Mobile enterprise application platforms are giving businesses new opportunities to deliver robust apps and services to mobile users who increasingly demand sophisticated solutions. However, app platforms do more than just provide low-code app development, they also create what is essentially a fenced in area to host a variety of apps and data types, offering a key layer of governance that businesses need to keep mobile strategies under control.
A recent CCS Study found that enterprise users are embracing mobile devices and apps, but the changing technological landscape created by new operational models generates challenges that IT teams must prepare for. Governance and oversight are among these issues.
The shifting mobile landscape
According to the study, the average enterprise employee uses 4.6 devices for work, the figure was only4.1 in 2015. This rise is significant, but the generational diversity is even more substantial. Millennials tend to use, on average, 5.8 connected devices. Rising smartphone and tablet use is only the beginning, however, as access to new hardware options is pushing towardchanges in how employees access apps or services.
"Access to mobile apps has led to changes in the way people work."
The study found that 41 percent of enterprise users believe access to mobile apps has led to changes in the way they work. Furthermore, one-quarter of employees have requested a mobile app;just 19 percent had last year.
Responding to mobile-driven changes
The shifting operational environment created by mobile apps and services has led to a few key problems for businesses. One of them is providing governance and oversight. Just 28 percent of those polled said their companies haveset up an internal app store, and issues like data leakage and a lack of regulatory oversight were both highlighted as key problems facing organizationsas they adapt to mobile device use.
A recent Forbes report pointed out that while governance may come across as a restrictive issue, companiesneed to carefully govern how they use data to protect themselves and glean value from their data.
App platforms play a key role in this process by centralizing data and apps within a central framework where IT teams can manage and govern it while still empowering users to work flexibly. Modern mobile app platforms are giving businesses the tools they need to empower mobile users while keeping data under control. The innovation and flexibility that comewith mobile devices don'tneed to be associated with risk, and app platforms let users work in new ways without major restrictions that get in their way.
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