This is the second article in a seven-part series outlining best-practices and advice for leveraging mobile apps for your business. To read part one, click here.

All kinds of businesses, especially growing ones, are putting mobile apps to many different uses, says Tehsin Bhayani, co-founder and CEO of Serind Labs, including:

• Offering on-demand services to customers via the convenience of a simple tap on the app.
• Allowing service contractors to keep track of their time and location while on the road, and to record customer signatures digitally.
• Offering real-time deals to their customers based on both location, (i.e., only when those customers are in the neighborhood) and personalization, using data such as previous transaction history and data gathered from other sources, such as social media profiles.
• Creating scalable loyalty programs for existing customers and leveraging the app to find new customers. “For example, some companies are offering deals through their loyalty apps that reward existing customers for referrals,” Bhayani explains. Existing customers might get $10 coupons as a referral fee, and the customers they refer also get $10 off their first purchase.

The list of things for which businesses can use mobile apps is constantly evolving, driven by the massive growth in smartphone penetration among both consumers and vendors, the growing number of off-the-shelf apps now available, the relative ease of do-it-yourself development for simple apps, and technological advances such as the declining cost of sensors tied to various physical elements. For example, the cost of sensors that track customers as they enter retail locations and wireless payment systems now puts them within reach of many more businesses, Bhayani says.

Part 3: What Mobile Apps Can Do for Your Business - Choosing the Right Type of App