As smartphone apps continue to grow as a primary means of data-gathering and communication among young people on the internet, colleges and universities must make sure they’re doing their part to stay in the forefront of technological advances. Major athletic powerhouses like Oregon already do this with advanced facilities on-campus. However, for schools to appear on the cutting-edge with the technologically-savvy recruits they covet and to connect with the young alumni who will one day be major donors, a useful and sophisticated smartphone app is becoming a must. It is not enough to just have your school included by the ESPN app; some universities are getting ahead by building their own.
What Can These Apps Do?
One of the first things an athletic department should take into account is that they don’t have to be the sole reason a school spends the money to develop an app. This is especially important for smaller schools where athletics isn’t necessarily a driving force within the community.
Instead, many college-specific apps provide extremely localized information pertinent to all students—not just sports fans. Shuttle service times and pickup statuses, local on-campus events, weather forecasts, and alumni networks have all been integrated into schools’ digital offerings. For example, Texas A&M’s school app helps students with their class schedules and informs them of what is available in the dining halls that day.
What Athletic Department Uses Do They Have?
For schools that are lucky enough to have a fanbase rabid for constant access and information, school-specific apps can make a lot of sense. Not only can they help keep alumni informed of how their alma maters are performing and thus improve a sense of connection to the school, these same apps can be downloaded by recruits at the suggestion of coaches so that the device that millennials check 43 times a day (and that number is growing) becomes a mobile advertisement for your school.
For schools where athletics comprises a major part of the campus experience, a school-specific app can be tailored to that. For example, the University of Alabama’s school app has a dominant athletics portal that not only provides real-time information about athletes, but scores and schedules for all school sports. This amount of information might be accessible on a national sports app, but in terms of ease of accessibility, nothing trumps a standalone school program.
What Does It Take to Develop One?
For those intrigued at the multi-platform uses of a university app, or if as an athletic department you feel your programs deserve individualized coverage, undertaking the development of an app is not a small task. Due to the multitude of operating systems available in smartphones, creating an app can oftentimes be a multi-faceted project. A school must create a program that caters to not just Apple users, but Android and Microsoft phones as well. In fact, some schools are shifting focus to mobile-optimized websites which can be visited regardless of device rather than developing apps. Some developers have estimated the University of California system will save “about $1-million in staff time each year” by shifting from apps to maximizing a mobile website. However, as Kayvon Beykpour, vice president of Blackboard Mobile, observes of apps, “That’s where we think the excitement is, that’s where we think the innovation is” and despite its difficulties is where schools can maximize features and personalization.
And that, after all, is what having your own app is all about.
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.