Cloud plus mobile: The ultimate app development setup

Two attributes mark today's professional and consumer environments: They're saturated with technology and people are constantly on the move. With the spread of mobile devices, especially smartphones and tablets, users are accustomed to having a wealth of information and tools at their fingertips. Organizations looking to capitalize on these trends are transforming their workplaces by empowering their employees with convenient devices and robust, intuitive applications. But they need the right application development resources to support their initiatives.

PaaS solutions for app development problems

Not all companies have a full team of computer scientists at their disposal to create the perfect applications at a moment's notice. That shouldn't stop organizations from enjoying custom app solutions designed to meet their specific requirements, however. Employees often know just what their enterprise needs for its consumers, internal processes or other tasks. With Platform-as-a-Service offerings, even non-technical people can get in the game to furnish users with the tools they need to excel.

At their core, PaaS solutions minimize the time and effort required to go from concept to product by managing the production environment and supplying developers with robust, convenient tools to build their applications. By hosting PaaS services in the cloud, organizations gain the added benefits that cloud services offer: Scalability, agility, affordability and accessibility. A high-end PaaS solution provides a unified, comprehensive toolset to streamline the development process. In other words, this integrated service can help app designers overcome the hurdles of planning for diverse devices, operating systems and data sources.

Dev goes mobile, too

Mobility is helping to drive the need for rapid application development because employees and consumers want simple, rich tools in the palms of their hands. Why not give developers the same convenience while they're creating these products?

The Progress® Rollbase® application development platform, for example, has an integrated Mobile App Builder that allows app creators to access dev tools on multiple mobile platforms and build apps that are compatible across operating systems. Not only does this give them the same ease and accessibility that's driving mobile app usage among consumers, they can work on their products on the same devices as their eventual end-users. This could help them better tailor their designs for mobile screens and functionality.

Cloud and mobile: A winning combination

Both the cloud and mobility make technology more readily accessible, convenient and dependable for users, whether they're employees working on company documents or consumers connecting with their favorite brands. As organizations seek to catalyze their application development efforts, providing development solutions that tap into the best of these trends can give creators the extra boost they need to produce extraordinary apps efficiently and with ease.