Tuesday, June 19, 2012

Only 14% of apps address enterprise needs

Rating: research2guidance looks at ‘off the shelf’ apps

The number of enterprise-relevant apps has doubled from 100,000 to 200,000 over the past 12 months (Q1 2011 to Q1 2012), according to research2guidance. However, of those 200,000 in the stores, only 14 per cent truly address core enterprise needs, the company claims in its ‘Enterprise Mobile App Status Report 2012'. ” What we see today is just the tip of the iceberg. There will definitely be a market for mobilising core enterprise functions, like sales and services,” says Ralf-Gordon Jahns, research director with research2guidance. Companies are in creasingly deploying mobile apps to connect to partners and employees following the successful adoption of customer-focused mobile apps, the report argues. Unfortunately, companies looking to source enterprise-relevant apps from public app stores will find the task of identifying high-value apps extremely time consuming.

Most ‘off-the-shelf’ enterprise-relevant apps can be primarily found within Business,
Communications/Social Networking, Finance, News & Magazines, Productivity
and Tools/Utilities categories.

Daiana Bassi, an analyst with research2guidance explains that, “Apps within those categories – which are present in all major app stores – can include Dictaphone and CRM applications, and hence, only 14 per cent of those truly address enterprise functional needs.”

The company has found that both established enterprise software vendors and the emerging, mobile-only vendors have been targeting this market segment and making them available on main public app stores.

However, the two types of vendors tend to tackle the issue of enterprise mobility from different angles.

Established software houses focus on mobilising existing software solutions, whilst the newcomers focus on creating solutions around the capabilities of mobile devices.

As yet neither approach nor one particular vendor has yet come to dominate the market.

Research2guidance says that ‘off the shelf enterprise apps can be grouped into four categories:-
core enterprise apps; Business Tools; Business Contingent; and irrelevant/ Misplaced.

So at the top there are apps such as SAP BusinessObjects Explorer and Documents to Go Premium Office Suite whilst at the bottom you have Ringtones Uncensored Pro (totally irrelevant)

More information on the report which costs €1,290 can be found here http://www.research2guidance.com/shop/index.php/enterprise-mobile-app-market-status-report

Hans Cett is an established freelance author and consultant specialising in the mobile communications industry. He also writes for Countdown2MWC - http://countdown2mwc.wordpress.com/

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