With rapid adoption of Smartphones and Tablets by
employees, fledgling “Bring Your Own Device (BYOD)” concepts at workplace and
consumerization of IT, it becomes imperative for enterprises to embrace the
change and enable secure use of enterprise applications on mobile devices of
its employees. Using App Store for Corporate applications will provide better
user experience while allowing authorized self-service model for its employees
to download applications.
Consumerization
of Workplace. Smartphones and tablets
usage have been growing rapidly where the smartphone penetration had already
crossed more than 50 percent in US[i]. Many
of these devices which are intended for personal use are being used for
business purposes. Companies are accepting this reality and according to a
study conducted in 2012 by Good Technology, companies with no BYOD plans have
dropped from 9 to 5 percent[ii]. Global
mobile worker population is expected to reach 1.3bn by 2015 according to IDC,
which represents 37.2 percent of workforce[iii].
To support mobile work styles and BYOD, Enterprises will have to provide custom
mobile business apps for its emerging mobile workforce. Spending on mobile
enterprise apps is expected to reach $53bn in 2017 from $26bn in 2012[iv],
doubling in size.
Playing
Catch-up. Consumers are increasingly using
downloadable apps from Apps Store with an estimated 70 billion downloads by
2014[v]. Nielsen
estimates that average number of apps in a smartphone has gone up from 32 apps
in 2011 to 41 apps in 2012[vi]. By
2014, business applications such as CRM which can be downloaded to mobiles from
App Stores would have grown by 500 percent[vii].Likely,
this trend will extend to other internal and external business applications and
it is expected that by 2017, 25 percent of businesses will have some kind of
App Store within their network[viii].Many
consumer App Stores such as Apple, Google and Windows (with their acquisition
of Yammer) are also extending this concept to Enterprise segment. Other players
such as SalesForce and SAP are creating their own ecosystem. Enterprises are
slowly catching with App Store concept from consumer segment.
An
Enterprise App Store. App Store (figure 1) will
serve as a repository of all apps required for business purposes and other
consumer oriented apps. A single sign-on will enable employees to access and
download apps of their choice. This ease of use, accessing apps anywhere
anytime, results in increased productivity and greater employee satisfaction. Companies
can provide a set of authorized apps on their stores. Other convenience is that
App Store provides notification on updates and gives flexibility for its employees
to update versions at any time. It is
estimated that 40 percent of global 1000 companies will use gamification for
better employee engagement, performance, training and personality development,
wellness and other application by 2015[ix].
This App Store could also provide support for game based apps for understanding
business operations. Enterprise App Store provides flexibility, better employee
experience, enhanced control over access to different group, analyse usage
pattern and recommend actions.
Figure
1
Challenges
to Adoption. Enterprises would like to
have control over the type of applications its employees download and use in
the business environment. Security of its key information will be a major
challenge. By determining access levels to Apps at different employee bands
will be paramount to secure the access/flow of information to intended users. Apart
from providing ubiquitous email apps, enterprises should examine what kinds of
applications are required for different set of employees. For instance, sales
group may require access to CRM app while a business executive may need access
to expense sheet app. Major concern for an enterprise would be on developing
apps in-house or sourcing apps from other vendors. Many vendors have developed
App Store solutions which could be used for faster deployment. Tracking
licenses for software based on number of users and managing with wide variety
of vendors for licenses is essential to avoid unnecessary usage and compliance
costs.
Approaches
to Set-up App Store. Consumers have got used to
better way of browsing, downloading and purchasing apps in Apple Store/ Google
Play. Enterprises will have to extend similar level of user experience on their
App Store. As most of the App Store will be a self-service model, it is
important for companies to have an interactive help agent that guides employees
to choose an appropriate app for their business purpose. Companies could start
small with developing/sourcing apps for internal purposes to a smaller group of
employees. Intel has adopted liberal BYOD policy and started developing
applications for internal purposes such as booking conference rooms that works
on different platforms[x]. Companies
can then build on initial momentum from smaller deployment and gradually extend
to larger audience with wider range of apps. There are many third-party
providers such as AppCentral[xi] that
enables customizable App Store where apps can be accessed on any platform and
usage of apps can also be monitored. Partnering with these third-party vendors
enables quick support on deploying multi-platform apps.
Making
it a Success. To enable wider use of
Enterprise App Store, companies will have to buy-in acceptance from its
employees by providing user experience just like they would feel on Apple Store
or Google Play store. App Stores need to have an appropriate portfolio of apps
for different purposes. Enterprises can monitor which apps are widely used and
accordingly the licensing process can become dynamic as not all the apps will
be used by employees. The usage can be enhanced by providing social
collaboration tools such as yammer wherein the employee could share experience
with his network of colleagues. Companies can also provide recommendations on
apps to other employees based on the behavior of existing members of its App
Store. Enterprise App Store is a growing trend and companies should assess
their demand and supply capabilities to devise appropriate IT strategy for
successful implementation.
[i] Nielsen -
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/nielsen-u-s-consumers-app-downloads-up-28-to-41-4-of-the-5-most-popular-still-belong-to-google/
[iv] Strategy Analytics -
http://www.information-age.com/technology/applications-and-development/2143973/mobile-business-apps-market-to-reach-$53bn-in-2017---strategy-analytics
[v] Gartner -
http://www.destinationcrm.com/Articles/Columns-Departments/Insight/Vendors-Grow-Their-Partner-Ecosystems-86700.aspx
[vi] Nielsen -
http://techcrunch.com/2012/05/16/nielsen-u-s-consumers-app-downloads-up-28-to-41-4-of-the-5-most-popular-still-belong-to-google/
