The CeBIT app for iPhone and Android used at this week’s event in Sydney was built and submitted to the corresponding app stores within three weeks.
While CeBIT in Europe has had an app that they used for that event, Acromobile COO, Rohit Ambekar, said that this is the first time the Australian event has had its own apps.
“CeBIT as an organisation is not new to mobile apps, and the European app were always available to CeBIT Australia to also leverage,” he said.
“However, the technologies that we represented, and the fact that we’re built on Salesforce.com, appealed to them.”
Acromobile is an ISV partner and OEM of Salesforce, so Ambekar said the developer builds its own products on top of Salesforce’s platform.
“Being able to run analytics and other features provided CeBIT with a compelling reason to have their apps built by us,” he said.
As for why CeBIT choose Acromobile specifically for development duties, Ambekar said it was because they approach app creation in a “commercialised way.”
“We have a central product with a single code base that we’ve invested into building,” he said.
“Because it has already been built, we can start deploying it at a compelling price point on a subscription basis.”
Ambekar adds that the time to market for apps is also significantly shorter than going down a custom app development route.
“Looking at those factors and cost of total ownership, that’s why CeBIT Australia chose to go with us,” he said.
Point of no return
As for why the 2013 event was an appropriate springboard for the Australian CeBIT app, Ambekar said we are arriving at a point now where mobile software can no longer be ignored.
“It is becoming very obvious that the mobile channel is probably the most important channel that one can address in terms of customer engagement,” Ambekar said.
As CeBIT is an annual event, Ambekar said they look at sourcing new technology on an annual cycle.
“They can’t be too rapid on what it is they want to do,” he said.
“Once they’ve done it, it's over and gone, and they start looking at something else.”
Approaching CeBIT Australia 2013, Ambekar said the organisers felt there was “enough of a tipping point” in mobile adoption and usage that they needed to get themselves on a mobile platform.
Patrick Budmar covers consumer and enterprise technology breaking news for IDG Communications. Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_budmar.
