Enterprise mobile apps is a sure-shot way to improve work efficiencies.
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Why your organization needs an enterprise mobile app?
Most businesses have this question of why enterprise mobility should be your priority.
And, here we would like to bring a screenshot of an infographic on enterprise mobility statistics that prove the importance of and need for
enterprise mobile app development:
Now that you know that you need to focus on enterprise mobile app development this year, let’s check out what all
challenges that you would face while planning, designing, developing, and testing the enterprise mobile apps in
detail.
Major Challenges in Enterprise Mobile App Development
1. Security
According to Hubspot report in Q2, 2018, among the vulnerable apps installed, 40% are of
business-related and hence, they increase the risk of IP loss.
This makes security the top of the challenges with the enterprise mobile apps.
Now, the increase in encouraging Bring Your Own Device (BYOD) by the enterprises increases the security breaches.
As per a report, the following are the security breaches that are increased only with the
use of BYOD:
- 51% of enterprises that allow BYOD experienced a mobile data breach
- 38% of enterprises complained about stolen or lost data
- 31% of enterprises agreed that their confidential data gets stolen
- 7% information was destroyed from the enterprise mobile apps
Looking at these statistics, the security aspect still remains the challenging issue for the enterprise mobile app
development.
2. Authentication
In 2017, 26.2% of those targeted by ransomware, were business users. (Stats in this infographic)
Also, now we know that most of the enterprises have started encouraging the use of BYOD for the enterprise mobile
apps.
This increases the challenge of putting a highly secure and private authentication process. Using a username and
password can easily be hacked and hence, the authentication can be compromised.
And, the fact is- most of the enterprise mobile apps only have a single sign-on facility. Well, enterprises can
utilize the LDAP directory, but it is advisable to choose the two-factor authentication.
Because of this, the authentication is not strong enough which leads to data and app breaches.
3. Encrypting Data
Keeping the sensitive data stored on the smartphones encrypted is one of the major challenges that is faced in the
enterprise mobility.
With the increased use of BYOD, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep the data encrypted.
But, what can be done is utilizing a secure container which can be only accessed with more authentication. This
security of encrypted data can be saved from the data lost when the devices are lost or compromised.
4. API Strategy
Nowadays, most of the business functions need to invoke certain actions and not every functionality is built from
scratch while developing a mobile application.
And, that is where, APIs are built.
But, the challenge here in the employee-facing enterprise apps is creating an API strategy right in the app planning.
Whether you are developing an app for your own enterprise or for your clients, you need to plan what all
functionalities would need APIs to be built separately or bought from external vendors.
Because the enterprise app requirements change from enterprise to enterprise, the enterprise mobility solutions provider needs to be extra careful here.
5. Data Access
Developing enterprise mobile apps has another major challenge which is to allow the employees to use the data even
when there is no network.
The employees traveling to clients’ place and there are places with minimal network connections. How are they going
to access the files stored on the cloud?
Hence, the employee-facing enterprise app needs to have the storage capacity in order to retain the data that was
updated when the employee was last online.
Along with data storage capabilities, the enterprise apps also need to be able to sync with the backend data. So,
whenever an employee comes to good network conditions, all the data is synced with the backend systems and updated.
And, this is where a real challenge comes for the enterprise mobile app development teams.
6. Big Data
We have been discussing big data for a long time now. But, big data in enterprise mobility is taking a hike.
With the increasing shift towards digital transformation, more and more enterprises are looking forward to
considering big data for their enterprise mobile apps.
In the coming years, the information or data is going increase to a great extent and the enterprise apps would need
to be able to capture, manage, and process those data.
Hence, the corporates are looking forward to utilizing big data in order to make critical business decisions.
But, the key challenge lies with the enterprise mobile development companies to plan the app environment that can
manage big data efficiently and for the betterment of the enterprises.
7. Device Fragmentation with BYOD
As per the stats by Forbes , 49% of employees said that they are more productive when they use their
own mobile devices for business-related work.
And hence, most of the enterprises have now started allowing employees’ mobile devices to use their own enterprise
mobile apps.
The employees use mobile devices of different operating systems, platforms, screen sizes, and configurations.
But, with the increased use of BYOD, the challenge here is to develop the enterprise mobile app looking at the varied
range of devices available in the industry. And, this is device fragmentation with BYOD.
The design and development of the enterprise mobile apps need to be considering all the platforms and all the
devices. Hence, the enterprise app needs aggressive testing for the apps on different platforms and devices.
8. App scalability to AI & ML
Enterprises are looking for the enterprise mobility solutions that are scalable for the emerging technologies.
But, what are the emerging technologies?
The emerging technologies are Artificial Intelligence, Machine Learning, Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and many
more.
We have already seen these technology-enabled apps in the market that are available. And, sooner will be the time,
when these technologies will become our go-to process of processing and executing even the tiniest tasks.
Hence, the major and the biggest challenge currently for the enterprise mobile app development is to have the apps
scalable enough to test and try the emerging technologies for the betterment of the enterprises.
How to Overcome these Challenges?
If you are looking for the solution to the enterprise mobile app development challenges, then, here is what we bring
it to you.
Solution #1
Create a large enterprise solution that is accessible for the entire organization. And then, choose the number of
tasks that needs to be accessed by the employees from their mobile devices.
Based on those tasks, create small enterprise mobile apps that securely stores data at the backend of the larger
organization and sends those data as and when requested by your employees.
These small employee-facing mobile apps would become easy to secure, manage, and maintain.
In fact, if you want to upgrade the features of the enterprise mobile app with the latest technologies, it won’t
become a lengthy and tedious process.
Solution #2
Now, the last and final solution is to choose the right enterprise app development team.
If you are developing an enterprise mobile app for your own business purposes or for your customers, you need to
understand whether you can get it developed in-house or you need to outsource it.
Because developing a robust and highly scalable enterprise mobile apps needs enough skilled, experienced, and
excellent team of planners, designers, developers, testers, and managers.
Enterprise mobile app development is an investment to improve the work productivities, employee efficiencies, and
ultimately to grow your business. Hence, you need to understand what can drive ROI for your enterprise mobility
solutions.
