Nearly one in four consumers who used Andera software to open new accounts online accessed the applications using smartphones and tablets, the technology firm said Tuesday.

“That's a 50% increase compared to a year ago and it reflects a broader trend,” said Charlie Kroll, founder and CEO of the Providence, R.I., firm that began signing credit unions as users in 2004.

Three percent of its end users were using mobile devices to open accounts and apply for loans in 2010, the company said. A total of about a million account opening and lending applications were processed in 2013, Andera said, in a new report titled “The Future of Account Opening.”

“The data proves that Americans want to open accounts using their mobile devices but that doesn't mean that they're succeeding. It's critical that institutions streamline data entry requirements and leverage native mobile features like cameras and touchscreens to make things easy,” said Ying Chen, Andera's senior vice president of product management.

Andera said it has more than 500 clients, 40% of them credit unions.