How Did All Begin?
Small app development companies have great success on the market from many points of view – they can be contracted by any kind of businesses, they create innovative products from their own initiative, they cover a large audience and they (almost) offer free versions of apps.
But something has changed in the working field that affects the mobile app industry. More and more employees are allowed to work from home, mostly due to the companies’ lack of space.
As a consequence, a new need has appeared – managers have to keep track of employees’ progress and these ones have to permanently communicate to the headquarters. Thus, big enterprises started to come up with mobile and desktop apps.
Can Small App Development Companies Survive Giant Enterprises?
The Digi-Capital’s stats show the fall of enterprise mobility in 2018. Let’s dig deep for the answer.
Well, the answer is not that simple and it really depends on many factors.
First of all, IT enterprises are not specialized in mobile apps. Sure, they are perfectly able to build such products, but here are some questions:
Are famous IT businesses willing to work for anonymous startup companies?
And further on,
Can these companies afford to hire international IT giants?
From this perspective, at least, small app development companies still have their own market.
Secondly, Fusion Computing Limited mentions that enterprises can offer something that businesses badly need – security. Buying an app from a tech giant has its perks. This one ensures total security, 100% privacy and no data leakage.
And this is not all! Enterprise mobile stores have other benefits, too. For instance, they offer clients the possibility to control the apps’ usage, to monitor the way users employ the apps and also to manage the access to the apps.
These features are pretty outstanding and in the end, they offer full mobility to business owners.
Then, tech giants can create their own platform for selling the apps. Private app stores will clearly draw a line between enterprise products and app development companies.
And here comes a downside – users have limited options to branded products compared to the general app store where a countless number of small businesses are offering every possible product there is.
What’s the Holdback to Generalized Enterprise Mobility?
So why aren’t all enterprises creating their own app development department? The answers are multiple and showcase the real situation of this trend.
1. High Development Costs
Apps are all nice, clear and efficient. But someone made them that way and the costs weren’t low. Behind an interface that may seem simple, it’s an entire algorithm, days of hard work and all kinds of resources. Some enterprises are just not willing to invest much capital into this.
2. Fear of Security Breaches
Once sensitive data leaves the headquarters server, it may end up anywhere. Businesses don’t trust apps in this matter.
3. Ongoing Support And Maintenance
For apps to remain fresh and efficient, they need to be constantly improved. This translates in permanent money investment that again, managers are not happy about.
4. Mobile Use Converting And Lack Of Specific Skills
Enterprises would be forced to convert desktop programs into mobile apps for maximizing the whole experience. Unfortunately, not every company has employees with mobile skills. So again, they will have to invest in personnel, too.
What’s there to be done for App Development Companies?
We have seen the advantages and the downsides of enterprise mobilizing. Regardless of the final verdict, tech giants continue to expand. Even more, they started buying small app businesses.
Soon, names like Infosys, Cognizant, Cisco. or Wipro will take over app stores. But will this be the end of private mobile development companies? Not if they struggle to keep up with competitors!
Here’s how our company has decided to stand out from the crowd and reach enterprise standards:
- Invest in security software and sensitive data protection for corporate customers;
- Create control panels for managers, easy to use, but efficient – in this way, it will feel like a product of the company, and not a foreign resource;
- Offer access keys to business owners so that they can limit the apps’ usage to some employees only;
- Work closely with the client’s employees and customers, as to determine the best product for their needs;
- Continuously stay on top of trends from all points of view – technology, marketing, design, and so on;
- Offer ongoing support and maintenance to customers – our job continues as long as the app exists and needs updating and repairs;
- High usage performance – corporate solutions must be reliable and resistant to daily usage, that’s why we build long living apps.
In the end, the conclusion is that small app development companies still have their market and can survive through permanent progress and innovation. The challenge is to keep up with enterprise mobile solutions..
