2020

The Rise of B2B

Mobile Apps
Why global organizations are turning to B2B apps
to power business and arm employees for success
Table of contents
03 The State of B2B apps

04 Apps continue to dominate the digital landscape

05 How B2B and B2C apps compare

06 How B2B apps are used

07 Growth in the average number of B2B apps at work

07 Why B2B mobile apps are built or selected

09 What customers want from their B2B apps

09 Results from strong B2B app customer experiences

10 What employees want from B2B apps

10 B2B mobile app usage also demonstrates a positive impact on

employee outcomes

11 Match workplace expectations

12 Bugsnag

02
The State of B2B apps
Business-to-business (B2B) applications are now a hot commodity in the workplace. After years of being
dwarfed by their business-to-consumer (B2C) counterparts, B2B app adoption started to surge in 2018 and
continues to demonstrate impressive growth with no signs of slowing. In fact, the demand for B2B apps
is expected to drive the market to $140 billion by 2023.01 This projected growth is supported by a global
mobile workforce that will increase to 1.88 billion during the same period.

Several factors explain the recent uptick in B2B app adoption. First and foremost is the prevalence of
mobile devices and the way consumers manage their personal lives on smartphones. With a workplace
that is increasingly filled with “digital generation” employees and tech-savvy workers, it’s no surprise that
70% of all B2B queries are expected to be on a smartphone by 2020.02

In addition, a widespread need exists for organizations to streamline their business functions, support
global operations, simplify communications, and increase employee productivity. Companies recognize
the value of providing mobile and web applications in order to keep pace with the speed of business and
compete in an increasingly global economy.

B2B apps offer the opportunity to modernize operations without significant training. Employees and
customers already know how to use apps for their personal productivity and communications, so the
learning curve is minimal or non-existent. Organizations are also realizing that real-time data collected
from B2B apps can be leveraged to improve business operations, especially when linked to existing
databases and systems. B2B apps represent another powerful way to discover data-driven insights about
clients, partners, and employees.

This report is designed to illuminate the current state of B2B apps, highlight the value-add they can
provide to organizations, and examine what makes them successful. As software vendors scramble to
develop new B2B apps in response to a burgeoning market, success hinges on creating a user-friendly app
that is thoroughly tested and delivers consistent value to businesses.

03
Apps continue to dominate the digital landscape
Globally, all types of apps are being added, downloaded, and used at exorbitant rates and are projected
to maintain a strong trajectory into the future.

Between 2016 and 2018, total app usage increased 50% to ~1,350 billion hours.

TOTAL APPS ADDED 03

(MAR-MAY 2019) (A S O F MAY 2019)

APP STORE NUMBER OF APPS ADDED NUMBER OF APPS

iOS App Store 35,000-42,000 2.2 million

Google Play Store 132,000-142,000 2.6 million

TOTAL APPS DOWNLOADED (IN BILLIONS) 0 4

CHINA EUROPE SOUTHE A ST A SIA NORTH AMERICA

250

15.2B
200
22.8B

13.7B 30.4B

150 13B 16.4B

14.5B 147.2B
12.1B 28.5B
12.6B 27.7B
25.8B 114.3B
100 103.4B
90.3B

50

0
2018 2019 (proj.) 2020 (proj.) 2023 (proj.)

04
How B2B and B2C apps compare
Historically, B2B apps are rarely seen in Top 20 lists in the Google Play or iOS App Stores. The featured apps
tend to be B2C apps due to the sheer number of consumers who download them, as well as the rapid rate
of new development in this space. What’s been hidden from view for the last couple years is the rising
popularity of B2B apps.

Compared side-by-side, it’s interesting to note the differences between the two app types, as well as the
advantages and challenges of developing each.

B2C APPS B2B APPS

Key for Profit • High user adoption • Customer loyalty

Primary • Lower prices than other apps • Optimized experience

Measurements of
Success • Continuous new features • Added business value

• More frequent purchases at

• Low barriers to entry
higher volumes
Upside
• Lower standards for initial
• Mandated usage for
user download
organizational-level adoption

• High customer churn • Must win customers and gain

early evangelists
Downsides • Must achieve traction quickly
or face significant risk of • Higher standards to prove
being net-negative business value

05
How B2B apps are used
B2B apps commonly serve as a tool that are designed to deliver the same (or similar) capabilities of web or
browser-based apps. They are used primarily for four business objectives:

1. Commerce
To sell a product or service to a customer that is a business, with capabilities such as purchasing, renewals,
and payment method updates included.

