Kayla Tausche CNBC

Jonathan Erwin, you are the CEO of mobile enterprise network
Red e App. What sparked your interest in this line of
work?
I have been a part of 8 different early stage, growing and
changing tech companies for more than 20 years. So, I have
an unusual bent toward building businesses, building teams
and establishing creative strategies that create value in enterprise
businesses.
Company History:
With my extensive background in technology and with so
many types of companies the past twenty years, I had a front
row seat at watching now giant software companies get their
start, and also watch some of those same giants implode.
Technology moves so fast that if you don't stay on top of the
trending changes you will be run over. One thing I did know
is that the enterprise often follows consumer fads and tends
to throw a corporate spin on consumer tools and insert them
into corporate environments.
At the time I started Red e App, there were two massive
trends that you couldn't ignore – social and mobile – both
growing at rates of speed not seen before. I thought there
was a spot for a mobile messaging product that wasn't email;
that took an opposite approach to sharing, collaborating,
posting and "liking". A tool that was good for business.
My hunch was correct – we eventually found the unconnected
workforce that desperately needed to be connected to
their employer – the non-desk workforce. The jobs and behavior
were not that of someone who sits at a desk all day.
Their communication needs were wildly different as well.
Luckily smart devices were growing at such a fast pace that
as they grew, our business began to grow with it.
Large retail, restaurant, hospitality, healthcare and industrial
enterprises with tens of thousands of employees needed
a way to connect to their workforce that wasn't business as
usual (email, passive portals, texting) and Red e App quickly
became the pioneer and leader in the connecting the unconnected
in these industries.
Who is your target market?
Being that we are a startup, there are some tried and true
observations related to new technology adoption that we
are definitely seeing at Red e App. The people who tend to
solve problems first with technology are considered "innovators",
or "early adopters" – we look for signs that companies
who have an interest in learning more about Red e App have
demonstrated a history of trying new things without waiting
to see what their peers are doing.
We also understand our market very well. The industries
that we are focused on predominantly have large non-desk,
mobile and hourly workers. The challenge for us is that
these companies are often the last industries to adopt new
technology overall and are considered "laggards" in terms of
trying new things.
We have found is that we have hit the mark on the product.
We are what they need for many reasons. They want to
work with us because our team is focused on listening, we
are trusted because of our work with large global businesses
and we literally partner with them in their success.
Red e App is not a mass consumer adoption play. It is
a tightly measured and planned approach to reach large
groups of employees and connect, train and educate. It's
been a fantastic partnership with every early customer of
Red e App's.
For the benefit of our readers that may not know what Red
e App is, give us a description of the App and its usefulness?
Red e App is a secure and private mobile communication,
content and file sharing platform for people who do not work
at desks, are highly mobile or are hourly and most likely are
not provided corporate email.
This worker population is massive around the world. And
the thing is, email will never be a good solution for these
folks as they aren't collaborating with others, or have the
need to have an "inbox" that aggregates a ton of business
communication - it simply isn't their behavior.
Therefore, when a company uses Red e App to engage their
teams, we dramatically flatten and strengthen operations.
Typically in these businesses, information cascades down
from the top in a game of telephone, and it is hit or miss at
best. Red e App provides a direct conduit and focused channel
of communication from employers to their employees.
We provide greater access to Human Resource benefits
THE SUIT MAGAZINE - JAN 2015