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Modern Applications to Power the Modern Enterprise

Ben Farrell
August 1, 2013

Mobile, cloud, and social technologies continue to push into the enterprise, and utilizing these technologies in truly modern applications has already proven to be incredibly beneficial from both an IT and end user standpoint. Where "traditional" applications are designed for one specific hosting model, one specific type of device access, and one proprietary front-end interface, modern applications incorporate native mobile capabilities and portable cloud/on-premise hosting ñ all accessible through a simple social interface ñ in a fluid and ubiquitous manner. Fundamentally, there are three attributes that a modern application must have:

1) It can be accessed on any device ñ and it provides the same look-and-feel and functionality regardless of the device type

2) It utilizes a universal "zero-training" interface to drive adoption and use

3) It can be hosted on-premise, in a public, private or hybrid cloud ñ and can be easily moved from one environment to another

The first fundamental of the modern application is native mobility. How often do you look at an enterprise app from a phone or tablet and think, This is great, but it doesn't quite do what I want it to? A mobile app should not be a watered-down version of the full product. A modern application delivers full capabilities regardless of how it is being accessed by a user. Further, it utilizes a native mobile architecture that takes advantage of the specific device capabilities (photos/video, voice notes, accelerometer, GPS, etc.) to enhance the user experience.

Second, modern applications must take advantage of consumer social technology interface design to drive participation and user collaboration. Business people are already over-loaded with applications, each requiring training on a separate interface. A primary CIO fear when introducing yet another application into the IT ecosystem is lack of adoption. A simple social interface ensures user adoption and eliminates training time. In addition, multiple applications can be rolled out under the same social interface, generating enormous economies of scale and breaking down data siloes that impede productivity.

Lastly, the modern application can be hosted from anywhere. Not just that, but it can also be moved to any other hosting model quickly and easily. The benefits of cloud computing are widely accepted. It can drastically cut down on operations and maintenance costs, while also providing a platform for rapid deployment. However, concerns persist, primarily regarding privacy and security. The modern application bypasses these concerns and dramatically reduces risk through a portable architecture. This provides businesses and their IT teams with the ability to choose what functions they want to host locally, and what they can deploy in the cloud.

Day by day mobile, social and cloud technologies continue to advance, and the ability to produce applications with modern capabilities is essential to a business' survival. Appian BPM provides a platform for quickly producing mobile solutionsthrough a "write once, deploy anywhere" architecture. Appian's worksocial interface increases productivity through social collaboration. Appian's portable cloud architecture delivers the benefits of cloud computing while mitigating cloud risk. Learn more about how Appian BPM is powering the modern enterprise.

Ben Farrell

Director of Corporate Communications

Ben Farrell