The business mobile app market has grown inch by inch as conglomerates pursued means to renovate business propositions by engaging with partners and customers in new and different ways. Rather than the razzmatazz look, it’s the utilitarian functions of the app that gave businesses sleepless nights.
Enterprise mobile application development is seeing drastic changes. Following traditional ways of app development cannot deliver output required in this digital era. The one’s keeping up with the pace will see the light of the day, others will fall way behind to even catch up in many more years to come. To get the advantage, businesses are forced to adapt to upcoming, modern development trends; here are some of the most important trends to watch in the upcoming months:
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Delivering Apps at a Lighting Speed - Need of the Hour
There are no speed limits on the road to success. The sluggish and conventional approach of app development is passé. For the fast paced mobile app development domain where speed defines everything, the businesses IT departments have to adhere to the need of the hour – immediate focus to find faster means of app development. Gartner predicts that by the end of 2017, the demand for mobile app development services will alleviate five times than the capacity to deliver these apps.
Internal development teams face constant burden to develop more and better apps in less time. To stay competitive in the ever increasing app market, the companies can do the following to speed up the development process:
- Articulate a process strategy by defining the primary details and requirements.
- Rely on Rapid Mobile App Development (RMAD) tools to stay ahead of the competition by delivering more apps in less time.Do not stick to developing each app in-house. Outsourcing specific apps that are low on the importance meter may be more efficiently handled by a third party at an effective price.
- Do not stick to developing each app in-house. Outsourcing specific apps that are low on the importance meter may be more efficiently handled by a third party at an effective price.
Embracing new ways to cope with the increasing demand and acquiring relevant skill set is the key to meet the growing mobile needs.
Related:6 Trends That Will Shape Mobile App Development Landscape in 2016
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Security is Crucial
With more and more adoption and usage of mobile devices for storing personal data, it has become vulnerable to attacks. Loss of device and mismanagement of apps are a few of the main reasons for data loss over smart devices. Data security will remain a concern in the coming years.
Access to sensitive data has given hackers a new playground. As per a report published by Veracode, there were roughly 2400 mobile apps from large enterprises at the potential risks of hackers. This is a potential threat to enterprises dealing mainly in the financial sector or healthcare or any other that manages delicate and complex records. With the increasing trend of BYOD, it becomes tough for enterprises to offer a rounded methodology of mobile security.Adding fuel to the fire, neither many companies have a mobile security policy in place nor are the smartphones protected against malware.
To have a secure and hassle free enterprise app experience, companies should take proper measures to curb enterprise data breach. Notably, some of them are:
- Circumscribe an enterprise-grade security policy and implement it at the earliest.
- Prohibit the use of other app stores on enterprise mobile devices.
- Discontinue obsolete models that require special updates.
- Educate users about the mobile security features.
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DIY Mobile Platforms on the Rise
Enterprises have realized the fact that delivering to meet the never-ending requirement of mobile apps at a rapid speed is not easy. Lack of knowledgeable and skilled resources have put these organizations in a fix. They end up either hiring a third party mobile app development vendor or settle down with the services of an outworker.
This has propelled the organizations to try out what is called as “DIY” Platform. These platforms leverage the “unknowing of coding” at the hands of the development firms. The DIY knowhow will ease the responsibility of the non-developers to deliver expected results particularly in order to meet the demand of enterprise mobile apps. In recent future, the focus will be on Do-It-Yourself (DIY) Resources that allow mobile apps to be mustered quickly.
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Cross Platform /Hybrid App Development Approach on the Rise
With no extra time to spare for developing a business app for different platforms, the shift from native to hybrid is inevitable. In business, to move up the ladder and cater to mobile working practices across an organization, multiple apps are often needed. Tools have come that offer the ease of sharing one single code to develop these mobile driven business chunks. Developers can share the code between iOS and Android.
Old school practices of developing apps taking too much time will soon become a talk of the past. As the demand rises, more and more apps are likely to drift to be developed over cross-platforms.
Though the usage of fusion platforms is not new to the industry but the growing demand of enterprise mobile apps will definitely observe a tilt towards this approach in the future.
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Era of Microservices
Till date, mobile apps were built on uniform approach; every feature was built in the application itself. But times change and with a change in the way apps are being used or will be used in the future, there will be a revolutionary change in the way these apps develop –the introduction of the Microservices Architecture. This is a particular way of developing an app in different small modules or services, each running as an individual process.
Microservices are being indicated as the rescuer for the enterprise apps. This new development technique will make the process of developing an app easy and quick. Apps delivered as a part of microservices architecture, can be developed and maintained by different teams. Microservices architecture allows the formation of sectional app services that can be customized to the needs of each user.Microservices will be best friends to enterprises cutting down the overhead costs and enabling them to make better-informed decisions.
Related: Know the User Journey to Strategise Better.
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Enterprise App Stores
In a study conducted by Gartner, it predicted that by 2017 nearly 25% of businesses will have an enterprise app store for managing business approved apps on mobile devices. If deployed appropriately, they can upsurge the value content of the app collection and reduce administrative expenses. Work App Stores give place to apps that offer handiness to all aspects of a business.
With the rise of BYOD trend, most businesses understand the criticality of offering these services via user’s smartphones. Witnessing a mobility thrust and the benefits associated with it, it is a mandate for businesses to focus on building solutions for the enterprise app stores. The success of Enterprise App Store is confirmed in the future with the onset of enterprise app builder podiums that has made the development of apps easier than before. Enterprise app stores would enable better control of the app at the hands of the employees, but this would be effective if these stores are extensively agreed upon.
Final Thoughts
In the era of interconnected devices, businesses should hold on to mobile apps in the workforce, since the majority of employees already use their own devices for business purposes and mobile app use is proven to increase. The seamless interaction between the business and the consumers opens a whole new world of opportunities. Now, these are just a few development trends to expect in the coming year, but the list could is long. The benefits of mobile apps in the workforce overshadow the risks, as long as enterprises pick the right solutions.
