The Mobile Enterprise Application Market size was valued at USD 90.53 Billion in 2021 and is projected to reach USD 268.14 Billion by 2030. This has had a great effect on enterprise companies and has changed how they approach the business sphere. Enterprise mobile apps are typically built as user-focused software, made by companies to cater to their own internal staff.
This astronomical growth can be attributed to several factors.
The first one is that there has been a consistent increase in the number of mobile users in the past few years and paired with the boost of cloud-based services, it’s not surprising that enterprise mobile applications are becoming so popular to develop.
Then there is the host of advantages that come from building an enterprise application for mobile. Benefits like the convenience of use for employees, flexibility, and customization options make the development of a mobile application worthwhile to enterprise-level companies.
There is however a problem - some companies end up developing expensive applications only to find that they don’t work well for the employees and unnecessary software isn’t a good plan for any business.
Enterprise app development is a highly sought-after field in which software applications are made to be used by a specific organization or business. Unlike consumer apps, these applications are more complex as they need to integrate with existing and future enterprise processes and tools, and are made to streamline operations.
But why build a custom enterprise application for mobile? Why not use an existing market solution?
There are a few different reasons for this, but the most prominent is that a custom solution can improve both internal and external operations which leads to a reduction in operational costs. Building a custom solution means the enterprise can narrow down the app’s use and ensure that it works with their unique needs.
There is a key difference between developing a consumer app and developing an enterprise application. For enterprises, there are different requirements since it’s targeted at improving business operations rather than serving a typical consumer.
Some of these requirements include:
As mentioned earlier, the worst-case scenario would be to go to the trouble of building an app and having it be a clunky solution that no one wants to use.
Here’s how your enterprise firm can ensure that it is building the right mobile app fit for your employees to use:
The first and most important step to building any application is to conduct research - in this case, user research. And the first users you should approach will be your own employees.
Enterprise companies looking to build mobile apps need to meet with their employees and get a clearer understanding of the tools they need in order to succeed. This means talking to them about pain points or challenges they face during the course of their work and then catering the application to be the solution to these issues.
For a mobile application to be used daily, it needs to offer a seamless user experience. A cumbersome app will only prove to be more of a hindrance than a helpful solution.
Your goal is efficiency and productivity, and the way your enterprise app is designed will be key to achieving these goals. The best place to start when considering how to design your enterprise app is to turn to the apps you already use daily and consider how they are built - which features do they have that make them so easy to integrate into your daily life?
You also want to keep the design adaptive, so it’ll be easy for your employees to access regardless of which device they use.
Once you have a minimum viable product in place, it’s time to iterate, iterate, iterate. Have some early testers give you feedback about how to improve the app, which features are working versus not working, and how they feel about the design.
When you have this essential feedback, you can ultimately improve your app and provide a better experience.
Security is a key issue for enterprises, and this will include the mobile app you are planning to build - you’ll need to ensure that there are enterprise-level security protocols, authentication, encryption, and other tools for handling sensitive information.
Enterprise apps typically need to integrate with existing tools already being used in the organization. This means that their developers need to understand the systems that the app will need to integrate with. Principles like safe data sharing are key here, as are legacy systems.
Being able to overcome these issues is critical to enterprise app development.
An enterprise application needs to be developed by a team that has a keen understanding of how enterprise applications work, what it takes to develop them, and how they need to integrate with existing systems already at work in the business.
Building an app like this in-house can be a time-consuming endeavor. Not only does the enterprise need to hire a development team, but that team also will not have the experience needed to deliver a solution quickly.
This is where outsourcing development can come in handy. By choosing to work with a studio that develops enterprise mobile applications, the enterprise can be assured that it will receive a polished product within a reasonable timeframe.
NineTwoThree Studio is a digital venture agency that has helped launch numerous software products and systems for clients and emerging companies and has been named for two years to the fastest-growing private companies in America on the Inc 5000 list. We have a long track record of building leading enterprise software solutions, and we can’t wait to build your mobile app project next!
