In December 2014, Apple revealed a partnership with IBM. It was the first time the two companies teamed up. They worked on a series of apps targeted at businesses and governments, and the name of the whole project was MobileFirst. Enterprise customers, business owners and CEOs in domains like retail, financial services, banking, insurance, and telecommunications for airlines and governments can now use these apps. The result of the collaboration was named “an unprecedented partnership” between two major tech titans.

Furthermore, IBM announced that the MobileFirst iOS apps already have important customers such as Air Canada, Citi, Banorte and Sprint, among others. IBM declared that what they’re delivering is aimed at new businesses. Smart technology unlocks new values and awakens the true potential of a company. The collaboration blends Apple’s well-known brilliance in product design and user experience with IBM’s expertise in enterprise computing.

The apps launched by Apple and IBM are exclusively meant for iPad and iPhone, and are offered in a locked environment, secured with analytics and connected to core company processes. Easily deployed and customized to the needs of any organizations, the apps are handled and upgraded through the cloud. This step is huge for iPad and iPhone because increasingly more companies will buy these devices just to gain access to these top-tier business apps. The MobileFirst apps released by Apple in collaboration with IBM are:

1. Plan Flight

This app is meant for the travel & transportation industry. It addresses a major expense namely, fuel. Plan Flight allows pilots to check flight plans too, as well as schedules and crew manifests in advance. It also helps pilots make informed decisions as far as fuel is concerned, and report any issue happening on the ground, or up in the air.

2. Passenger +

Another great app for the travel & transportation industry is Passenger+. It authorizes flight crews to provide passengers unmatched services with extreme levels of customization. This includes special offers, baggage information, re-booking, and more.

3. Advise & Grow

Aimed at the banking and financial markets, Advise & Grow is an app that helps bankers create a better connection with their small business clients. The app provides access to competitive analyses and client profiles; it helps with the gathering of analytics-drive insights and it makes customized recommendations. Ultimately, Advise & Grow is the perfect platform for making secure transactions.

4. Trusted Advice

Another excellent app for the financial and banking markets is Trusted Advice. It permits advisors to manage client portfolios and have access to powerful predictive analytics. These operations can be performed from anywhere, at any time. The app is packed with sophisticated modeling tools meant to help business people complete transactions safely and securely.

5. Retention

Retention is an insurance app that authorizes realtors to access customer history and profiles, including retention risk score, reminders, smart alerts and recommendations on what steps come next. With this app, key transactions are easy to manage (e.g. e-signatures, premiums).

6. Case Advice

This is a government app that addresses several major issues – workload and support among people responsible for making fundamental decisions. Case Advice offers solutions, and it is able to adjust case priorities that depend on real-time insights. These insights are driven by analytics and they predict risk based on a foretelling analysis.

7. Incident Aware

Incident Aware is a government app that transforms an iPhone into a crime prevention tool. It presents real-time access to video-feeds and maps of incident locations. The app can also offer vital information about casualty status, crime history and escalation risk.

8. Sales Assist

This retail app released by Apple in collaboration with IBM allows associates to link to customer profiles. Sales Assist makes suggestions in accordance with past purchases and present selections. It located in-store items, checks inventory and ships items that are out-of-store

9. Pick & Pack

This retail app combined back-end inventory systems with proximity based technology for a complete transformation of a retailer’s order fulfillment.

10. Expert Tech

Last but not least, we have Expert Tech, an app for the telecommunications industry. It taps into the native capabilities of the iOS system, and it provides easy access to location services and expertise via FaceTime. This improves productivity and consumer satisfaction.

By Fredrick Cameron and Conosco.com!