Case Study: 3M achieves rapid mobile-app development and real-time insight with Microsoft Azure

3M Speeds Mobile-App Development and Gains Real-Time Insight with Cloud Solution

3M, a global manufacturer, needed a fast way to track assets after acquiring parking, tolling, and license‑plate reader businesses. Sales teams required an on‑site, offline‑capable mobile app that provided real‑time visibility across devices — and the team committed to delivering it in a single weekend.

Using Microsoft Azure Mobile Services with Visual Studio and Xamarin, 3M built native iOS and Android apps (about 80% shared C# code) that sync to the cloud, use push notifications and device GPS, and integrate data from roughly 1,300 devices. The solution was completed in two days, is used by field sales to get instant location and installation data, and delivered faster support, better customer insight, easy scaling, and the ability to extend the tool across the business.

3M

Jason Fox

Mobile Application Architect