Enterprise mobile applications, a must-have business tool?
The bigger the company is, the more complicated its management is. On one hand, everything should be strict and structured to avoid a mess, on the other hand, the bureaucracy itself may slow down communication and decision making. So how can you step up a notch in collaboration between colleagues and multiple departments? Enterprise app development can become your savior. Continue reading to find out how!
What is an enterprise mobile app?
To be short, it’s an app which improves the workflows and facilitates tasks’ execution for big companies’ workers. It can be an app for the existing management software, which workers use on their laptops, or a self-sufficient app. The most obvious advantages of using an enterprise app are:
- workers are in the swim even being out of the office
- they use less time to solve their tasks
- the company gets benefits, like higher sales rates, higher incomes and clients loyalty thanks to better management
Sounds like a great solution. But who can use the app and what kind of tasks exactly it can solve? Let’s dive deeper now.
Types of enterprise apps
Speaking about who can use it, there are mainly 3 types of enterprise apps:
For employees - this type of an app has a constraint list of features, however, it’s still a valuable instrument to manage projects efficiently and keep up with the latest information.
For departments - as the name says, the app is oriented on the particular department workflows, helps workers to accomplish specific tasks and keep in touch with clients if needed.
For companies - the most complicated yet the fullest version for the cooperation of all company’s departments, all the employees, and their chiefs. This kind of enterprise app gives the users access to the data they need, can be tuned according to the specifics of certain departments, lets to pick the needed info, stay in touch with customers, etc.
Where will you benefit from having your own enterprise app?
As we all know, time is money. This phrase has never been so true as today. If you can do more and do it well within a shorter period of time, you win! Qualitative enterprise app can let all your workers become much more efficient! So, let’s see where you benefit, having an enterprise mobile app.
Payments management - an enterprise app can assist you to track the current payments and their terms, and help you to remind your partners to pay the bills.
Data management - filling in some data and its processing, looking for the right information takes up much time, which can be spent more fruitfully. With a good enterprise app, all the data you need for work will be synchronized and sorted correctly on-the-fly.
Staying focused - doing a lot of routine work needs the same attention as complicated and creative tasks. Having it automated, workers can concentrate on the essential issues.
Accounting management -top managers can get an access to various reports, sort them, give feedbacks and communicate with workers more effectively and quicker, necessary reports will not get lost and can be always found when needed, minimizing the bureaucracy.
Supply chain management - you can control supply availability and track delivery for all kinds of goods or services. Such functionality is extremely handy for delivery companies, retailers, wholesale companies and others.
Features to consider before developing an enterprise app
Consider users’ needs - most of big companies’ employees surely use some management or accountant apps. Developing an enterprise app, the company’s specifics should be taken into account. You’ll make people 100% delighted if the app is more comfortable and effective than what they have used before.
Keep in mind the further app enhancements - technologies develop with the speed of light, so make it possible to upgrade the app easily to keep it up to date.
Take integration with other software into account - it’s very unlikely that an enterprise will use one application for all their needs. A company will continue using some other accounting software. Make sure that an enterprise application can be integrated with other software without any failures.
Take care about security - companies will share financial, legal and commercial information by means of the app. As the workers will mostly access it from their personal devices, the best safety technologies should be implemented to prevent data hacking.
Choose agile - when developing an enterprise app, opt to agile methodology. It will let you create and update a great quality product in cooperation with your customer the shortest time possible.
Use MEAP - using a Mobile Enterprise Application Platform will let you create an enterprise app for all kinds of platforms. It’s a very crucial moment, that users should not be constrained to one particular platform and be able to use the app on any device with any OS they wish.
Train your staff - it’s not enough just to develop a great app. People should understand how to use all its features efficiently. Make some training and tutorials to make it easy and pleasant to work with the app. Also, consider the necessity of support and administration.
What are the different stages of development?
We guess no one will argue against the fact that you need a team of professionals, clear requirements and strong collaboration with the customer to create an excellent quality product. But what are the stages of the process? Let’s lift the veil of the developers’ kitchen and see how the process goes.
1. Specification
To clarify the idea and define the main goals and tasks the app should solve, the team must prepare a specification. To be very brief, the document should answer 3 questions mainly: what we will do, with what means we will do that and when we should complete it.
2. Define the platforms
As many people should be able to use it, we strongly recommend making your enterprise app both for Android and iOS. This will not cost you little, but all your workers will be able to install the app at once.
3. Prototyping
Before creating the clean version, the customer must get a prototype. It’s a realistic model of the future app which demonstrates how it will look and function. A good prototype can help to avoid blind alley job in the further development process.
4. UX/UI design
The main thing to remember here is that an enterprise application is not for fun! The future users will appreciate it the best if the app is elegant, concise and doesn’t take much time and efforts to master it.
5. Back-end part
This is what makes the app function. To get a robust, fast and reliable product, entrust it to a skilled team of developers.
6.Product testing
Before launching the app, it must be tested thoroughly. The future users can become great beta testers, as they really know the best how it should function. Of course, the QA department of the development company must test it as well, but cooperation between the team and the customer is important at this stage too.
Our experience
Our team at Cleveroad recently created a tracking mobile app for a company’s HR department. The application was designed to calculate employees’ working days and to send notifications about important corporate events. It also served as an entrance badge by means of a QR code.
In conclusion, an enterprise app should earn you more money than you'll on having it developed. Saving both your employee times and providing you with upgraded business processes than can help take your company to another level!