Following an announcement earlier this year that Apple was teaming up with IBM to deliver a number of enterprise solutions, today Apple has officially announced the first wave of iOS apps being released through the partnership. As part of IBM’s “MobileFirst for iOS,” Apple and IBM today announced 10 new apps designed specifically for businesses including banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and for governments and airlines.
“This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we can’t wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to work,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”
The apps launching today through the partnership include Plan Flight and Passenger+ for the travel industry, Advise & Grow and Trusted Advice for the banking and financial industries, Retention (insurance), Case Advice and Incident Aware for government, Sales Assist and Pick & Pack for retail, and Expert Tech for telecommunications industries. Apple notes that the apps offer customizable experiences and are “managed and upgraded via cloud services from IBM specifically for iOS devices.”
In addition to the new apps, which Apple described in more detail in its press release below, Apple noted other services that will go hand-in-hand with the apps. Those include integration with IBM’s Mobile Platform and Enterprise solutions as well as AppleCare for the Enterprise, Apple’s new business specific tech support service introduced as part of the IBM deal.
Apple’s full press release is below:
Apple and IBM Deliver First Wave of IBM MobileFirst for iOS Apps
Big Data Analytics and Security Capabilities Arrive on iPhone & iPad
CUPERTINO, California and ARMONK, New York—December 10, 2014—Apple® and IBM today deliver the first wave of IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions in a new class of made-for-business apps and supporting cloud services that bring IBM’s big data and analytics capabilities to iPhone® and iPad® users in the enterprise. IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions are now available to enterprise customers in banking, retail, insurance, financial services, telecommunications and for governments and airlines, thanks to an unprecedented collaboration between Apple and IBM. IBM clients today announcing support for IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions include: Citi, Air Canada, Sprint and Banorte.
“What we’re delivering aims directly at the new quest of business—smart technologies that unlock new value at the intersection of big data and individual engagement,” said Bridget van Kralingen, senior vice president, IBM Global Business Services. “Our collaboration combines IBM’s industry expertise and unmatched position in enterprise computing, with Apple’s legendary user experience and excellence in product design to lift the performance of a new generation of business professionals.”
“This is a big step for iPhone and iPad in the enterprise, and we can’t wait to see the exciting new ways organizations will put iOS devices to work,” said Philip Schiller, Apple’s senior vice president of Worldwide Marketing. “The business world has gone mobile, and Apple and IBM are bringing together the world’s best technology with the smartest data and analytics to help businesses redefine how work gets done.”
In targeting key opportunities and priorities within industries, IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps take enterprise mobility a level deeper, helping employees access their company’s full capabilities wherever they interact with clients—faster, easier and more securely than ever before.
Built exclusively for iPhone and iPad, IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps are delivered in a secure environment, embedded with analytics and linked to core enterprise processes. The apps can be customized for any organization and easily deployed, managed and upgraded via cloud services from IBM specifically for iOS devices, with security across the data, app and device. This first suite of IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions are now available across multiple industries, with additional apps being continuously designed and developed:
- Plan Flight (Travel and Transportation) addresses the major expense of all airlines—fuel—permitting pilots to view flight schedules, flight plans, and crew manifests ahead of time, report issues in-flight to ground crews, and make more informed decisions about discretionary fuel.
- Passenger+ (Travel and Transportation) empowers flight crews to offer an unmatched level of personalized services to passengers in-flight—including special offers, re-booking, and baggage information.
- Advise & Grow (Banking and Financial Markets) puts bankers on premise with their small business clients, with secure authorization to access client profiles and competitive analyses, gather analytics-driven insights to make personalized recommendations, and complete secure transactions.
- Trusted Advice (Banking and Financial Markets) allows advisors to access and manage client portfolios, gain insight from powerful predictive analytics—in the client’s kitchen or at the local coffee shop, rather than the advisor’s office—with full ability to test recommendations with sophisticated modeling tools all the way to complete, secure transactions.
- Retention (Insurance) empowers agents with access to customers’ profiles and history, including an analytics-driven retention risk score as well as smart alerts, reminders, and recommendations on next best steps and facilitation of key transactions like collection of e-signatures and premiums.
- Case Advice (Government) addresses the issue of workload and support among caseworkers who are making critical decisions, one family or situation at a time, on the go. The solution adjusts case priorities based on real-time analytics-driven insights, and assesses risk based on predictive analysis.
