What began as a Junior Front End Developer's interest in mobile app development, local web hosting company 1-grid invested in an internal project to develop and launch a mobile app to enhance customer experience and convenience. According to Stats SA, 20 to 22 million South Africans use smartphones; this accounts for a third of the country's population. 

Based on this trend, 1-grid CEO Thomas Vollrath expressed that "considering the COVID-19 pandemic, load shedding and connectivity in South Africa, we are continuing the journey of providing a much-differentiated product portfolio to enable small business to succeed in SA and to give large corporates a run for their money by enabling them to have a competitive presence that enables them to offer their services in South Africa and abroad”.

The mobile app launched in March 2020, introducing the following features:

• Build your website from your phone in 10 minutes
• Instant service activation and service updates
• Receive real-time updates regarding your payments via push notifications
• Credit card payments
• Manage your support tickets & log new ones
• Immediate feedback mechanism

Since the launch of the 1-grid app, reports have indicated a 15% uptake in payment via the mobile app. Additionally, users have utilized the support function of the app whereby a larger number of tickets are being opened through the mobile app.

In a recent discussion on the 1-grid podcast, we discuss the beta version of the app and how it has allowed customers to test and provide feedback on the functionality of the app. Kyle Vorster, 1-grid Tech Lead adds, “this has assisted us significantly as we are able to adapt the app according to what our customers need”.

What can we expect in the coming months with the 1-grid mobile app:

• Launching products via the app
• Increase in payments via the app
• Increase in website publishing via the app

We are confident that, based on customer feedback and daily adjustments to our mobile app, we will see customers increasingly using the app for payments and website publishing.

If you'd like to get started with the 1-grid app, you can download it on your device. Available on Android or iOS.