Managing Applications Requires A Lifecyle Approach

‘There’s an app for that!’ How many times have you heard that phrase? It’s not likely that people will stop using it soon because new mobile applications are being released left, right and centre. Many of these applications happen to be extremely useful in organizing business activities (conference calls, sales meetings, reports/analysis, software maintenance, etc.). They are also increasing the productivity of employees. If you are part of a growing business, you have to keep up or drown in an ocean of apps. That’s where mobile application management (MAM) comes into play.

Mobile Application Management Explained

MAM refers to the process of developing, procuring, deploying mobile apps.  It also encompasses managing the configuration, distribution and access to mobile enterprise apps in a business context. Installation of these applications may occur on a company-liable device or one that personally belongs to an employee (“Bring Your Own Device”). With the increasing prevalence of mobile devices in the workplace, and subsequently mobile apps, MAM will allow you to keep track of these applications and who is using them, as well as address the security concerns that come along with employee mobility (people working remotely).

With regards to employee mobility, security is a consideration because business data is moving outside of the office. If you have an account manager driving around the city with a laptop to meet with clients, you want to make sure that his/her access to the device is secure and the company’s data is not subject to compromise in case anything should happen. With MAM, IT staff can erase sensitive data remotely if the device is lost. Similarly, if an employee leaves the company you can ensure that they will no longer have access to corporate data.

Performance Monitoring

A complete end-to-end mobile application management solution also facilitates the monitoring of your mobile apps’ performance and usage levels. It allows you to see which apps employees are taking advantage of the most/least, who exactly is using them (e.g. HR department) and when they are in use.  Since you want all your software and applications to run smoothly you will also be able to see which apps are running slower than usual or if they need updates or bug fixes. Crash log reporting is also a feature that provides details of a crash that your system experiences. Consequently, your software developers can then diagnose the issue and fix it accordingly.

The number of worldwide app users will skyrocket from 1.2 billion in 2012 to 4.4 billion in 2017 (according to Portio Research). Implementing mobile application management makes perfect sense. As your workforce and customer-base grows, it can only add value to your business.