One of the biggest questions enterprises face when preparing for digital transformation is whether they need to embark on in-house enterprise mobile application development or purchase already popular apps and customize them as per requirements. Following are some of the key considerations to help you arrive at the right decision:
- Resource constraints - Developing an app from the scratch to meet your unique business requirements, say automating your production department or payroll, needs considerable investment in terms of manpower and finance. If your organization is big and the app you develop is expected to have a greater impact on key users of a specific business operation, it makes sense to embark on the new app development. However, if your organization is small and lacks the necessary bandwidth to support heavy investments, it is prudent to buy an app. Flexibility of the mobile solution to match unique business needs is the key aspect that needs to be taken into account while buying it.
- Strategic sourcing considerations - For small enterprises, an alternative is to strategically outsource their mobile app development to a third party vendor to help them achieve their objectives. Companies can hire a skilled developer to either develop new custom apps or make some changes to an existing app, without much burden on the outsourced organization. The basic advantage of strategic sourcing for an organization is it minimizes the overheads and the potential complications of developing the applications in-house.
- Technical architecture - Companies face uncertainty about how to proceed in an incredibly dynamic mobile environment. The right architectural framework that an organization can select is dependent on the mobile development that it chooses – native, cross-mobile platform or a mobile web solution. Native development approach provides the best user experience, but at a higher cost. Cross-platform networks, though offer economies of scale, face user experience challenges. The mobile web app model often creates problems in performance and user experience.
When automating a typical business function, you need to consider various parameters including the key workflows that need to be automated, number of business users, infrastructure and deployment strategies. Based on these parameters, you can embark on the right architectural strategy for mobile app development. - Security considerations - If the enterprise app has best-in-class features, supporting your business cases, but doesn’t meet the minimal security requirements, it falls flat and is rendered useless. Organizations are very much concerned about the data security in the backdrop of the “bring your own mobile (BYOD)” strategy that is rapidly gaining ground. Commercially available apps may not perfectly meet the security requirements for a specific organizational setup. If your organization places high emphasis on data security, you may prefer to develop your own app, integrating all the required security features that you intend to enforce, rather than buying a commercially available app with compromised security paradigms.
- After-sales support - If you have decided to purchase an enterprise app that could typically match your business requirements, look for a vendor that can offer ongoing support for the purchased app for a specified time period. This assumes significance as your workforce needs time to adopt the solution to leverage its maximum potential. This means, the vendor is expected to offer after-sales support in the form of user training to expedite the transformation. However, if the mobile solution that you intend to purchase has to support multiple workflows of a specific business function, offering minimal after-sales support, it is better to build the application in-house, rather than depending on third-party vendors.
To guide you further along the crucial phase of digital transformation and help you decide on enterprise mobile application development, click here for a free demo, or call our experts now at 844-464-6668.
