sizes of businesses, including small and medium-sized enterprises. There are four key focuses for most enterprises today, namely mobility, cloud computing, social networking and collaboration in the workforce, and data and analytics.

He says that although mobile apps can’t replace traditional technology entirely they “can empower workers to remain productive and interact with one another on the move”.

Lambotharan says some of the apps are “horizontal”, like those that address business administration, virtualisation, unified communications and messaging, while others are “vertical” and are tailored to specific industries such as the health, education, energy, transportation and logistics industries.

All of the apps MTN is releasing have been “thoroughly tested and vetted” by the company. Lambotharan says MTN anticipates “rapid expansion” of its range of apps and rapid uptake, “particularly as LTE comes online”. LTE, or long-term evolution, is the next-generation mobile broadband technology. — Craig Wilson, TechCentral