Superapps for Employers

Imagine you’re an IT leader and one of your sales directors just hired a team of 20 new salespeople to join your organization – woohoo! 

First things first, you’ll need to make sure they all download the appropriate security apps on their phones to ensure they’re not risking compromising sensitive info. Next, they need to download an app for their benefits, as well as an app for their retirement savings. Then, they’ll need an app for training, an app for chatting with coworkers, an app for schedule management, and so on. 

Uh oh – 4 people didn’t download the security app, so now you need to track them down. Oh no, 5 other people didn’t download the right insurance app, and you’ve got 8 emails in your inbox with people asking questions about the email app – yikes. All of these apps can quickly turn into a major headache for employers, especially as the company grows. 

Now, imagine that as you hire new employees, there is a single source of truth for all things onboarding. One place for setting up, training, and managing employees. 

Think it sounds too good to be true? Thanks to superapps, a streamlined experience is possible.

What is a superapp?

Superapps are applications that provide end users, such as employees, partners, or customers, with access to independently created mini apps from one central user interface. In short, a superapp is a collection of mini apps all in one place. 

This means that users don’t need to toggle between digital experiences to achieve various business functions. The core application contains essential functionality, such as authentication info and payment details, while the mini apps can add on additional features as needed. 

How superapps benefit employers

In a previous piece, we examined how superapps can improve the employee experience. Superapps can save employees countless hours wasted switching between applications to get things done. That benefit directly translates to employers as well – all that time saved is time put toward growing the business, rather than switching apps. It’s estimated that businesses hemorrhage up to $375,000+ annually through poor application integration, so streamlining doesn’t just benefit employees.

In addition to the massive cost savings, there’s a time savings factor as well. As a manager, you may need to go to 5+ apps to do everything from approving timesheets to clocking time off to completing payroll. With superapps, all of these functions could be combined into a single platform, enabling you to focus your time and energy in one place. That time saved can go toward business critical tasks rather than just waiting for pages to load. 

Superapps are also a great option for businesses looking to scale and grow. As the company grows, so can the app. Through the addition of mini apps, the functionality of the superapp can be extended as needed. Whether you want to add payment processing or add a chat app, all of that can live within a single digital experience. Development of these mini apps can happen in parallel asynchronously, so teams that are distributed can work together without interfering with each other. One Ionic customer in the health and beauty space is doing just that. 

“With a superapp approach we can develop micro applications in parallel by different teams and build them seamlessly together. And have a continuous deployment mode where we just keep releasing new features. Low implication on existing features because we have multiple locations. For example, we have a team in China, developing one mini app and in the Netherlands and in Hong Kong.” – Heath and Beauty Retailer, Ionic Superapp SDK customer

A leading portable storage solutions company has also discovered the power of superapps for their workforce. Drivers, field service technicians, and partners all had various applications that they needed to use, which the company ultimately needed to manage. The process was clunky, so they sought to unify those digital experiences into one. The company was able to consolidate eight different applications into a single one, which also let them scale and add new applications as new personas were created. The new application features role-based access, so each user only sees mini apps relevant to their specific job function. As new personas are added or removed, the digital experience can easily be tailored to fit their needs.

Ready to build a superapp? 

If you think superapps may be right for your business, we’re here to help. A micro frontend architecture is one of the most straightforward ways to build a superapp, and we wrote an entire ebook on it! This ebook can help you decide if micro frontend architecture makes sense for your project, team, and company. If it does, the ebook also covers various options and considerations for getting started. 
We also have dedicated specialists who are eager to help you harness the power of superapps – get in touch today!