Bespoke enterprise apps are on the rise as businesses look to expand their mobile lifecycle strategy, according to the latest mobility index report from Good Technology.
The report data revealed that custom enterprise app development grew 55% in Q4 2013, with the greatest amount of growth seen in the business intelligence, secure browser and social business app categories.
Off-the-shelf apps, from third parties such as Salesforce and Oracle, still have the biggest volume of users because they are used generically across a number of organisations.
However, the volume of custom apps has increased as business look to enable employees to use their mobile devices to complete more complex tasks via mobile apps.
"Custom enterprise apps often contain bespoke forms and business intelligence [companies] written themselves. From a business point of view, these are things they’ve developed to gain a competitive advantage," Phil Barnett, VP global accounts for Good Technology, told CBR.
"Getting that into the hands of their employees so they can do the work in a mobile way is an obvious thing for them to want to do."
The report also revealed that document editing remained the most activated enterprise app, which Barnett attributed to the ease of use for employees who are adjusting to working from a smartphone or tablet.
"Some of our customers say they want to push towards mobile and tablet and BYOD, but there are still people who prefer a mixed environment," he said.
"But once people become familiar with their tablets and doing their work on the fly it will change the way in which they work."
Barnett argued the case for using different hardware for different functions, with software such as powerpoint presentations being easier to operate from a desktop while social media apps, like Chatter or Jive, are better used on a smartphone.
He used the apt analogy that if you want a snack you will use your smartphone, if you want a meal you will use your tablet but if you want to do some cooking you will use your laptop.
