Key Challenges in Enterprise Mobile App Development

The corporate or enterprise level culture is evolving in terms of technology. A large number of companies have adopted BYOD, which has led to need for developing a mobile app for the enterprises. According to a recent survey result, close to 1.3 billion workers will go mobile by end of 2015, which means mobile apps will need to be raised to fulfill their needs now.

An enterprise mobile app comes with a lot of needs and specifications. You just cannot create a mobile app, without considering the requirements of the enterprise. There are a few challenges that you will typically face when creating an enterprise mobile app. Here are the key challenges, and tips to overcome them with ease

Security

One major concern surrounding enterprises that are about to get started with mobile app development is security. You don’t want to make your data vulnerable, and this is why security is the biggest challenge. Here are some concern areas for the same, and tips to help overcome the challenge.

Secure Login: At the time when the user logs into the app, you need to make sure that it is secure. It is at this time that the user will enter the login details. Enterprise mobile apps are rapidly developed and deployed, which is why creating a secure authentication for login becomes a challenge. You can integrate the LDAP directory to the enterprise app, which is required for secure authentication, and include the secure-sign-on feature.

Server-Side Validation: When it comes to validating important information, you should consider involving the server side rather than depending on the client side. When you consider adopting this method, you will ensure that the app’s performance is not bogged by the complex validation process, and also that the patches and bugs are fixed. This means the logic on the server will always be the latest updated version.

Encrypt the Data: All the sensitive data should be stored in the app in an encrypted form. This will help secure the information in case the device is lost.

Security differs for information app and banking or financial apps. You should ensure your security matches the type of app you are devising.

User Interface

When it comes to enterprise mobile app, the functionality or usability of the app outranks the aesthetics of the app. That does not mean you don’t develop an aesthetic design, but it simply means the functionality of the app should be given more thought than how it appears. When you are creating an app that will help the users function better, obviously they want you to show how, rather than make it pretty. This can be quite a challenge, keeping beauty secondary. How can you overcome this challenge? A simple way is to include icons, which will add intuitiveness, and build the foundation for a natural UI. Override hardware buttons with your app, which can build in more intuitiveness. Let’s say a home button or a back button on the app will take you to the home page and previous page respectively. This intuitiveness is necessary to improve efficiency.

The Choice of Platform

You can either build your enterprise mobile app using HTML as the platform, or go for the native platform. This is going to be your biggest challenge, which platform to build your mobile app on. For enterprises, there are smaller internally facing apps that needs to be integrated in your enterprise mobile app. Both the choices involve their own set of pros and cons. If you go for native app platform, then you need the necessary time, skills and budget. You need to consider that the platform can support the wide range of devices, as you have a BYOD culture in the offices presently.

If you look at compatibility, budget, time and skills, HTML is found to be better than your native platform. According to a study, 90% of the enterprise apps will be developed on the HTML or hybrid platform. Only 10% will be developed using the native platforms.

Conclusion

Keeping the user interface simple and functional, and including secure methods of authentication will help you develop a better and more functional enterprise mobile app thus empowering the users. Of course, these are challenging, and your choice of platform plays a crucial role too. Semaphore Software is a leading Enterprise Mobile App Development company, and creates mobile apps designed to suit your needs.

Deepa is a technical writer with Semaphore Software.