- Incident Aware (Government) converts an iPhone into a vital crime prevention asset, presenting law enforcement officers with real-time access to maps and video-feeds of incident locations; information about victim status, escalation risk, and crime history; and improved ability to call for back-up and supporting services.
- Sales Assist (Retail) enables associates to connect with customer profiles, make suggestions based on previous purchases and current selections, check inventory, locate items in-store, and ship out-of-store items.
- Pick & Pack (Retail) combines proximity-based technology with back-end inventory systems for transformed order fulfillment.
- Expert Tech (Telecommunications) taps into native iOS capabilities including FaceTime® for easy access to expertise and location services for route optimization to deliver superior on-site service, more effective issue resolution and productivity as well as improved customer satisfaction.
“Mobile innovations are driving profound impact on how Citi delivers superior client experiences, particularly those that extend our enterprise expertise all the way to the point of customer contact,” said Heather Cox, Chief Client Experience, Digital and Marketing Officer for Global Consumer Banking at Citi. “There’s terrific energy in our collaboration with IBM and Apple around the goal of equipping our professionals with mobile capability that will create new competitive advantage and enable us to re-imagine how we share our knowledge to improve the quality of life for our clients.”
To supplement the IBM MobileFirst for iOS apps, the partnership between Apple and IBM offers business customers additional levels of capability integrated for enterprise mobility, including:
- Mobile Platform and Enterprise Integration—Leveraging IBM’s global industry consulting expertise, client experience design and enterprise systems integration from analytics, workflow and cloud storage, to fleet-scale device management, security and integration. Enhanced mobile management includes a private app catalog, data and transaction security services, and productivity suite for all IBM MobileFirst for iOS solutions. In addition to on-premise software solutions, all these services will be available on Bluemix—IBM’s development platform on the IBM Cloud Marketplace.
- Supply, activate and manage—Streamlined end-to-end procurement, deployment and lifecycle management—at scale; along with cloud solutions for enterprise security, device management, and data and process integration. IBM Global Financing leasing options and services to allow organizations to keep pace with latest device releases.
- AppleCare for the Enterprise—Providing IT departments and end users with 24/7 assistance for their devices from Apple’s award-winning customer support group, with on-site service delivered by IBM.
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Whatever next? Enterprises having their own personalised “Tim Cook”, courtesy of IOS and IBM Watson AI, to manage Logistics, Channels and Inventory!
And … T-T-T-TouchID to securely and conveniently T-T-T-Tie it all T-T-T-Together!
Looks like IBM is going to have a lot of industry specific apps to replace a lot of expensive PCs with an iPad. I wonder which models are going to be the big sellers….
The coming of the iPad Pro?
Just the start of much more.
…. and the invasion of the Enterprise by the Continuity-enhanced iCloud devices. Telephony and Messaging enhanced by Continuity, and collaborative applications made seamless by Handoff and iCloud Sync…
I often wonder how it must feel at Microsoft – Every time they think they have caught up with changes made in the market, Google and Apple develop another solution. Microsoft is swirling in a whirlpool and I feel it’s just a matter of time before they sink into oblivion. Not financially, they own so many patents, but I believe a day will come when nobody is sure exactly what Microsoft does for computing.
I’m not a particular Microsoft fan as I have an iMac which I love, but people say some absolutely crazy things on here and because I am not a slave to Apple I tend to comment on things like “How long will it be until they sink into oblivion”.
They aren’t going to sink into oblivion any time soon. Here’s just a few tidbits for you.
They are the second most valuable brand in the world after Apple.
Windows is on something like 75% of PC’s worldwide – way way more than MacOS will ever be on.
The XB1, though lagging far behind PS4 in sales, is by any standards a massive success.
Surface Tablets are beautiful and extremely powerful. The issue is with the lack of Windows 8 specific apps. However, if you base your opinion of tech upon the quantity of applications available, then be prepared to extend that to the Apple Mac range because compared to Windows, the lack of software is shocking – something you NEVER read about in glossy Apple brochures or reviews. If the glove fits etc….
So, in answer to your question “wonder how it must feel at Microsoft…”, I’ll answer “probably not too bad actually”.
So where can we download these apps?
Check with your IT department. These aren’t consumer facing apps, they’re custom enterprise solutions aimed for use by professionals.