QuickMobile, a leading developer of mobile meeting apps, has just announced a new do-it-yourself enterprise product that makes it less expensive and easier for organizations that need multiple apps.
With the new product, SnapApp, QuickMobile builds a master native app for the customer, and the customer itself builds the apps for individual meetings. Once a meeting attendee has the organization’s master app on his or her phone, he doesn’t need to download it again when a new event comes up. The apps for an organization’s individual meetings reside within the master app.
To create an app for a meeting, planners pick and choose from among 30 modules in QuickMobile’s content management system. While some modules are fairly standard, allowing users to, for example, input the agenda or create speaker bios, other modules—such as in-app messaging, exhibitor profiles, polling, photo galleries, social media—may or may not be appropriate for a meeting. The system allows the planner to add branding and select the mobile platforms (iPhone, Android, Web, etc.) on which the app will be available.
Once created and uploaded to the master app, the new meeting app is available to attendees once they download the master app’s update. The organizer has the option to make a meeting app private. While it still resides in the master app, the private app is accessible only to attendees using a special PIN or QR code.
QuickMobile's CEO Patrick Payne says that hundreds, even thousands, of individual meeting apps can be deployed through one master app. And a meeting app can be created in hours versus the weeks or months it can take to design a native app from the ground up.
Interestingly, notes Payne, some SnapApp beta testers are asking for additional functionality at the master app level—such as company blogs, social media, and videos—that is unrelated to any one specific meeting but helpful for connecting people between meetings and reinforcing corporate messaging.
The cost of the system includes a development fee for the master app, plus a sublicense fee per app, which is negotiated depending on the number of apps, the number of downloads, and the support services needed. Analytics are built into every app, allowing meeting planners to see how attendees are using the tool.
In other news, QuickMobile secured a $3.3 million round of funding this fall from Canadian investors, which it plans to use for continued international expansion, strengthening its infrastructure, and boosting marketing efforts.