- Mobile application management
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Mobile Application Management (MAM) describes software and services that accelerate and simplify the creation of internally-developed or “in-house” enterprise mobile applications. It also describes the deployment and management of in-house and commercially available mobile apps used in business settings on both company-provided and “bring your own” smartphones and tablet computers.
Mobile application management has also been defined as “the strategy and process around developing/procuring, securing, deploying, accessing, configuring, updating and removing (business) applications from mobile devices used by the employees.” [1]
Contents
The Mobility Invasion and ‘BYOD’
Enterprise MAM has been driven by the widespread adoption and use of mobile devices in business settings. IDC reported that smartphone use in the workplace will double between 2009 and 2014.[2]
The BYOD (“Bring Your Own Device”) phenomenon is a factor behind mobile application management, with personal PC, smartphone and tablet use in business settings (vs. business-owned devices) rising from 31 percent in 2010 to 41 percent in 2011.[3] When an employees brings a personal device into an enterprise setting, MAM enables the corporate IT staff to provision the device, download appropriate applications, control access to back-end data, and “wipe” the device if it is lost, or when its owner no longer works with the company.[4]
Use of mobile devices in the workplace also being driven from above. According to Forrester Research, businesses now see mobile as an opportunity to drive innovation across a wide range of business processes.[5] Forrester issued a forecast in August 2011 predicting that the “mobile management services market” would reach $6.6 billion by 2015 – a 69 percent increase over a previous forecast issued six months earlier.[5]
Citing the plethora of mobile devices in the enterprise – and a growing demand for mobile apps from employees, line-of-business decision-makers, and customers – the report states that organizations are broadening their “mobility strategy” beyond mobile device management to “managing a growing number of mobile applications.”[5]
Applications
Main article: Mobile appsThe original business apps on mobile devices – email, calendar and contact databases – are being supplemented with mobile enterprise apps such as:
- Corporate data access and decision support
- CRM and sales force automation
- Disaster recovery
- Factory automation/manufacturing
- GPS and location-based services
- Human resources (timesheets, expense reports, etc.)
- Inventory management
- Order entry and tracking
- Retail and point of sale
- Training tools, including video
MAM services
- App delivery
- App security
- App updating
- User authentication
- User authorization
- Version checking
- Push services
- Reporting and tracking
Current players
- App47
- AppCentral
- Apperian
- JackBe
- Nukona
- PartnerPedia
References
- ^ Winthrop, Philippe, ‘’Mobile Application Management vs. Mobile Device Management,’’ theemf.org 2011-05-18
- ^ Unisys Consumerization of IT Study 2011
- ^ The Economist, “Beyond the PC: Survey on Personal Technology,” 2011-10-08, page 11
- ^ Gruman, Galen, “Mobile Edge,” ‘’InfoWorld’’, 2011-4-26
- ^ a b c McCarthy, John C., and Pelino, Michele, ‘’Mobile Management Takes a 180-Degree Turn,’’ Forrester Research, 2011-08-11
Categories:- Software development
- Mobile telecommunications software
- Mobile software
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