Apps took the mobile world by storm when Apple launched its App Store in 2007, and over 10m apps were downloaded in that first weekend. Although some thought apps were only a fad, it didn’t take long for it to become obvious that they were here to remain.

By the top of 2008, over 500m apps were downloaded, and their use had gone far beyond gaming and social media. Apps are actually part of lifestyle, and are used to do all kinds of items – check train schedules, plan holidays, get great deals on shopping, or even organise your life professionally to enable more efficient working. 

As apps and smartphones become more popular, persons are increasingly counting on them to do greater than just make phone calls and send text messages. Consequently, apps has been developed to assist us with such a lot of of our everyday tasks, particularly in our work life. Apps at the moment are available to access documents, data, or even get work done remotely. Nowadays, using mobile for these purposes looks like a no-brainer, but a couple of years ago, using your smartphone to enable work was cutting-edge – the privilege of tech-savvy, Generation Y youngsters and tech entrepreneurs.

Early adopters
Today, mobile apps aren’t any longer confined to simply the smartphone. Tablet devices have joined the class, and feature gained widespread popularity. It’s not the early adopters who’re using mobile apps and keeping their lives organised with mobile devices. Now it’s busy commuters, corporate business executives and small business owners alike, who’re embracing the benefit of mobile apps to run their daily lives and achieve tasks at the go. Some small businesses even use apps to aid them run their business. Must create invoices Organise events or people Balance a business budget Yes, there are apps for that now.

Consequently, mobile working is impacting the workplace like never before. Where people once used only computers and phones provided by their employers, leaving work on the workplace, during the last few years, the private and the pro domains have converged. Because of this convergence, it’s become increasingly common for folks to bring personal mobile devices into the workplace, enabling them to work remotely, off-hours, and in new, innovative ways – due to the devices and their apps.

Known as ‘bring-your-own-device’ or BYOD, the superiority of folk using their personal mobile devices within the workplace certainly increases productivity. Equally, additionally it is the bane of existence for plenty of employers and IT managers, who’re keen on security. Most employers are happy to have their employees use mobile devices and productivity apps as a part of the job – finally, if it makes the worker more productive and more widely accessible, that’s an outstanding thing, right The answer’s yes, so long as the usage of these devices doesn’t compromise the safety of the corporate.

Enterprise apps
BYOD is now an everlasting fixture among many businesses, large and small. Sure, some companies still prohibit employees from integrating personal laptops, tablets, and smartphones into their IT infrastructures, but their numbers are quickly dwindling. Accordingly, IT managers need an ideal way with the intention that devices are secure, software remains universal and therefore work is transferrable from employee to employee and device to device. And what better solution to try this than with the proper apps – apps made for business, otherwise often known as enterprise apps.

As we reach a tipping point, where mobile, apps and business intersect, many believe that 2013 would be the year that enterprise apps finally take centre stage. With the upward push of business’ security concerns, enterprise security goes to centre at the enterprise app, by which companies could be ready to control the way wherein employees access information on their mobile devices, and therefore maximise security.

For example, enterprise apps could be tethered to a location or network for security, or can exist solely within the cloud, therefore not permitting file and document downloads to the device, which prevents sensitive documents going missing within the event of a stolen or lost phone or tablet. Rather than banning BYOD or ridding the workplace of mobile devices, enterprise apps facilitate security, in order that companies can enable the sort of working, thus maintaining with innovation and evolving productivity trends.

Companies know that they have to innovate to take care of with new business and technology trends, but they ought to achieve this carefully, and with attention to proper security, in order that no confidential company information is compromised. A method of doing it truly is to manage what apps users can download, and a few organisations are going as far as to create their very own app store. The benefit of an enterprise app store is that apps can also be configured before they’re downloaded, and you’ll create blacklists or whitelists of apps for specific users. IT then has a single point from which to administer the provisioning and decommissioning of apps and the implementation of security policies.

Although enterprise apps clearly offer benefits on the subject of security and serve as, there also are real business benefits available. As an instance, inside the space of only one fiscal quarter, Intel saw 640,000 emails sent from employee’s cellphones, which it calculates as creating an ordinary of 51 minutes extra productivity per day. BT has also demonstrated an increased level of productivity since implementing its BYOD policy, with 42 per cent of employees saying their efficiency and productivity have risen. With such findings becoming the norm, it’s clear that mobile working and enterprise apps are here to remain. 

As we glance to technology to enhance our quality of life and user experience, this technology is migrating from our personal lives into our work lives – changing the style in we work. Advances in technology mean there at the moment are products that you can buy today that help us do things in ways in which are better, faster, and more efficient than ever before. Therefore, instead of fighting the evolution of ways we work, it’s as much as companies to adapt to boot. The opportunities and the advantages that these advances need to offer are many, as are the chances for firms and their employees. The 1st few years of mobile apps were all concerning the consumer; now it’s business’ turn to polish.

Ian Schenkel is CEO and co-founding father of EuroSmartz