Key Challenges In Enterprise Mobile App Development

By Mann Sharma March 31, 2017

Mobility is the prerequisite requirement of the future. An ever-increasing number of enterprise users are switching to the smartphones and tablet devices for catering their on-the-move needs. However, this mobile shift has caused a lot of vexation to the enterprise mobile app developers. Although this specific development domain holds countless opportunities, there are a few challenges that are impeding the path of developers.

Let’s have a look: The Challenge of Emerging Technologies

Mobile app developers toil to keep themselves updated with the ever-emerging technologies so that their app finds absolute relevance in today?s time of fast-paced developments in hardware and OS technology.

• The rampant volumes of iOS APIs propelled in recent times astonish even the most adroit app developers.
• Enterprise app developers constantly struggle to envisage some pristine tooling features so as to align them with their app’s features.

Rapid evolution in the technologies further compounds the misery. Earlier, an app update was called for comfortably after a months’ time, however now, the need arises in just a day or two. If you are not swift in taking an action, your app stands at the risk of turning dysfunctional. There is no panacea for this predicament. Even the best developers have to remain on their toes and track down the emerging technologies in order to observe success.

The Challenge of Device Fragmentation The immensely splintered digital marketplace, owing to the regular treadmill of brand new devices and OS further adds to the doldrums of app developers. Virtually, all app developers today are working without knowing their target platform. The gigantic number of devices available in the market today practically makes it impossible to test the app for a seamless usage on all platforms.

The developers face a hard choice while deciding on which device to invest in for testing their either android app or iPhone?app. Not so long ago, this challenge of device fragmentation was non-existent for enterprise mobility solution developers as they could direct all their energies on the few restricted number of platforms and OS used by the enterprise.

However, the coming up of stern policies such as BYOD (Bring Your Own Device) have forced the enterprise apps to support a plethora of mobile devices. There is no shortcut to this problem; however, the app developers can revamp their testing and development efforts by:

• Identifying the probable platforms in which your mobile app would operate.
• Engaging sound and dependable app development practices across all platforms thus ensuring absolute consistency in functionality and feel of the app.
• Fabricating globally recognizable yet culturally sensitive app graphics.

UX Challenges User Experience, often abbreviated as UX is the key to make your app triumphant. As per Forrester, 64% of the employees do not use enterprise mobile apps, the reason being poor UX. The paucity of time has led enterprise users to value simplicity. Therefore, the real challenge in enterprise app development is to create a powerful feature-packed app that fulfills the required aesthetics related to corporate branding, while keeping simplicity as the foremost criterion.

A responsive app design with a minimalist approach is a great way of developing rewarding mobile apps. However, success eventually depends on the innovative strategies that are deployed for developing a seamless UI. Stocking the app with analytics so as to track the engagement metrics, regularly observing crash logs, having a structured feedback mechanism, etc. aid the enterprise app developers to tweak their apps, but the developers still have a hard time setting up these processes.

Security Challenges Every operating system has a distinct architecture and the different mobile platforms extend dynamic levels of support when it comes to securing information stored on the device. Therefore, it?s hard to synthesis the actual degree of security required. You can either encrypt your valuable data by storing it in a safe folder within the device or, you can integrate with the enterprise?s LDAP directory.

Challenges Related to Content Management and Data Access For creating robust enterprise mobile apps, access to corporate data is a critical parameter that must be given primary importance. Corporate data usually occupy the backend database hence it is an imperative concern to manage the data stored in the device?s native file system so that it can even be accessed while online. Just assume, a salesperson needs to download the inventory document before meeting his client but he is stuck with no network. In such a case, the app is not only required to have data storage capabilities but also needs synchronization capabilities so as to update the inventory levels when the salesperson gets online.

Therefore, there is a need for ensuring integrated and seamless sync of all data between the enterprise app and the backend. Also, packing together various distinct content types- images, videos, text, animation into monolithic expansion files for uploading on different app stores is another major challenge.

Challenge of Development Technology HTML-CSS3 is an exceptional development technology that permits to build strong enterprise apps in terms of cost, enhanced portability across various platforms and reduced time to market. However, at the same moment, HTML comes with few limitations related to data security, local data storage and more. Some other technologies indubitably offer better platform-specific development leading to engaging UX and superlative performance, but they increase the time to market considerably.

The enterprise app developers face a tough time deciding upon a developing technology that will be a perfect fit for their app. comprehending the precise needs of the end-user is critical for deciding the development technology and approach. It must be understood that the victory of enterprise mobile app development does not merely lie in developing the app, but also ensuring a genuine and reliable distribution system.

Even after overcoming all challenges faced during the app development process, the market for the Enterprise solution is tremendously flourishing hence several industrial verticals are propelled for a major brainstorming activity.