For the most part, these challenges centred on the large variety of different available devices, operating systems and versions that make homogenising the environment impossible. In order to benefit from potential productivity gains, enterprise mobility strategy needs to deliver a unified experience to all users, regardless of device. At the heart of this ability lie apps, mobile applications that are fundamental to functionality and agility across mobile devices. Central to enterprise apps is the enterprise app store, which must become a cornerstone of any forward-thinking enterprise mobile strategy.
Today, the mobile discussion has moved on from whether or not organisations should allow users to bring their own device, to how this can be made possible in a secure manner. Users will, for the most part, no longer accept having to utilise separate devices for business and personal matters. Convenience dictates that they be able to use one device for work and for their own personal purposes. The onus is on enterprises to ensure they can cater to this requirement securely, without compromising corporate policies and procedures. Mobile strategy no longer hinges on permitting certain devices to access networks, but rather on how unified functionality can be delivered to all users, regardless of the device they choose to use.
In addition, organisations are faced with the challenge of the consumerisation of IT. People have become used to interacting with their devices in a certain way, primarily through the use of apps, and expect to be able to leverage the same functionality for work purposes.
Commercially available apps provide certain levels of business functionality, typically providing a mobile front-end for back-end systems such as Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP) solutions. However, commercial apps provide limited enterprise integration and functionality, and also come with their own set of challenges. By their nature, apps require frequent updates, which in the commercial sense are published through the relevant app stores. With the variety of different mobile hardware offerings, operating systems and applications, these updates are typically heavy on cost and resources. In addition, apps generally make use of cloud-based storage and integration. Enterprises are faced with the task of handling potential data leakage and privacy issues.
A bigger challenge for enterprises around commercially available apps is the lack of focus of these apps for business. They are, by their mass-appeal nature, highly generic, which means that their ability to integrate with enterprise systems is limited. Mobile apps are still an immature business technology, and many global software giants are still coming to grips with the requirements of mobility. The true value of apps lies in their ability to provide another level of functionality and intelligence for business, which in turn requires that they be tailored for specific needs and requirements. Customised apps, purpose-built or tailored for a particular enterprise, can help to drive increased productivity across areas such as supply chain management, human resources, finance, sales, marketing and more.
This leads organisations to investigate the potential of an enterprise app store. Not only does this provide a secure and trusted environment in which mobility can be easily enabled, it also addresses numerous enterprise mobility challenges such as security and access only to authorised applications. Utilising an enterprise app store, organisations can ensure that, for business purposes, users are able only to access apps that are authorised for their use. This prevents wasted corporate resources on apps that are potentially malicious or harmful apps from making their way into the corporate environment. Access to apps can also be controlled at a granular level so that different departments have access only to apps that are relevant for them and their role.
There are many benefits to the deployment of an enterprise app store, not least of which is the fact that it simplifies matters for the end user, as all required information and apps are easily available in one place. For the enterprise, this increases security, as all apps are whitelisted by the organisation and have gone through strict testing and vetting, which increases security and control. This also simplifies management and control, and enables organisations to track usage, downloads and more for increased intelligence.
Updating is also simplified, which reduces associated costs and end users are empowered to provide feedback for improvement and additional functionality, which helps to drive innovation. Furthermore, an enterprise app store enables IT to determine the true cost of delivering functionality versus usage and productivity, creating additional transparency over traditional software delivery methods.
Since it is accessible only to employees and is tightly managed by the IT team, enterprise app stores ensure that only authorised content is available to authorised users. All apps are validated and audited before being published, configured by the IT department for enhanced security, and can benefit from role-based authentication.
This also simplifies management, as IT is tasked with controlling only a limited number of apps and versions, and an audit trail is easily available for visibility and compliance purposes. Ultimately, an enterprise app store is the future of enterprise mobility, a fact highlighted by analyst firm Gartner, which predicts that by 2017 up to 25% of organisations will have an enterprise app store.
