Mobile trends drive the need for speed in app development

Organizations want to take advantage of promising mobile opportunities, but they may need better tools to create and distribute apps.

Mobility is transforming workplaces and consumer engagement across industries. With the advent of cloud apps and the increasing popularity of smartphones and tablets, people expect ready access to resources like never before. Consequently, business leaders who want to take advantage of opportunities to enhance their employees' productivity or fuel interactions with customers need better ways to create and distribute mobile apps.

To get a sense of how significant mobile platforms are becoming, consider these factors:

• Prominence: Six billion out of the globe's 7 billion people have access to mobile phones, according to a recent UNESCO report. That means more people have access to these devices than to working toilets. Mobile phones are becoming the primary means of communication and one of the best avenues for efficiently reaching a broad audience.
• Transformation: Bring-your-own-device and mobility initiatives are transforming enterprise workflows, especially as organizations seek ways to make their workforce more productive while also fueling collaboration and creativity. People want to be able to connect to mission-critical data no matter where they are or what device they're using - whether they're traveling or simply moving about the office.
• Preference: In the U.S., people spend more of their online time using mobile apps than they do accessing the Internet from their desktops and mobile Web browsers, a comScore study found, according to MarketingCharts. Users are coming to expect the same simplicity and convenience they enjoy in their favorite consumer apps for all of their technology interactions.

Satisfying the demand for mobile apps - faster

In response to mobile app trends, organizations in various sectors are honing their mobile strategies to engage consumers and empower workers. For example, the rise of e-commerce has motivated retailers to prioritize their mobile approaches, like offering branded apps to keep in touch with patrons. Such initiatives have fostered a heightened focus on software and application development, Forbes magazine noted.

Forbes explained that technology is basically everybody's business now, which means that many companies may be interested in their own application development even if they don't have a dedicated programming department. Organizations require fast, responsive processes to develop and distribute their apps because market and business conditions evolve rapidly.

Rapid app development solutions, such as Platform-as-a-Service, can help enterprises achieve their mobile objectives, particularly when these platforms provide intuitive, convenient interfaces for product development. A visual programming environment, for example, can make application development possible even for people with limited coding experience. Ready-to-go development platforms help app creators save time and money, furnishing them with the tools they need to gain a competitive edge in this increasingly mobile world.