Caterpillar (equipment management): Salesforce Mobile (CRM): Delivers all

Enables dealers and customers to track customer relationship management
and monitor machines and service needs. functionality for salespeople in the field.

2. External coordination
For business functions such as communication and project management with partners and third-party
vendors.

Docusign (document signing): Enables WebEx (online meetings): Provides

document uploading and electronic digital video or audio meetings.
signatures.

3. Internal management
To streamline team-based work management and communications for functions such as payroll, HR, and
project management.

Asana (project management): Helps teams Slack (communication): Delivers

organize, manage, and track their work. communication, sharing, and workflow
tracking platform for teams and companies.

4. Employee facilitation
To enable employees to perform on the job by providing tools for training, task management, document
sharing, real-time communications, etc.

Evernote (notes): Provides a note-taking Google Drive (files): Delivers synced videos,
app with sharing capabilities. photos, and documents to any device.

06
Growth in the AVER AGE NUMBER OF APPS

average number of YE AR ENTERPRISE SMALL / MID -SIZED

B2B apps at work
2016 105 65
According to a recent analysis, global
organizations across all industries are
2017 120 68
deploying software apps at incredible rates,
with almost 10% of enterprise companies
2018 129 73
adopting more than 200 apps.05

Why B2B mobile apps are built or selected

78% of B2B e-commerce companies believe that B2B mobile apps are the future, and approximately 65%
of companies have a mobile app already. Adobe surveyed IT decision-makers and discovered some of the
primary use cases for B2B mobile apps.06

PRIMARY B2B USE CASES

Customer loyalty 63%

Digital enrollment 54%

Sales enablement 47%

Employee productivity 46%

Brand awareness 46%

Field services for remote employees 34%

m-Commerce 28%

07
Where B2B apps are downloaded
B2B apps are sprouting up in numerous places, but these three locations represent the most likely ways to
discover and adopt new B2B apps.

Consumer App Stores SaaS App Stores or Marketplaces07

• Discoverable and available for download • New trend where category leaders develop B2B
alongside B2C apps in the major app stores, software app stores
including:
• Range in sophistication from directories of
o Apple App Store third-party apps to sophisticated platforms
o Google Play with protocols for inclusion, search capabilities,
and integrations
o Amazon Store

o Microsoft Store • Generally target SMB and mid-market segments

• Category examples include:

o Salesforce’s AppExchange (sales)

o Hubspot Marketplace (marketing)

Gated Apps o Slack App Directory (internal
• Usually purchased directly from a B2B communication)
organization through their website or sales team o Zendesk Marketplace (customer support)

• Represents a common scenario for enterprise o Zuora Connect (payments)

apps, which are designed exclusively for in-
house usage with roles, permissions, and
branding that match the organization

• Downloads are strictly limited, which means it is

either downloadable from a company’s website
or through a gateway that requires a login

RETURNS 2X FASTER TO APP 27% MORE MONEY SPENT IN APP

Within 30 days, B2B purchasers return 2x faster 27% more money is spent per session in a
to a mobile app than to a mobile website. mobile app over a mobile website.08

08
What customers want B2B CUSTOMER-DESIRED APP AT TRIBUTES

from their B2B apps Want a B2C experience when purchasing for work09 80%

B2B customers and prospects are

consumers themselves and therefore Expect real-time responses and interactions10 80%
expect high-quality engagement. If a B2B
app provides a personalized and optimized
customer experience, customers are more Expect a response within an hour11 50%
likely to be loyal to that brand and make
repeat purchases—similar to the behavior Think that most companies fail to deliver a great
of consumers. customer experience12 45%

Expect an immediate response from in-app

mobile support13 30%

Results from strong B2B app customer experiences

For organizations that focus on a personalized and optimized app experience, the business outcomes
demonstrate the value of the investment.

>90% of buyers are more likely to buy 70% of organizations are working to
again from a vendor with an outstanding provide better personalization15
mobile experience14

48% of B2B customers purchase from 40% of revenue influenced

competitors when they are disappointed significantly by implementation of mobile
in a company’s digital experience16
best practices17

20% of customer’s time is saved through optimized checkout (i.e. no long forms), which
improves conversion and yields a 300% improvement over mobile websites18

09
What employees B2B EMPLOYEE-DESIRED APP AT TRIBUTES

want from B2B apps Runs consistently with few glitches 31%

A recent survey found that knowledge

workers look for certain traits in their work Enables easy communication with colleagues 16%
apps. The most important attribute is to
have minimal bugs and app issues, which
is twice as important as anything else.19 Protects against cybersecurity threats 13%

Compatible with other services and platforms 13%

Intuitive user interface 11%

B2B mobile app usage also demonstrates a positive

impact on employee outcomes
On average, 5.2 mobile business apps are accessed daily by employees, and those numbers are anticipated
to rise as organizations adopt more B2B apps.20 The results demonstrate why it’s a smart investment to
arm employees with apps.

