The bold horizon for enterprise apps (and how you can be prepared)

Enterprise applications can make an increasingly large splash. No one would argue that there has been an explosion of apps over the past few years, but as a recent survey by VisionMobile found, just 15 percent of independent developers are actively catering to the enterprise market, eWEEK reported. It's not necessarily surprising that more time and energy have been funneled into making consumer apps - in fact, employees' familiarity with apps and an increase in research about how they can be used will lead to more buy-in by corporate interests. Of course, business leaders also need to ensure that they have support technologies that can make enterprise apps successful in their companies.

It's becoming increasingly clear that enterprise apps can be a game-changing force. Recent developments that show this include the transition to analytics-based thinking, more evidence of the benefits of gamification and the rise of apps that can be more seamlessly integrated to provide productivity benefits almost from the outset. Additionally, enterprise developers, or companies that want to develop their own programs in-house, can learn a lot from the ways that users actually utilize consumer apps. Everything from effective interfaces, intuitive controls and cross-platform compatibility can be the quality that puts the app over the top.

The challenge for enterprise app development
Research indicates that enterprise app development will be a hot-ticket item for developers, but companies want to make sure they actually get high-quality software to run their critical operational processes and crunch essential data. It's crucial to getting end users on board - one of the byproducts of high consumer app adoption means that users have high expectations, especially when their own performance may hinge on an app's performance. The growth of mobile - the future of the enterprise, as Business 2 Community contributor Phil Barnett pointed out - only makes successful integration more important.

Thus, it's important to start with the right framework. Whether it's reporting tools, spreadsheets or business intelligence, firms can invest in Studio Enterprise solutions to get the right development architecture in place as a foundation, and access to an array of Web development tools and UI controls to create high-quality, high-performance enterprise apps in a cost-efficient way. The Enterprise solution not only facilitates the development of optimally functional apps for desktop end users, but provides seamless compatibility with mobile, strengthening productivity in the process.

The impending rise in the market for enterprise apps means that many businesses will soon be building large, complex portfolios. It's crucial that organizations ensure they wield new tools to successful ends. Investing in the right frameworks and tools can help get this approach off to a good start.