Mobile App Platforms Play Essential Role in Capturing User Attention

The application economy is transforming the enterprise as we know it.

1An App Annie study predicts that the global app economy will likelycreate annual revenues that double its value to $101 billion by 2020.

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2020

1: http://go.appannie.com/report-forecast0516

This growth comes from across a wide range of industries:

Financial Services Retail Public Sector

Life Sciences &Pharmaceuticals

Insurance Healthcare

This focus on apps can be a game changer for the enterprise.

However, keeping up with the demand for mobile applications can put a huge development burden on IT teams.

Organizations must be prepared to adapt if they want to truly empower the mobile user.

Responding to an app-centric world

eMarketer found that approximately 85.7 percent of time spent on smartphones is spent using apps.

That compares to just 14.3 percent of time devotedto activity on the mobile web.

People tend to prefer apps over the mobile web for their:

Accessibility Immersion Capabilities

85.7%

14.3%

What does this mean in the enterprise?

We’ve gone from consumerization to full-on digital transformation.

Workers are demanding full access to business toolswith equal quality regardless of the device they are using.

The modern enterprise faces incredible pressure toadapt all of its processes and procedures around digital technologies.

Requires innovative mobile development platformsto help companies keep up with demand.

The challenge here is that consumerization hasn’t disappeared.

It has been folded up into the idea of digital transformation.

Businesses are expected to be able to say We have an app for that”,when asked for just about any solution.

“

If you don’t already have an app for that, you need to be ready to make one.

That’s where app platforms come into play.

From Consumerization To Transformation

Consumerizing IT:

Offering an illusion of choice to satisfy businessusers’ demands for apps that meet their specific needs.This led to the creation of service catalogs wherecompanies housed approved apps that workerscould pick and choose from to get the job done.

Mobile app development platforms take this principleto another level, allowing for true digital transformation.

An application development platform will:

Bring together data from a variety of apps and services under a central platform umbrella so it can be shared between users and services housed within the ecosystem.

Incorporate pre-built tools and low-code modules to empower non-tech users to develop their own solutions based on the infrastructure and operating system frameworks supported by the platform.

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Allow for device-agnostic app development by default to simplify development and deployment tasks.

Automate documentation of data workflows and app processes within the platform for auditing and regulatory purposes.

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When these features come together, organizations can establish appecosystems in which users:

Use pre-built apps by IT, but still have the ability to solve their own problems using low-code tools

The implications of this are:

IT manages and oversees the platform itself, setting rules and regulations to keep data safe.

Business users can create the solutions they want to get the job done.

Business Process Management (BPM) software takes functionality to another level.

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Adding BPM To The Low-Code Platform Framework

Businesses need some form of structure to unify appsand align them with process roadmaps that guide operations.

This is where BPM tools that are built into the app platform become invaluable.

BPM software has long helped companies structure, standardize and automatetheir processes.

Add that functionality to app creation and users can effectively build their apps around specific process requirements.

BPM serves as a skeletal system upon which the body of an app ecosystem is built.

All told, app platforms are empowering the mobile workforce to drive digital transformation through intelligent development in the hands of business users.

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