Company Size Matters in Mobile App Strategies
As Enterprise Apps Today reported in April, while enterprises are keen to bring more mobile apps to their workforces, many find consumer mobile app stores like The Google Play Store and Apple’s App Store don’t adequately meet their needs. A recent survey from Partnerpedia, a provider of enterprise application store and marketplace solutions, supports this idea.
More than 57 percent of respondents cited a lack of business focus as a shortcoming of consumer mobile app stores. Other issues of concern included the inability to own/control mobile app licenses, mentioned by 43.4 percent of respondents, and security/exposure to viruses, named by 42.5 percent of respondents.
Mobile App Strategies: Size Matters
By grouping responses into large enterprises with 500 or more employees and small enterprises with fewer than 500 employees, Partnerpedia found marked differences in mobile app approaches. More than 90 percent of large companies said they are likely to procure mobile apps for their employees, while just 45.8 percent of their smaller counterparts said they would do so.
Both large enterprises (78 percent) and smaller companies (61 percent of small businesses) expressed a desire to purchase mobile apps for employees. Ownership and control over mobile app licenses is a necessity for 56 percent of large companies surveyed, versus 36 percent of smaller companies. According to Partnerpedia, companies with larger workforces tend to experience more frequent employee turnover or role changes, which likely explains their need for tighter control over app licenses.
Partnerpedia’s Corporate Mobile App Strategy Survey also found Apple’s App Store/iTunes was the top source for mobile app purchases, mentioned by 69.9 percent of respondents, followed by direct purchase from independent software vendors (ISVs) at 53.1 percent and Google Play at 39.8 percent.
Nearly half of the companies surveyed plan to both build and purchase mobile apps, with the remaining half split between build versus buy strategies. Of the companies that intend to build apps, 63.7 percent will depend on outsourced development. This isn’t surprising, given the shortage of experienced mobile app developers. However, experts say developers are coming up to speed quickly when it comes to gaining mobile skills.
For companies building their own apps, the top three app priorities are for operations (48.7 percent), customer service (46.9 percent) and sales automation (44.2 percent).
Interestingly, 72.2 percent of small companies said they are focused on mobile apps for customers while only 43.9 percent of large companies claimed they had a similar focus. In addition to customers and employees, 35.4 percent of respondents need apps for partner engagement and 22 percent are procuring apps for contractors.
Partnerpedia will share findings from the survey and also discuss various app development approaches and profiles during a “Mobile App Strategies” webinar on July 12. Click here to register.
Sean Michael is a writer who focuses on innovation and how science and technology intersect with industry, technology Wordpress, VMware Salesforce, And Application tech. TechCrunch Europas shortlisted her for the best tech journalist award. She enjoys finding stories that open people's eyes. She graduated from the University of California.
