A successful enterprise mobile application strategy
Mobile applications, including custom-built mobile apps, actively penetrate enterprises’ everyday life. The majority of modern companies introduce mobile apps into their business process. That helps them to enhance interaction with their customers and improve internal communication. According to the Aberdeen Group research, 62% of the respondents have already adopted mobile software initiatives.
Let’s discuss what are the main factors of success for enterprise mobile application strategy.
Why use enterprise mobile application strategy
The major reasons for the growing penetration of mobile apps are:
- Companies’ desire to enhance competitiveness;
- Business process and communication improvement;
- Providing employees with more mobility and freedom of movement;
- Satisfying unique business process and data integration requirements.
Still, companies face some risks related to mobile software implementation. For example, one of the major issues is the security of corporate mobile applications. Mobile and tablet devices are easily lost or stolen, and crucial data may become revealed. Security protocols implementation has to be exquisite to provide safe work within the internal company networks and the Internet.
Strategies assuring mobile software quality and functionality
Enterprises for the most part consider mobile applications to be business tools. Thus, they suppose frequently face difficulties with integrating an app with corporate data and processes. The important thing in successful mobile app implementation is adherence to a systematic approach to the development process. It, among other steps, includes:
- product definition
- effective management
- use of proper development tools and technologies
- constant quality assurance
- resolving security and compliance issues
- customer support throughout the whole period of the app’s life.
Building a useful and reliable enterprise mobile application is not an easy task. Except for technological and security limitations, there are no strict rules in the app development process. Many best practices are available for the developers to refer to. In the next few paragraphs, we will mention just some of those related to the list above.
Identify Your Needs and Target Users
The first step in effective mobile app development is defining the main goals and requirements. Identify your target audience, which may include customers, employees, and partners. Connect the app functionality with your business context to enhance user productivity. Simplify and speed up their work while improving and streamlining the overall process.
Decide whether to purchase an off-the-shelf application and integrate it into your business process. Alternatively, consider a custom solution tailored to your specific needs. This custom solution could be developed by your internal IT team or outsourced to a partner.
Effective Application Development and Management
During the application development process, consider the diversity of mobile devices. Pay attention to different operating system versions and specific environments. Account for the numerous models of smartphones and tablets that users might have.
Integrate the application thoroughly into your business processes. Ensure it remains synchronized with the latest business data. Effective application management is crucial and includes monitoring, continuous reporting, and analyzing app usage and development.
Quality Assurance Strategies
A comprehensive mobile app QA strategy involves several key elements. Ensure coverage across multiple devices and control OS versions. Perform functional, non-functional, and automated testing to ensure the app’s quality.
Conduct market research to determine the target markets for your application. Focus on major technical features and use cases relevant to these markets. Identify potential security threats and communicate them to the development team.
At all stages of app development, clearly communicate testing goals to QA engineers. Utilize various testing mechanisms, including functional testing tools. Non-functional testing should analyze app performance in different locations and user scenarios.
Evaluate memory usage, power consumption, and network performance. Automated testing helps consistently repeat test procedures, making it valuable during both the development process and for regression testing.
Conclusions
Developing mobile software applications for enterprises is a complex task. Unlike market-oriented apps, there is no one-size-fits-all approach to enterprise mobile app development.
Modern companies have diverse needs: some use distributed environments, while others rely on legacy systems. The range of smartphones, tablets, and OS versions is also growing rapidly.
Businesses need an effective enterprise mobile application strategy. Start by defining the app’s objectives and typical use cases. Identify performance metrics and key technologies, tools, and components for the development process.
Clear expectations and the right tools are crucial. Pair these with an experienced development team to ensure success in your strategy.
