Building a better business application: Why you need one and where to start

In the current enterprise environment, more workplaces are arming their on-premise and remote workforces with bring-your-own-device initiatives, enabling these employees to leverage their personal hardware for work purposes. However, as the BYOD trend continues to grow, it is important that companies also provide the necessary tools to foster the programs success, including business applications.

AppIt Ventures contributor Brandy Anderson noted that a business application, when developed correctly and put into the right workers' hands, can provide a number of benefits for the company at large. This includes the means to better connect with customers and co-workers, as well as create opportunities for marketing and revenue growth.

However, when it comes to applications, some groups opt for consumer-level programs that don't provide the security and features employees require in a business setting. For this reason, it is important that organizations consider building their own company applications that can best suit their individual needs. To help shape these efforts, here are a few steps that need to be taken during the application development process.

Begin with a goal in mind
One of the first aspects to take into consideration is the goal or demand that the application will aim to address, suggested Huffington Post contributor Julia Rogers. This step should include conversations between administrators and potential users to determine what type of application they need and what role it will fulfill within the company.

Determine the language that will be used
The next step to take is to come to an agreement about what programming language will be utilized to develop the application. While still in the early stages of adoption, a number of groups are opting for HTML5 over a native coding language. Depending upon the features and actions the program will enable, it is important to consider different languages and select the one that will best suit the skills of the developers as well as the activities of the users.