A senior executive survey has found that businesses are not utilising and managing apps effectively to help them grow.

82% of 2,000 senior execs said apps are becoming business critical, but only 52% are employing a testing program that includes user feedback.

The ‘Growing the Digital Business: Spotlight on Mobile Apps’ report found that 85% of those surveyed believe that apps are the dominant user interface of the future.

According to Accenture, 49% of respondents see security as the greatest challenge faced in managing and developing mobile apps.

Following security, 37% of respondents said performance issues, such as crashing and bugs is also a challenge, with 55% having admitted to use any bug fixing or tracking tools to help overcome this.

Abhijit Kabra, mobile applications practice lead at Accenture Digital – Mobility, said: "To get the best results from apps, businesses must do rigorous testing before launch and robust app management once deployed."

He explained that this not only helps to provide a better user experience, but it will also help make sure that security challenges are addressed as an ongoing priority.

He said: "We found that too many companies are neglecting to continually improve their existing apps."