47% of internal 35% ROI when companies 34% of work

communication improves invest in mobile work apps productivity is improved

23% increase in employee satisfaction 21% increase in employee loyalty

10
Match workplace expectations
B2B apps offer companies numerous ways to impress customers, improve operations, and empower
employees. However, it’s important to remember that consumer expectations may drive the app
experience, but it’s business expectations that drive adoption and continued use of a B2B app.

Organizations have high standards for stability and reliability, and software errors and crashes are simply
unacceptable. That’s why it’s crucial to deliver B2B apps that are tested thoroughly, perform consistently,
and are monitored constantly to ensure that every customer, partner, or employee experience delivers on
workplace expectations.

There’s no question that the B2B app future is bright, but it’s the B2B app providers who deliver stable app
experiences at work who will continue to shine.

For managing thousands of truck drivers who transport

goods nationwide, J.B. Hunt uses Bugsnag to monitor errors
and maintain the stability of multiple mobile applications,
which are used for navigating pickups, scheduling drives,
and tracking hours.

A fast-growing internal messaging app, Slack uses Bugsnag

to manage the stability of their Android application,
which enables global businesses to organize the way they
communicate within teams, within the organization, and
with external vendors and clients.

This popular commercial payments platform uses Bugsnag

to catch custom error data from the Square application
across Android devices, allowing businesses of all sizes to
manage transactions with ease and speed.

11
Bugsnag
Bugsnag is a pioneer in application stability management. We make error monitoring actionable and
help enterprises and small businesses stabilize, prioritize, and fix bugs. As a full stack solution, we
are recognized for our best-in-class support for mobile applications. Bugsnag empowers software
development, client observability, and release management teams to make data-driven decisions on
when to build features versus fix bugs. Organizations experience significant ROI due to faster innovation
led by developer efficiencies and improved customer experiences.

Bugsnag groups issues by root-cause, sorts by business impact, and displays alongside rich diagnostic
data, which enables teams to reproduce and fix each bug. A release health dashboard and software
stability score help our customers detect broken releases immediately, know when to promote builds from
beta to production, and set company-wide stability targets.

We process over a billion crash reports every day from applications worldwide and over 5,000 industry
leading brands, including Airbnb, Slack, Pinterest, Lyft, Yelp, and Pandora, use Bugsnag as their daily
dashboard. Based in San Francisco, Bugsnag is backed by GV (Google Ventures), Benchmark Capital, and
Matrix Partners.

SOURCE S

01   “Global Mobile Enterprise Business Applications Revenue Forecast 2018-2023”. Strategy Analytics. July 27, 2018.
02   “Mobile Marketing and the New B2B Buyer”. Boston Consulting Group. September 29, 2017.
03   “App Download Usage Statistics 2019”. Business of Apps. November 19, 2019.
04   “Number of mobile app downloads worldwide from 2014 to 2023, by region.” Statista. June 2019.
05   “Businesses at work”. Okta. 2019.
06   "The Next Mobile Decade”. Adobe. February 2018.
07   “A landscape of the major SaaS app stores”. Medium. Clement Vouillon. January 2, 2019.
08   “6 reasons why you need a B2B mobile ecommerce app”. JMANGO. Marco Alewijnse. February 15, 2019.
09   “B2B Mobile Apps | Market Insights and Trends 2019”. SwiftCloud. February 22, 2019.
10   “80 Percent of B2B Buyers Expect Real-Time Interaction”. Convince&Convert. Mathew Sweezey. 2016.
11  Convince&Convert. Mathew Sweezey.
12  SwiftCloud.
13  Convince&Convert. Mathew Sweezey.
14   Boston Consulting Group.
15  SwiftCloud.
16  SwiftCloud.
17   Boston Consulting Group.
18   JMANGO. Marco Alewijnse.
19  Okta.
20   “20 Essential Enterprise Mobile Apps Statistics.” Tristate Technology. Upendra Patel. May 21, 2018.

12
 Balance agility with stability.

bugsnag.com [email protected] San Francisco, CA