Internal Mobile App Development Pays Off Big

In developing mobile apps to support your business’s core processes, you’ve got four choices: develop mobile apps internally, outsource them to a third party, use apps developed by an enterprise software developer, or get them from public app stores. A new survey finds that the ones that succeed best are those developed internally — and increasingly, enterprises recognize that and do their development in-house.

A survey done by CITO Research for Apperian found that the companies most satisfied with their mobile efforts are those who develop their core-business apps internally. Sixty five percent of companies most satisfied with how they use mobile have developed apps in-house, while only 46% of the least satisfied organizations have in-house developed apps. The report adds, “Organizations developing apps internally also have a higher level of investment in mobility and are more mature.”

The survey also found that internally developed apps are growing faster than all other types, concluding, “Overall, 65% of organizations have internally developed apps in place, compared with 42% in the 2014 survey, exhibiting double-digit growth (18%).”

The Other Findings

Those findings are in keeping with the survey’s other conclusions. Jonathan Burg, director of Demand Generation for Mobile Application Management for Apperian, says that companies that develop their own apps see higher levels of app adoption throughout the business. “Organizations that build custom apps have higher levels of adoption,” he says.

One area where most companies fall short is in analytics to help determine the success or failure of enterprise mobility programs. Only 52% of companies know which of their apps are being used, and only 42% know how frequently apps are used. Analytics applied to security is in even worse shape: Only 24% of companies can tell when their data or devices are lost.

A key takeaway from the survey: Your company would do well to develop their own apps internally. Given the mobile skills shortage and developer shortage, that can be a significant challenge. But a low-code development tool like Alpha Anywhere makes it easy to develop mobile apps — both developers and business experts can build mobile apps quickly and efficiently.