Enterprise Mobility Software
There have never been more opportunities for a company like yours than in today’s modern business environment. No matter the size of your operation or the industry you’re in, today’s evolving landscape could potentially be a goldmine. Of course, this can also provide you with countless opportunities to make a misstep or otherwise miss out on an advantageous position. One example of something you have to take advantage of is enterprise mobility. Mobilising your company’s enterprise applications is no longer a nice option to have, but an investment you absolutely have to make. While building mobile apps can be a painstaking process most of us aren’t cut out for, hiring a third party to handle enterprise mobility is a winning solution you won’t regret, as long as you look for the following.
Enterprise Mobility Software
For the sake of expediency and your budget, first look to see if there is an enterprise mobility platform on the market that can meet your needs. This type of software will basically allow you to build a specialised app for your company from scratch, even if you have absolutely no experience programming or writing code. In fact, this is fast becoming a very popular solution for companies like yours that know they must invest in enterprise mobility.
That’s why you’ll find so many titles that essentially allow you to drag and drop your way to building a custom app. While your ambitions may mean that you end up needing a specialist to design your app for you, it’s definitely worth looking into software first. You might be able to get exactly what you need for a lot less than you think.
Quick Delivery
Whether you go with a developer or decide to find a platform that will allow you to address your enterprise mobility needs, it’s vital that you get your app as quickly as possible. This is especially true for those companies that are developing an application because of a present business need they’ve discovered. The last thing you want is to put money and energy into an app only to find that by the time it’s done, no one really needs it anymore.
This is one more reason so many people are using software to build their apps. Not only do most platforms make it extremely easy to create exactly what you need, they also do a good job of showing you the result along the way. Those who do know how to code could go off in the wrong direction for a long time before they realise they’ve done something wrong. Even professional designers could do this, despite paying them good money.
Lastly, no matter what your reason is for needing an app, the sooner you have it, the sooner you can start benefiting from it. Considering you’ll want to thoroughly test it out before proceeding to let it into the wild, an aggressive deadline is necessary. Once you finally have that app, your business can begin saving and/or making more money.
Seamless Integration
Having software that can address your enterprise mobility needs is a great start and probably the direction most of you will choose to go. It’s just as important that a platform is able to do this while remaining easy to manage, secure and capable of integration. A piece of software that has the ability to integrate your business logic and data into any application you need to build is going to be so much more helpful and make life a lot easier.
Of course, if you don’t have much experience with this side of the business, it can be tough to know where to start. An API gateway that is agile enough to handle access to host systems and mobile applications so that it’s easier to share between them is going to be a good start, to say the least.
You also want that gateway to consist of components that support development and runtime needs and with REST APIs capable of supporting platform web services and all the functionality that goes along with them.
Mobile integration should mean allowing you to address message content with ease, even if it means assessing and transforming this material. Granular services will need to be orchestrated into composite ones and messages/data must be mapped and delivered on demand.
At the end of the day, any application source can be quickly transformed into all kinds of reusable services for use with the mobile app builder you decide on.
Security
This should go without saying. Security needs to be a priority for your enterprise mobility goals, just like it should be with any digital undertaking you invest in. You just can’t be too careful these days.
Security in this context means knowing that your enterprise mobility application will produce a program capable of securing essential data on any mobile device. Otherwise, all that mobile device is doing is making it much easier for hackers and other malicious parties to get your vital information.
One very important way to do this is by looking for an enterprise mobility platform that takes encryption seriously. This means any communication that comes from your system’s mainframe goes through a secure channel that is encrypted.
Role-based access controls are a nice added benefit as well. It will allow you to heighten your security measures even further by deciding who gets access to your company’s applications and data. You’ll also be able to record when that access is used, so you’ll have a logbook of sorts to fall back on if something should go wrong.
The solution you decide on should give your devices one system of engagement for connecting with. This way, you won’t have to worry about your enterprise systems being exposed directly because of access by mobile devices. Also, when application access gets revoked, you want a platform that will build apps capable of erasing all application data stored on a device immediately. Otherwise, your company is going to be exposed to some pretty big vulnerabilities any time you have to withdraw access from someone.
While having an enterprise mobility platform that can allow you to do this is essential, you’ll be far better off if it comes from a team that knows plenty about security too. This level of security should be built into the point that you don’t really have to worry about things like encryption. Still, look for a vendor that has an impressive reputation where this kind of thing is concerned. Otherwise, when you need a helping hand, you may have to do some digging, which could waste time and produce lacklustre results.
Application Management
Once your application is created and deployed, you can’t get too comfortable. This kind of solution is one you’ll need to keep an eye on constantly, even if you used reputable software to make it. There could be some bugs that need working out, but chances are it’s your users who will simply find a step or two you could’ve done better. No matter how much you test out your app, releasing it to your employees and/or customers will really put it through the ringer.
While managing your app could mean all kinds of things, one feature you want your enterprise mobility platform to have is the ability to create a product where users can continue with their work even if mobile reception gets compromised.
Obviously, another big part of application management is simply being able to control who can use yours. As we already touched on, you don’t want an ex-employee logging into your company’s app and getting behind your firewall simply because they were allowed to download it to their phone a few years ago. Likewise, if you’re able to identify a troublemaker using your app for malicious reasons, it’s vital that you shut off their access ASAP.
On the less dramatic side, enterprise mobility solutions that allow you to control access also make it possible to organize your user base. Those who are higher up in your company should definitely be able to access your enterprise-level information at will. Customers, on the other hand, probably don’t share that need. In fact, you may want to split your customers into different types and customize their level of access accordingly.
Finally, the key to pulling off enterprise mobility correctly is always looking for ways to improve. Proper management of your app is all about observing how it works and how it’s getting used. The more you can learn about your customers, the better off your company will be. It can also make a big difference down the line the next time you decide to make an application. Everything from what time your app gets used most, where it’s seeing the majority of use and what kind of devices are being used to access it is all important to creating better and better applications.
There’s no taking the need for enterprise mobility applications too seriously. Your company absolutely must have their own solution for today’s modern environment, but there’s a right and wrong way to go about getting it. For best results, consider all of the above when looking to build your own app and contact us at Rocket Software for help making the right choice.
Author: Mike Miranda.
Mike Miranda writes about enterprise software and covers products offered by software companies like Endeavour.
