We all know that technology is commonly a key driver in today’s businesses. Mobile devices, including laptops, tablets and smartphones, are often critical pieces of that technology. But as companies work to wrap their arms around the security strategies and procedures necessary to protect the enterprise filled with these devices, they’re also faced with another big task: finding out how to leverage these devices for major business gains in various areas. One way companies are doing so is through enterprise mobile apps.
According to research published this month by Strategy Analytics, the mobile enterprise business applications market will reach $40.5 billion by the end of this year and is expected to grow to $63 billion by 2020. According to Gina Luk, author of The State of the Mobile Enterprise Business Application Market report, “There is tremendous pressure on businesses to make workers more productive …. Throughout 2015, companies rolled out new Mobile, Social, Cloud and Big Data Analytics-based business applications to help deal with changing customer, employee and partner expectations.”
Additionally, the research reveals that, while SMS remains dominant for enterprise mobile apps, instant messaging continues to gain prominence. Business applications, such as sales force automation, field force automation and other CRM apps have the second highest use among mobile workers, while supply chain management and other ERP applications have the lowest overall use.
The report goes on to highlight that enterprises are becoming increasingly receptive to employees bringing their own personal devices into the work environment and syncing them with the enterprise back-end applications and work processes. Consumer demand for ubiquitous communications and OTT IM are higher than ever and are also having an impact with BYOD growth.
Meanwhile, recent research from Accenture revealed 82% of the almost 2,000 decision makers for digital strategy and technology polled saw apps as integral to their organization. Despite the essential nature of such technology and the rising budget for it, Gartner, Inc. claimed that by the end of 2017, market demand for mobile app development services will grow at least five times faster than internal IT organizations’ capacity to deliver them.
Moving forward, organizations must determine how to strategically, rather than tactically, identify commercial apps or build and deploy proprietary enterprise mobile apps that mirror the high performance and usability of consumer apps to meet these critical needs. For help in determining which apps might be right for your organization, contact the TechOrchard team today.
