Some of the speakers from IntraTeam Event Stockholm 2018 have answered questions regarding the intranet/digital workplace in the future. Below you can read what the speakers think about the question “What are your thoughts on mobile/apps?”

It’s all going to be mobile – mobile is the future, no doubt – Steffen Henke, Vodafone Germany

Love them! We have strict security and data protection controls, but we are doing everything we can to help people work remotely from mobiles and through apps, to reflect the way we are working today. The Yammer app has been hugely beneficial for us and is helping people to tap into the organization, no matter where they are – Jacqui Randle, Scottish Government

They are must have, but we have to use them with considerations and good governance – Agnes Molnar, Search Explained

Mobility is less about devices and apps than aboutproviding employeesthe ability to access the information and services theyneed regardless of where they are and which device they need to use in that specific situation. Digital services will make use of the capabilities of a device when these add value, and the more capable our devices get (with sensors and other technology) the more valuable they can create.For example, face recognition on a mobile phone or device can be used to log on to digital services as well as for accessing to buildings, meeting rooms, and shared resources. We will continue to see a lot of apps, mainly hybrid apps, for different devices also in the years to come. Today we are also seeing apps making a return to the desktop as well, since an app (locally installed software) can take better advantage of the capabilities of the operating system and the device than is possible via aweb browser – Oscar Berg, Unicorn Titans

Our case (despite being tech company) that mobile apps are not necessity for employees working in offices. Many of them do not want to install them on private smartphones. On the other hand employees who possess company smartphones do install and use them willingly. They might be a necessity for mobile employees – Agnieszka Haładus, Trans.eu

I think there will start to be push back on the invasiveness of mobile apps into peoples personal time. So many alerts now will see Snoozing them be an in demand feature – David Kennedy, Redd Barna

I think we’ll see more specialized apps rather than one app for the whole intranet – Cecilie Rask, Danish National Police

Just must have, even though in Russia we still have problems with a mobile intranet (in 54% of the companies, mobile intranet is being banned by Information security department) Intranet must be on your mobile. At least contact and expertise search, approving processes, working tools needed to be accessible any time and anywhere. We are living in the times when mobile is hugged more often than any of family members. We have always handled a smartphone. Even we don’t like it much. Thus, why the company wouldn’t like their employees to keep doing a job on their time when they procrastinate on the smartphone anyway. The company only will win if an employee will be working at their private time and do their job faster – Elena Bogdanova, Rivelty.Intranet

Yes, bring them on! –  Morten Dal, PANDORA

Essential but most intranet ones are poor – Phil Kropp, OrangeTrail

I think the SharePoint standard app will work beautifully once we move over to using the new experience in SharePoint and the SharePoint communication sites. I also think you will not get your money back if you invest in developing your own intranet app. There’s an assumption that everyone wants to do everything via their mobile phone, but, the type of work we do on the phone and on the computer is quite different. Checking your emails and social media posts, watching a short video, and reading an occasional news article, those are things I think people do on there phones. I don’t see the need for supporting working with documents via your phone. That type of works is just easier to save until you’re in front of a computer – Rikard Spålséus, Swedish Match

Intranets, like the rest of the web, are fast moving from mobile-first to mobile-only for the majority of employees – Sharon O’Dea, Lithos Partners