How to Identify the Right Enterprise App Distribution Channel
By Robert Lacis
As companies continue to add to their portfolios of corporate apps in 2016, many enterprises will evaluate their existing enterprise app distribution model or determine their preferred distribution channel for first-time deployments.
As with anything, there are several options for disseminating enterprise apps to your employees. When considering different distribution models, it's important to consider the various roles that constitute the company's user base along with key factors that can drive mobile app adoption, since each of these can play a critical role in determining whether a deployment flies or flops.
Here are three enterprise app distribution models to consider for your organization’s workforce:
Enterprise App Store
An enterprise app store works best when a company has numerous applications in its portfolio and wants to use a distribution model that makes it easy for users to locate and download the right apps to use for their roles.
Administrators can also curate preferred third-party apps that offer a better fit for organizational users based on a company's culture, management and security preferences. With a private app store, administrators can also control which apps are highlighted and where they are placed, including features such as “recommended apps” to drive company-wide adoption.
Enterprise app stores can replicate the consumer app store experiences that users have become accustomed to. In addition to making it easy for users to discover apps, enterprise app stores can be used to highlight screenshots, app details and other capabilities such as links to training videos.
Corporate Portal
A corporate portal works best when end users have already made this resource part of their daily workflow and regularly access it. Corporate portals can also be used to distribute secure and policy-enabled apps and maximize existing infrastructure and IT investments.
Direct Download Link
Need an app to be sent out quickly and easily? Post the Web link through the right channel to make an app available instantly. Web links can be sent via email to a small population or user group, launched from a QR code or can be embedded in newsletters.
This works well if there isn't another good place to provide access to the app, for example if a corporate portal doesn't exist, and if there aren't enough apps to warrant an app store.
To determine the most effective distribution model for your organization, it is important to understand the roles that administrators are trying to reach with specific apps, along with the degree of urgency for getting the right apps to users.
Robert Lacis is senior director of Customer Success at Apperian, an enterprise-class mobile application management and app store platform for the secure delivery of critical apps to 100 percent of users across an organization.
Drew Robb is a writer who has been writing about IT, engineering, and other topics. Originating from Scotland, he currently resides in Florida. Highly skilled in rapid prototyping innovative and reliable systems. He has been an editor and professional writer full-time for more than 20 years. He works as a freelancer at Enterprise Apps Today, CIO Insight and other IT publications. He is also an editor-in chief of an international engineering journal. He enjoys solving data problems and learning abstractions that will allow for better infrastructure.
