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With more and more people spending the majority of their time at home, the usefulness of applications and the way they are implemented are getting increasingly innovative.
The Return Of QR Codes
The most intriguing example of this has been the resurgence of QR codes as a viable means of engagement between applications, products, consumers, and companies. The technology never became that ubiquitous, even when it was brand new and everyone thought it was the next best thing.
However, the fact that the technology is almost completely contactless, between the device user and QR code, means it has turned out to be the perfect technology for 2020. An example of its usefulness can be seen in the implementation among businesses in South Australia that are using QR codes as a form of check-in service that facilitates contact tracing as part of the territories COVID-Safe Plan. It is a massive benefit to the healthcare sector in the region.
This isn’t only happening in South Australia and is being rolled out in many places around the world. It isn’t often that a 25-year-old technology will experience a resurgence in usefulness that exceeds its origin, but QR codes are one thanks to the happenings of 2020.
Impact Of Apps On Business
The role of applications has changed dramatically this year. Nothing makes this more clear than the list of most downloaded apps by quarter. At the end of 2019, the list was almost exclusively social, instant messaging, or entertainment applications, such as WhatsApp, TikTok, and Instagram.
In Q2 2020, the most downloaded app in the world was Zoom, a digital video tool that has transformed into an online meeting application used by many companies to conduct meetings while their staff is working from home.
Of course, the likes of TikTok, WhatsApp, and Facebook messenger are still up there, but the fact that they were all overtaken by a tool that is most useful in a business setting is telling. This can also be seen in the rise of the popularity of apps like Google Meet, Google Classroom, Microsoft Teams, and Slack.
Entertainment Apps
That isn’t to say business uses have overtaken entertainment as the primary use of online applications. As mentioned, entertainment and social apps are still littered throughout the list of most downloaded, they just have competition.
It has been interesting to note how the use of certain entertainment apps has changed in 2020 though. The best example of this is how sports fans and apps in that industry have responded to people not being allowed to go to stadiums to watch events live.
It certainly hasn’t cooled the appetite for sports and iGaming around major events. Fans that are commonly checking the best betting apps for odds and to keep up to date on scores now also have access to live streaming of the game on many of those apps so they can watch and stay engaged from wherever they are in the world.
The Future Of Business Apps
While it is unlikely that people are going to remain shut up at home and afraid to go outside forever, some of the trends created by the great business app boom of 2020 are here to stay.
Why would someone pay huge rent to live in a big city for a job when they can just work from home? Why should a company pay for unnecessarily large premises when the majority of its workforce can do its job from anywhere?
The business landscape is changing and the growth in popularity of useful apps is driving this change. It won’t settle down to a sense of normalcy any time soon, which means there is still a ton of innovation and new apps coming our way. It’s an exciting prospect thinking about what app creators are going to come up with next.
