Apple partnership helps retailers adopt advanced business apps
Apple wants to help retailers take their enterprise mobility strategies to the next level.
The company is teaming up with Accenture to help businesses transform how their workforces engage with customers through iOS-based solutions. The partnership will educate companies on how to take full advantage of the functionality, simplicity and security of the mobile platform.
Accenture will create a dedicated iOS practice within Accenture Digital Studios, or innovation labs, in select locations around the world. (These innovation hubs focus on rapid application development, service design and digital project creation across mobility and digital services.) A team of Apple’s visual and experience designers, programmers, data architects and scientists, hardware and software designers will be co-located at the labs.
Working together, the two companies will launch a new set of tools and services that help businesses transform how they engage with customers using iPhone and iPad. They are also focused on helping companies integrate iOS devices — and the latest Apple technologies — into their enterprise, and transformation their mobile strategies.
“Starting 10 years ago with iPhone, and then with iPad, Apple has been transforming how work gets done, yet we believe that businesses have only just begun to scratch the surface of what they can do with our products,” said Tim Cook, Apple’s CEO. “Both Apple and Accenture are leaders in building incredible user experiences, and together we can continue to truly modernize how businesses work through amazing solutions that take advantage of the incredible capabilities of Apple’s technologies.”
In addition to helping companies to quickly and easily transfer their existing legacy applications and data to modern iOS apps, teams will focus on apps that are used by front-line workers and consumers, according to Reuters.
Other focuses include augmented reality, where a smart device’s screen overlays digital objects on top of real-world objects; as well as Internet-of-Things services, including will include various templates and predesigned code to streamline gathering data from IoT platforms in their own iOS apps, according to Apple.
“By combining Accenture’s vast digital capabilities and industry expertise with Apple’s market leadership in creating products that delight customers, we are in a perfect position to help our clients transform the way they work,” said Pierre Nanterme, Accenture’s chairman and CEO.