Mobile apps have come a long way, with trends like Augmented Reality, Virtual Reality and Artificial Intelligence making it big in this landscape. Another hottest app development trend that has surfaced in this context is the adoption of cloud services for mobile app development. While businesses are embracing the technology for consumer-facing apps, they are also utilizing it for enterprise mobility solutions. In a short span of time, cloud technology has garnered a reputation for driving digital transformation for businesses.
Undoubtedly, the benefits of speed, security and scalability make cloud-based apps a great investment, there is much more that they can do in the enterprise scenario. If you are considering investment in a cloud solution for your enterprise app, there are a few fundamentals that you should know. Here are some facts that will clarify the why’s, how’s and what’s of cloud based apps for enterprise.
Why enterprises should choose cloud-based apps?
Enterprise mobility is no longer a choice for businesses, considering the benefits it brings. Using cloud technology for mobile app development can bring a host of benefits for businesses.
Enhanced workforce productivity: The cloud-based enterprise apps are capable of enhancing workforce productivity manifold as they facilitate quick and seamless access to the work-related data and documents. Your workforce can use them even from remote locations, with the guarantee of speed and scalability that cloud is so well-known for.
Seamless user experiences: Another advantage of embracing this powerful technology is that it enables seamless user experiences. When employees are able to use apps and access data with ease any time and anywhere, they will obviously be able to boost the level of their services. As a result, your customer interactions become streamlined.
Reduced IT expenditure: With these apps replacing the traditional hardware-based solutions, businesses can cut the hardware costs to a considerable extent. Further, global scaling of the IT processes becomes possible, while being cost-effective too.
Reliable security: Lost devices are one of the biggest concerns for enterprises because these usually host the critical data of the business. With cloud-based apps, you can be assured about the security of data as it is always backed up in the app and can be retrieved even if the device is lost.
Disaster recovery: Enterprises require robust disaster recovery systems, considering the volumes of data they need to handle. The cloud helps organizations to have a stable and dependable recovery solutions, thereby saving their time and eliminating the need for large upfront investments.
Competitive advantage: Survival in the enterprise landscape depends on your positioning with respect to the competitors. Since all the rivals will probably be having cloud-based enterprise apps in their portfolio, you must also have one to keep pace with them.
Considering all these advantages that investing in a cloud-based app can bring for your business, it can be regarded as a smart investment that delivers assured, long-term returns.
How should you go for cloud-based enterprise app development?
Now that you know the reasons for investing in a cloud-based mobility solution, the next question would probably be about how you can do it. Primarily, you need to collaborate with an app development partner with the right skills and expertise. Further, you need to understand the steps involved, which are listed as follows:
Embrace the Cloud: No half-measures should be taken while developing a cloud-ready app. There is a need to focus on leveraging the cloud for handling the entire app components and development software involved.
Implement community architecture: The next step involves the implementation of robust coding community architecture for promoting collaboration across teams. This will ensure a high-quality cloud-based app for your business.
Codify development processes: The app quality can be further improved by codifying the development processes. This has more benefits, from increasing the developer productivity to enabling enterprise-wide visibility, and ensuring that the final product aligns with the client requirements.
Automate development and operations: The operational procedures can be streamlined by automating the app release into a range of on-premise environments for building, testing, staging, and deployment.
Leverage the hybrid cloud: The hybrid cloud environments ensures a greater flexibility and data deployment options for the enterprise, thus making it a smart move for your app.
A seasoned development partner can handle the nuances of developing a cloud-based app that matches your unique requirements. Therefore, it becomes critical to find one that you can trust.
What are the rules for developing cloud-ready enterprise apps?
Even if you have a team of experts to create your enterprise cloud app, you still need to be aware of the best practices ensuring that you are getting the best services. Here are the rules that need to be followed to create one successfully.
- Ensure that the app topology is generic and stateless so that it is not influenced by dynamic scaling.
- Avoid having session state in the app because it can limit the app’s scalability.
- Make sure that the temporary information is stored only in a remote location such as a NoSQL or SQL database rather than using local file system.
- Avoid logging to the local file system as there is a risk of loss of valuable data in case of a crash if the logs are written in a local file system.
- Apps in the cloud environment need to be agnostic to clustering, which is the reason that you should avoid depending on any infrastructure.
- Using uncertain protocols elevates the risk of apps losing their resiliency. Conversely, the ones that are based on reliable protocols are more resilient in the long run.
- Another best practice that you must ensure for the development of your cloud-based app is not to depend on any OS-specific features.
- Since cloud environments are more susceptible to being destroyed and created time and again as compared to traditional platforms, the app will have to be installed frequently. It is recommended never to install it manually but rather have a scripted installation process.
These rules cover the nitty-gritty of cloud-based enterprise app development and are enough give you a fair idea about the proficiency of the team you choose for your project. If they are following these best practices, you have the right team handling your project.
Choose OrangeMantra for cloud-based mobile app development
With cloud technology coming to the forefront in the mobility space, it is high time that you embrace the trend sooner rather than later. The cost of app development you expend on these apps will get you justified benefits in the long run, simply because cloud-powered mobility solutions have the potential to drive digital transformation for your enterprise.
Our team comprises highly qualified and capable developers with extensive knowledge of mobile development platforms, enterprise mobility, and cloud technology. We also have a rich experience in creating apps for businesses of all sizes. If you are looking for a development partner that can create a cloud-ready app, get in touch with us.
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